The ‘X factor of Luck’ is something that may still remain undefined as time goes by though it is possible to reduce the probability of an unexpected outcome by ensuring that a clearly defined process (with achievable objectives in the end) is followed. I’ve seen a few initiatives where folks say “Oh and we want this to go viral.” Yeah, right! I don’t think that it’s possible to predict how something will go viral – though I’ll say that the Facebook bra colors for Breast cancer was just far out.

I’ve always said it’s an essential book for the Italian market for E-commerce never took off in Italy. Problem is we don’t trust E-retailers due to the easy rip-offs and lethargic legal system.

We work out of Southern Italy with 4 commerce sites (more on the way) & it took 9 long years to develop trust and become “trust agents” with our American market.

The book is helping us fine tune our jobs as trust agents along with exploring more of social media channels. It is priceless and honest advice. Thanks Chris and Julien!

Second, I’ll accept so-so, as you were looking for more of a how-to. We didn’t intend to write that. We threw a lot of how-to in there, including the building of listening stations, the ways to get more comments, the ways to get your email answered, etc, but it wasn’t, by definition, a how-to. The Social Media Marketing book, by Dan Zarella, would be a much better book for what you were hoping.

Finally, I really like the part at the end about the “X factor of luck.” I might have something for you there, as Julien and I found by the end of Trust Agents, that we were doing business differently than others, and that we wanted to write a book to explain THAT.

There’s this horrible cliche in book writing that when you finish a book, you come to some realization that makes you want to explain this new thing. To me, it was always hooey, a way to sell your sequel or whatever. So, maybe that’s all I’m telling you, or maybe I’m telling you that Julien and I discovered something by the end of Trust Agents that we think might actually answer your part about the “X Factor of Luck.”

Thanks for the review. I appreciate the perspective.