In a Flash

The ability to generate quick cash is a skill every entrepreneur would love to possess. In Instant Income (McGraw-Hill, $24.95), The New York Times bestselling author Janet Switzer describes dozens of tools for quick cash-flow increases.

Switzer's tips emphasize practical and low-cost methods, including ways to upsell existing customers, prospect for quick sales, bundle products and services, and do an "Instant Income Overnight Audit" to identify hidden income opportunities in your business. For instance, she advises analyzing customer purchase records to identify likely reorder times, then contacting past customers accordingly to see if they want to buy again.

Some of Switzer's ideas require fairly significant investments of time and energy and may take some time to pay off. For instance, she recommends entrepreneurs burnish their images as experts in their fields, then pitch themselves as radio talk show commentators to get lots of free media exposure. That's not likely to bear fruit overnight. Once set up, however, that and other approaches she describes can provide sales boosts for a wide variety of companies.

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Righting Wrongs
In history's best-known case of crisis management, Johnson & Johnson spent $100 million recalling Tylenol capsules after a killer poisoned several bottles. But modeling your response to a scandal, lawsuit or other crisis on how Johnson & Johnson handled things may be a mistake, say Eric Dezenhall and John Weber in Damage Control (Portfolio, $24.95). Few crises resemble this famous example, they assert, and it's not always best to admit fault and take corrective action. For instance, they say, apologies work best when the violation is seen as out of character for the offender and limited, rather than chronic. Other times, it can be better to actively oppose threats by trying to sway public opinion with an education campaign or even threatening accusers with litigation.