Much to Like about “Likeonomics”

I would expect that a book with a cover quote from Deepak Chopra would lead me through 150 + pages of great Zen like business advice, and Likeonomics does not disappoint.  Rohit Bhargava, marketing expert and Adjunct Professor Marketing at Georgetown University, has written a great book on something that you would think is much simpler.  Yes, people do business with people they like.  But has anyone ever broken down what makes the products and the people we spend money on more likable?  Each chapter is written like a college text book, with Vin diagrams and summary sections, to help you quickly refer to the principles detailed throughout the book.

The highilight of the book is the clever acronym detailing the heart of the Likeonomics priniciple.  T.R.U.S.T. Truth, Relevance, Unselfishness, Simplicity, and Trust.  The stories of how Rwanda turned its economy around after it’s epic genocide, how Oprah’s truthfullness led to her domination of daytime television, or how a creative lunch meeting at Pixar stopped Steve Jobs from selling the company to Microsoft.  Using countless studies the author shows how customers and clients “liking” you has little do with your effectiveness at your job or reliability of your product, but more from a feeling that your consumer really knows and trusts you.  continue reading…