Rating: 
Summary: Techniques that work!
Review: Many books claim to have models that work but few deliver the results that this book did by the second chapter. I've tried and failed to get in to pitch the big players on a partnership only to get stuck in the depths of the wrong department and incorrect decision maker. Sarah explicitly details short-cuts and back doors into companies like Microsoft, IBM-even American Express. Things only insiders or life long veterans would know. After reading just a few pointers, I got the right person on the line in four days as opposed to the last time which took me six months! The book has paid for itself many many times over already.
Rating: 
Summary: History....
Review: Mark Cronus Says:
"Specific references to reviled figures such as Franco, who 'wore the same clothes as his partners wore' during meetings, are used to convey simple principles such as matching tones with your prospective partners. Or in other words, don't wear a black suit when your prospective partner is wearing jeans"So anyone that should meet with you or your friend Sarah Gerdes should dress like a clown?
Rating:
Summary: Sarah is a rising star
Review: Sarah Gerdes has taken a very complex subject and created a useful, practical book which, anyone who does Alliance or Partnership work can benefit from. Any CEO or aspiring CEO will find this book useful in maximizing enterprise value and understanding why, how and where you can unlock the immense value that partnerships hold for companies of all sizes. Thanks for a great contribution Sarah and keep up the great work at BMG
Rating:
Summary: Francisco Franco the dictator?
Review: The author seems to be inspired by Francisco Franco as an historical figure famous for his ability to forge alliances. Francisco Franco is far better known as the Spain's dictator for 36 years than a successful general and "alliance manager". And he was not Basque either.
Other references to the Roman Empire are also grossly inaccurate. The whole book lacks depth. Poor knowledge of history is not the only weakness.
Rating:
Summary: Practical Advice
Review: The three most important steps in sales are qualify, qualify, qualify - so you don't waste time selling to someone who isn't going to buy. In partnership development, you've got to qualify why you are partnering and who you are going to partner with to avoid wasting time and money on unproductive alliance development. This book provides an excellent process for defining and executing a partnership strategy. Ultimately, successful partnerships boil down to personal relationships between the parties involved in developing and maintaining the partnerships. This book begs for a sequel with details on how to develop, hire, and motivate partner managers. You may not like the writing style or historical references. It doesn't matter because the important thing is you'll get practical information and experience that will save you money and significantly increase your chances of success at building effective partnerships.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect timing
Review: This book came out at just the right time for me. Recently laid off, I've had to look at other creative ways to earn a living using my experience in the retail products market. This book has the best examples of people who also started in one career and are now in something entirely different. I'd never heard of a facilities partnership (to get rent for free), or that a land partnership with municipal governments was possible (to share (to get land for free or on good terms) or even considered partnering with local coffee shops for a marketing partnership (to get free branding and distribution). Each of these examples are carried throughout the book so I could follow the process. Most importantly for me, none of the individuals creating the partnership had any previous experience. That alone gave me the confidence I need to start my own venture,and have success with something as intimidating sounding as a partnership.
Rating:
Summary: perfect for the entreprenuer
Review: This book hit me at just the right time. One of my goals for 2003 is to develop 2-3 partnerships and to increase my business by 45%. Being an entrepreneur, I have had a few alliances in the past, but now feel empowered to set them up in a way that will last. The techniques in this book have already helped me do that in timeframe much faster than I could have accomplished myself.
Rating:
Summary: This is a good book!
Review: This book is an invaluable resource for people, like me, that want to drive companies towards new successes and markets, it provides an enormous number of useful suggestions, methods and real cases. These are always very pertinent, well presented and precise. Please, read this book before writing those preconceived and biased reviews. By the way, in case you didn't know, I am a total idiot.
Rating:
Summary: Accurate 100 percent
Review: This book is not going to win awards for global insight on partnership strategies, but from my experience, it is one hundred percent accurate. The free-bee excerpt lays out the structure of how a partnership is created, and the book follows it to a T. I'm in sales with a large firm Miamisburg and the author nails the issues that executive managers and product teams (among others) have with supporting the creation of partnerships. The book provides guidelines on setting expectations within the organization from the very beginning--and then specific ways to measure and report partner successes back to the skeptics. Very worth the short read.
Rating:
Summary: [Deceit]
Review: This book is very poor. This is a fact. But what is obscene is the [deceit] that the author with his friends are perpetuating with these "reviews".
One of them even wrote that he made mandatory the reading of this book in his company! Well, that could be a new method to get rid of employees at no cost. Finally, yes this board should prevent these [false] reviews but the main point is that such a poor book shouldn't even be published.
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