Archive for the 'Advertising' Category

Sep 14 2011

Business Body Barometers

Hopefully, your mouse is pointing to (and clicking on) the HIGH TIDE box on the right~~~>

BUT, where is your foot pointed?

                                                               

YES, I have better things to do. NO, I am not a kinetics (body language) expert nor a walking lie detector. Like most business owners, I muddle through exchanges with others –using a combination of what I know and feel from experience– to decide on another person’s intents, genuineness, and ability to perform up to my belief system.

But I have written and taught considerably on the subject, and am frequently asked about practical business applications. So, remembering that you’re not licensed to practice psychotherapy, here’s enough body barometer stuff to shrink out some of those business head cases you deal with:

Let’s first distinguish between verbal and nonverbal communication, keeping in mind that: A) words themselves do not have meaning; only people have meaning, and that: B) Only 7% of communication is generally believed to be verbal. (38% is believed to be tone of voice, and 55%, nonverbal!)

Nonverbal communication, I recall, is accomplished in 9 different ways (there may be more, but who needs more?):

  1. AMBULATION — How someone walks. Big differences in the messages coming from someone who swishes vs, stomps or swaggers, bounces, strides, or drags.

  2. TOUCHING — The most powerful form of nonverbal communication. Consider the differences in touch for expressing anger, interest, trust, tenderness, warmth . . . and the differences in willingness to touch or be touched.

  3. EYE CONTACT — When do pupils dilate? What’s in your unconscious mind about eye colors? Trust? Sincerity? Forthrightness? Does someone stare, shoot daggers, avoid direct eye contact, glance slyly?

  4. POSTURING — Are arms and legs crossed defensively? Stand or sit slouched or erect. Severe threats promote fetal positions.

  5. TICS — Uncontrollable nervous twitches may indicate a sensing of possible threats.

  6. S UBVOCALS — Um, er, uh, whew! . . . and grunts and groans, whistles, loud swallowing, tongue clicking.

  7. DISTANCING — We each have our own Space. Comfort zones vary by person, geographical region, country, and by odors.

  8. GESTURING — A wave, thumbs up or down, an OK sign or angry fist, a V can all be acceptable in one place and not in another.

  9. VOCALISM — Say: I LOVE my children! vs. I love MY children! vs. I love my CHILDREN! vs. I love my children! Same words, but do you hear different meanings?

STROKING arms, legs, or hair often indicates a lack of affection (perhaps at the moment, perhaps in general). See if talking about how valuable that person is to your business stops that activity.  SMILES are great, but can often be a defense mechanism. THE FACE ALONE CAN PRODUCE 250,000 EXPRESSIONS! (Weird research, huh?)

Sports guys and politicians use THUMBS UP and THUMBS DOWN. Hitchhikers point THUMBS SIDEWAYS.

CONFIDENCE is often expressed by pyramiding fingers, by hands in pockets with thumbs out and by hands held behind a stiff back.

INSECURITY is frequently communicated by pinching, chewing (pens, pencils, pipe, fingernails, gums), by hands stuffed deep into pockets, as well as by smoking, fidgeting, jingling coins, tugging ears or mustache, or underclothing, by someone who frequently covers her or his mouth and /or “ahems” often.

HOW a person lights and holds a cigarette, pipe or cigar, how he or she writes (including pen pressure), how glasses and eating utensils are held and used, how food is picked up and eaten. These are barometers. So are the ways people greet and say goodbye to one another. Handshakes (firm, wimpy, bone-crushing?). Hugs and kisses. Who touches whom?

The boss’s hand on someone’s shoulder shows authority. People in power feel comfortable touching subordinates, but not the other way around! Is it acceptable to touch a pregnant woman? Holding one’s hand to show the palm is regarded as a sexual attraction signal, especially when pupils dilate.

Watch how people move toward and away from one another — Distances? Who moves first? When?  Is someone’s foot pointed toward you when she or he speaks with you, or toward the door? Effective communications requires effort!

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Hal@Businessworks.US 302.933.0911

Open Minds Open Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Sep 01 2011

Generalist? Priceless. Specialist? Worthless.

Marketing, advertising,

 

PR and sales

                                  

industry-specific 

 

experience?

                  

Worthless.

 

An Opinion 

SALES

Give me a guy who can sell ketchup, propane, decorative plants, dental insurance, or rubberbands any day over a techie geek to sell your iPads, TVs, Wii programs, or Kindles. Geeks sell geeks. Sales pros sell people. Why think small when your opportunities are big? The geek market is small. Find people who are experts at serving customers, and teach them product/service knowledge.

Looking for an exceptional salesperson for your new snack products? Stop looking in the snack product industry. Find someone who sells railroad cars full of dorm furniture to universities. Surgical supplies? Get your search engine out of the med school dropout arena and find a classy cosmetics presenter with a sparkling, eager-to-learn  personality.

Oh, and remember that great salespeople don’t make great sales managers. Only great managers make great sales managers.

                                                 

PR

Find a freelance writer who has some psychology background and who can write some slam-bang persuasive headlines and sentences for all kinds of products and services– someone who is tenacious in follow-up efforts. Forget about established, specialist PR firms and groups who tend to be more interested in their names than yours. 

The public relations field is a breeding ground for con artists. I’ve seen top PR firms charge $25,000 a month and produce zero. If they can’t make what you have to sell be exciting, you lose. If they can’t follow up fanatically to get writers, reporters, editors, producers, and publishers pouncing on your story, you lose. You can teach someone with diverse quality PR experience about your industry media. 

                                            

ADVERTISING

Skip right over any provider who claims expertise in your field, unless you’re willing to spend lots of money to make no impact. Hospital advertising is a great example. It’s pathetic. Does “Excellent People” and “We Care” float your boat? Hospitals and banks are the perfect examples of advertising waste.

Get a person or small team on board who want to help you make a difference, who know how to ignite and cultivate creative thinking applications that get results. Just because something looks nice and is clever or informative doesn’t mean that it works. It may only mean that the agency is seeking to win a design award.

Don’t settle. Do your homework and due diligence. Then teach her/him/them about your business and industry.

                                    

MARKETING

Not “marketing” like healthcare people think: physician office visits with armsful of popcorn, candy, 6-foot subs, sports and concert tickets. That’s called payola, as in bring ’em gifts and they’ll prescribe or recommend or buy your products. It’s also called bribery, and it borders on STARK Law and other ethical violation issues. 

And not marketing like Fortune 500 companies hellbent on analysis paralysis before even considering a potential packaging design, pricing structure, promotional flyer, merchandising gimmick or ad headline. Part of why big companies have too much at stake to be entrepreneurial has to do with the astronomically wasted expenses involved in frivolous product and service development and meaningless market research.

You don’t need an army of “experienced (Fill in any specialty here) marketing pros.” You need a person or small team who have a proven track-record for producing results in a variety of fields. Diversity, flexibility, and common sense abilities to work with an Objective/Strategy/Tactics framework in all types of media are what count more than “industry-specific.”

P.S. Beware “Social Media Marketing Experts” who don’t understand marketing. There are plenty of them. 

                                    

THE KEY

It’s easy to teach experienced marketing/advertising/sales/PR people what they need to know about your product or service to most effectively represent it. But it’s nearly impossible to teach industry and professional practice-specific experienced people how to market, advertise, publicize and sell.

                                        

Specialization Closes Minds 

                                        

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Aug 17 2011

MOVING TARGETS

Well, HOPE never accomplished anything, but we DID get change . . .

Budget-Squeezed

 

Consumers,

                           

Unemployment Line

 

Stampedes,

                     

Fleeing lenders and

 

Investors,

                        

Slithering and Sinking

 

Suppliers

 

The days are done of having stationary targets and goals to focus on. We are a civilization on the move. Some of the action, we asked for. Some, we didn’t. Most threatening are those that have been foisted upon us by a naive, incompetent American government that has zero experience with, or appreciation for, all things business.

Even before I give you the build-up, here’s the bottom line:

You cannot start a fire with a magnifying glass if you have to keep moving the magnifying glass because the object you’re trying to ignite keeps moving!

                                                         

It’s a wonderful thing when your targets stand still for you and you have all the luxury of time to aim carefully before pulling any triggers. But that’s fantasy. Reality is that in today’s still sinking economy, everything is moving and changing — customers, employees, funding sources, referrers, vendors, and the competition are all in motion.

If you really want to put a fire under your ideas, your customers, your employees, et al, you’d be best advised to ditch the magnifying glass and figure out the best way to turn sparks to flames. You need to first explore the nature of the tasks and people involved, and assess your goal structure.

If your goals aren’t specific, realistic, flexible, AND due-dated, you’re headed into fantasyland and running on empty.

You are dealing in (with apologies to Mr. Obama) hopes and dreams: meaningless time-wasting, money-wasting, energy-wasting illusions that savvy entrepreneurs avoid like the plague.

                                                             

Dreams, ambitions, and intentions are great, but only when they are followed promptly by action. Taking action is the mark of a true leader, and all successful entrepreneurs. And some action is always better than noaction. Why? Because –again– trimes have changed and the new old motto is:

“If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway!”   

Be careful to not misread the implications here that you should suddenly fly by the seat of your pants (which could undoubtedly make for an interesting journey, but highly questionable landing). Yes, do charge at your business targets, but remember that –even when they least appear to be– they are moving and changing.

Your ability to adapt effectively to changing, moving circumstances will determine your ability to succeed. How does one prepare for vigorous activity? By stretching of course. What kinds of stretches do you need to build into your daily routine to enhance your flexibility, elasticity, ability to adjust and respond?

Writers read. Language teachers do crossword puzzles. Designers go to the movies. Doctors and dentists invent gadgets. Actors “people watch” in crowds. Musicians hum. Drivers walk. Chefs try different restaurants. Shrinks join therapy groups. Figure out what works for you.   

The world’s greatest athletes –regardless of the sport– are those who practice and practice, and practice again, hitting a moving and/or changing target. The world’s greatest entrepreneurs do the same thing. Remember high school physics class and Newton’s First Law?. . .

“A body in motion tends to stay in motion!” 

                                                                

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

 Thanks for your visit and may God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jul 25 2011

Entrepreneurship vs. Votership

There was a time, once upon a time, when I was young and foolish, and convinced I knew everything. Well I did know everything. Of course I did. After all, I was 29 or 30 and way past the dirt-poor boyhood lessons of life and growing up. In fact, I had been growing up in New York, which –when I look back– was a miracle all by itself. I mean, who grows up in New York?

                                                               

A New Yawka? Ugh, who

                         

wants one of them around?

 

 

It’s a weird thing when you think you know it all and have seen it all and have been there and done that and have the t-shirt, and then: swhooooosh! —out of the blue– the real you, broadsided with a new learning experience.

It happened when I was one of those hot-shot Madison Avenue advertising guys you may have seen portrayed on TV’s “Mad Men,” or maybe not. (Actually, that show was not very authentic, but what does TV have to work with except half-truths anyway?). I commuted 40 minutes each way by train into the city, M-F, creating great ads.

I married too young, and as I went “over the hill” at age 30, I was already ending a messy marriage, and winning diapers-galore legal custody of my three children (2,2, and 4), one of the twins profoundly retarded. Imagine the small army of friends, neighbors and household help (from a loyal young caring live-in couple, Wayne and Peggy).

As luck would have it, my troubled twin (now PC-termed “profoundly developmentally disabled”) slept all day and cried all night as I walked the floors with her. So with endless spare time on my hands, I made the mistake of taking up with more of the politics I’d left behind as a teenage and 20-something volunteer for the Democratic Party.

I know, I know, but it was because my parents were lifelong Democrats — “The working man’s party,” my father proudly exclaimed. I figured he should know which team was the good guys because he was of course, a working man! Besides the Democrats all spoke from the heart and made powerful promises and shook my father’s hand.

So what’s changed? The Democratic Party. It walked away. Democrats are now the party of greedy union bosses, elite academics, never-say-die tree huggers, fat and happy government employees, free handout beneficiaries . . .  and UN-American, share-the-wealth-with-thieves-and-illegals-to-build-votership idealists with no sense of reality.

Then I became an entrepreneur.

Democratic Party leadership (now there’san oxymoron!) is invested in destroying entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial spirit . . . obliterating the same entrepreneurial spirit that built this great nation. They are on a relentless anti-capitalism freight train crusade to run over and destroy small business enterprises and ownership

. . . at the expense of job creation and economic survival!

Doesn’t sound like much of a good trade-off to me, but, hey, what do I know? I’m just a transplanted New Yawka whose business is busy fighting off our great White House visionaries who obviously value votership over entrepreneurship. 

Can there be such a thing as short-sighted visionaries? How about 30 million short-circuited small business ownersHow about we vote together for a change? November 6, 2012. Be there.                  

 

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116 

 Open minds open doors.

 Thanks for visiting.  God bless you. 

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jul 23 2011

NOW AND THEN . . .

The best source of business

                     

 is always existing and 

                        

 past business.

 

                         

What have you done lately about resurrecting contact with old friends and business associates? The amount of time, money and energy plowed into developing new business in new markets with customers and suppliers who’ve never heard of them is a phenomenal waste. Put the same effort and resources into those who already know you. 

Even brain-dead politicians know this. Why do they concentrate campaign efforts on those who have supported them in the past? Because to those people (voters), they’re known entities, and that alone is often enough to trigger contributions or in the case of business, sales. There’s no need to start the get-acquainted process from scratch.

“Go straight to the heart of the matter,”

(my father always told me!)

                                  

At the heart of winning more business in as catastrophic an economy as we’re living with, is the need to revisit, renew, and re-cultivate old friendships, old acquaintances, old customers and clients, old suppliers and vendors, old investors and lenders, old employees and employers, old partnerships and alliances. ALL former supporters.

These are people who you may have lost touch with (and perhaps on purpose), but with rapidly changing times often come changing more receptive attitudes. Someone who was an employee and left for a better career move may now be in a position of being a customer, or a referrer, or a supplier, or even an investor! How will you know? Ask.

Small business owners and managers typically avoid past contacts for many reasons, but none of those reasons (unless they would open some legal wounds) are good reasons for glossing over possible resources who have a favorable impression of you. Spend your time, money, and effort there instead of digging up new prospects!

When you communicate your message to someone who knows you, you can skip all the preambles; there’s no need to waste words explaining who you are and where you came from and how you do what you do. Go straight to the heart:  

  • “I know it’s been awhile, but I thought you’d be especially interested in . . . because . . .”

Or . . . 

  • “As soon as we put out this special (new product or service, warranty, price deal), I was reminded of how it would/might/does/could have great value/appeal/interest to/for you, and thought you may be interested in this ‘sneak preview’ of . . .”   

                                                                            

In the end, it’s all about consistently using the best sets of words to deliver your message, and targeting past and present business contacts which allows you to engage their interests without having to have them get past the preliminaries of who you are. That small difference puts you a giant step ahead in the sales or recruitment process. 

Oh, and a no-brainer by the way, you can also reach these people and get them to your website, store or office with personalized (free) emails or (inexpensive) postcards instead of extravagant network TV $pon$or$hip$.                                                                                                                 

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116 

  Open minds open doors. 

 Thanks for visiting. God bless you. 

   Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jul 11 2011

The Real Entrepreneurs

Many traditional marketers haven’t a clue . . .

                                                           

Real entrepreneurs

                                           

respond in an instant and 

                                  

develop ideas thoroughly

                              

from beginning to end.

 

                    

Today’s marketing people are not adapting well to current economic realities. They see themselves as part of the solution to a problem that they do not understand . . . one they are not trying hard enough to overcome.

The no-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel economy we’re presently in doesn’t, for example, automatically translate to everyone being interested in finding a better dollar deal. Instead, when budgets are restricted is when entrepreneurs need to invest more heavily in building long-term relationships, as they would expect of their own suppliers.

Traditional marketing pros are missing this.

They are still knocking themselves silly trying to fit business owners into their media and social media games and patterns and rate cards and strategies instead of adapting what they know to help entrepreneurs do more with less

. . . instead of pulling their chairs up to the same side of the table.

                                                                     

This doesn’t mean reinforcing the customer service department. It does mean building customer service into the job decription for every single employee. When every staffer is also a customer service specialist –poof!– you no longer need a customer service department! Nurturing long-term relationships becomes your new business. 

Marketing traditionalists are missing this point, and others like it. The “new” cyberspace marketing pros are also missing the point. First off, the whole world is NOT tuned into the Internet which means the perspective that every human on Earth is aware of Mashable, YELP, Tweets, BFs, DMs, clouds, and the advent of Cicret Bracelets is false. So the perspective is warped.

Second, when traditionalists wrap their marketing strategies around media airtime, print space availabilities and “special rate card deal packages” or “online marketing and SEO experts” (most of whom are self-designated, unproven, and over-priced) parade out their website and email bells and whistles, entrepreneurs end up the losers. 

If you’re a small business owner, operator, or manager, you need to be looking AWAY FROM formula marketing solutions that do not bend over backwards for you the same way you bend over backwards for your customers.

This is not an economy where you can simply accept blanket marketing recommendations without questioning.

                                                                        

Marketing pros need to be thinking more like entrepreneurs. They need to be looking much harder at ways to market products and services for maximum impact without spending as much money as in the past. They need to be offering their services more on a performance incentive basis, and put their wallets where their mouths are. 

Entrepreneurs need to challenge marketing people more to get “more bang for the buck” and –by the same token — be willing to reward generously for performance. A marketing success that produces $1 million in new sales should be well worth a $250,000 or $300,000 fee because you end up with the balance — money you never had before! 

Bottom line: Get streamlined. Get simple. Look under new leaves. Push for impact and relationships instead of deals. Yeah, I know about car dealerships; but they’re in their own world. This post is about reality and your business. It’s about looking to Twitter instead of network TV, postcards instead of elaborate mailers, emails . . .

                                                                       

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hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

 

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Jun 30 2011

4th of July Sparklers

Seeking sales fireworks?

                                      

Check your sparklers!

 

                                

Business owners constantly want more sales results than they’re typically ready to put their shoulders to the wheel for, in terms of the marketing words (their “sparklers”) that they use.

The average response to meeting the need for coming up with the right sets of marketing words to represent business products, services, and ideas is a lazy one. Most small business owners, it seems, either wing it to save money, delegate it because they’re afraid of it or want to “give someone a chance”

. . . OR they hire some fancy high-priced group of self-proclaimed experts to get it done.

What works? None of the above.

                             

When you wing it

. . .  it’s like not fastening the screws that hold your product parts together, or not providing the terms of the services you offer. It’s a great deal more than that because you’re dealing with peoples’ brains and that delicate experienced edge of psychological savvy mixed into the creative pot is what makes the difference.

You are not in business doing what you’re doing to be a great marketing writer any more than you’re in business to be a great lawyer or accountant (unless of course you’re a lawyer or accountant!).

So why waste time and energy (and ultimately money) trying to be something you’re not, when you have the option to be driving your business to a successful destination by applying your full resources to operations, finances and sales? Okay, so promise you won’t wing it, okay.

                                                        

When you delegate it 

. . . you’ll hand it off to that assistant of yours . . . you know, the one who’s always writing some book, or poetry, or funny Facebook posts. When you delegate the task, regardless of what you think might be signs of talent rising up from someone on your staff, you should expect to get the inadequate results you will get.

I can assure you after seeing years’ worth of these dynamics, what you get back will simply not be professional enough a representation of your business strengths. Nor will it be put into the customer-benefits language you need in order to succeed at producing the sales results you seek.

What you get, in fact, could very well end up undermining your other sales-building efforts.

                                          

When you hire a fancy group

. . . an advertising or marketing or PR agency — you should know that this choice delivers about 85% odds that the group you hire will be very skilled at not letting you know that they are more preoccupied with winning themselves some type of marketing, advertising or PR award than they are with helping you make sales.

When “getting sales” is what’s important, being “pretty” and having the best designs don’t always count for much.

Odds are also that they will be fantastically talented at not letting on that they don’t really know how to help you make sales. Ask them if they’re willing to work on a expenses plus performance incentive basis. That question usually separates reality from fantasy.

                                              

If the words you’re using don’t sparkle enough to spark action, find a wordsmith. Do some homework and scout around for an experienced individual who has a proven track-record in writing words that get sales results. Find someone who demonstrates interest in your business but not an “expert” at it. An expert writer is what you want.     

You need fireworks? Start with someone who knows how to spark sales with “sparkler” words . . . words that attract attention, words that create interest, words that stimulate desire, words that bring about action, words that prompt satisfaction.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” 

[Thomas Jefferson] 

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

 Open minds open doors.

Thanks for visiting. God Bless You.

God Bless America and America’s Troops.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jun 27 2011

Every blink you blink

 Every step you take,

                            

 every word you say,

                                  

 every blink you blink

                           

  . . . is marketing.

 

 

You’re a professional practice or small business owner or manager. Whether you have 100 employees or work out of your bedroom closet, the words you use (and don’t use) and the ways and places you move (and don’t move) say worlds about where you’re headed and how long it will take you to get there.

Every step you take and word you say, every blink you blink is a form of marketing to someone for something.

                                                                     

It doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to get your rich brother-in-law to loan you his $1,700,000 Bugatti Veyron to drive your best customer to dinner at the club, or whether you want to motivate your new assistant, or get approval to cash in a free WAWA coffee coupon that expired yesterday, you are constantly engaged in marketing.

Your business plan and loan applications are marketing documents. When you hire a consultant, you have to impress on that person or group (oh, sorry, “team”) that you and your business are worthy of her/his/their exertions on your behalf. You slide a little salesy language into explaining what your business is all about.

The thing is that most hard-nosed, competitive, aggressive business people know all this and make no bones about practicing proactive, assertive language and posturing at every turn in the road. But those who often have the most to offer in terms of creativity and innovation will typically get themselves caught up in the process, not the selling.

We can’t turn timid creative genius personalities into super sales pros overnight (and probably shouldn’t try or even want to), but we can help raise these folks up a notch by pointing out that five criteria are part of every successful marketing effort . .  and that EVERYthing is marketing SOMEthing! Your steps, words, and blinks must:

  1. Attract Attention

  2. Create Interest

  3. Stimulate Desire

  4. Prompt Action

  5. Deliver Satisfaction

                                                          

All five of these must be present in every form and function of marketing to bring about ongoing and long-term success. Look around you. The extent to which these five criteria are effective determines how effectively your message is being delivered to your target markets.

Look for the five in print advertisements and broadcast commercials; billboards and other outdoor advertising vehicle messages; print and video promotions and displays; online presence (websites, social media sites, etc.); sales presentations (in-person, seminars, webinars, teleconferences; trade and professional shows); public relations programs (events, news releases, etc); packaging and labeling; merchandising; even pricing can all be measured for effectiveness when they succeed at making these ten words work . . . even in your “elevator speech.” 

Remember you are being:

watched; heard and overheard; listened to (there IS a difference!); read about; sized-up; checked out; assessed; evaluated; figured out; thought about; tested; weighed; raked over; admired; followed; respected; loved; praised; scourged; mocked; appreciated; and bought

— all day, every day, even as you sleep!

                                                 

The same way that you buy or don’t buy others, they buy or don’t buy you. Your best insurance for achieving success is to make the sale. Your best way to make the sale is to accept that it is what it is, and that you need to be forever on the alert to opportunities.

Opportunities are created by marketing that attracts attention, creates interest, stimulates desire, prompts action, and delivers satisfaction.

Drive your imagination forward with reality. 

 

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Hal@Businessworks.US

 Open minds open doors.

Thanks for visiting and Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No responses yet

Jun 23 2011

rightbackatcha!

Twitter opportunities

                          

bail small business out

                   

 of still sinking economy!

                                                            

                                                 

Opinion, after creating thousands of small business marketing and management programs, and many life observations:

Since the debut of television, no other media vehicle has had such positive and pronounced impact for small business as Twitter. LinkedIn is a distant second and Facebook doesn’t even make it to the table.

________________

A little background . . .

  • In case you haven’t noticed: since 2008, there’s been relentless government pursuit of globalization at the expense of business, marked by the near strangulation of entrepreneurial ventures and accompanying choke-hold on free market competition.

  • In flagrant disregard for America’s economy, America’s employment opportunities, America’s military, America’s healthcare, and America’s self-esteem, spread-the-wealth idealogy has trampled the nation’s economic heart and soul beneath its runaway tank treads.

  • America’s 30 million small business enterprises –the proven source of over 90% of all new jobs– have been chewed up and spit out while bungling corporate giants and their muscle-brained unions have been handed tax-dollar bailouts that have accomplished nothing.

________________

                      

So where does Twitter come in and what’s “rightbackatcha!” all about? Twitter, first of all, is a powerful outbound social media entity. Among many applications, it allows for small businesses to broadcast availability of products and services out to the world at no cost. In today’s economy, this access is a Godsend.

More and more small businesses are taking advantage of the opportunities Twitter provides, and are discovering that INTERNET globalization opens new revenue stream pathways unimaginable just 5 or 6 years ago. Business today comes from many surprise sources . . .

A local plumber gets a service call from Betty whose cousin lives 2,000 miles away but cut and pasted his clever Twitter quote into an email to Betty because it mentioned the town Betty lives in. Betty figured that was better than the Yellow Pages. Voila!

                                                                

LinkedIn, FYI, is a much more sedate, more corporate medium. It lacks both the flair and immediacy of Twitter.  

Facebook? Forget about it! For business, Facebook doesn’t cut it! Let it help you keep your Friends and family together and communicating, but don’t expect it to make sales for your business.

If you run a small business and you have a website, why do you need to find people to drive to your Facebook page to try to get them to visit your website? It won’t happen. The process is too big a run-a-around. Visiters bail out. Why waste time and money and energy?

Send people direct to your website! Facebook also demands constant monitoring to police inappropriate posts that you don’t want associated with your business.

So, now you’re on Twitter, but it’s not working? That’s only because YOU’RE not working.

If you work” Twitter, you are careful not to flood it with repetitive sales-pitch messages, and you have fun with it by being social. Yes, that’s what makes it part of “social” media.

In other words, someone mentions or thanks or repeats (RTs) your comment (“Tweet”)? Reply with a thank you!

Say: “rightbackatcha!” or express some form of appreciation. Even a “TY” will do.

But don’t disregard others for the sake of ramming home your sales message. Your “Followers” will drop like flies.

                                                             

About “Followers,” incidentally, if you’re not selling something that EVERYone needs (rubberbands, toothbrushes, water), you don’t need 36 trillion Followers; you need Followers who share your interests or who fit your market target. Be selective.

If you’re going to “play the numbers” and amass as many as possible, be prepared for the fallout. You will inevitably attract weirdos who will waste your time and energy.

So, someone tells you you’re great or that they like your quote or the title of the song you mention or the product or service you represent, tell ’em “rightbackatcha!” or say Thanks (or THX). But you ignore sociability at your peril.    

Drive your imagination forward with reality. 

Open minds open doors.  

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jun 19 2011

Life In The Fastlane

Think you have

                         

a busy business

                                         

 and lead a busy life?

                      

Think about this quote

                       

…and this 60-second bullet list!

                                                                    

 

Pretty scary stuff to be banging around your brain, eh? It’s no wonder you get yourself stressed out. Just think about the information overload comment and what’s happening in every passing 60 seconds worth of cyberspace. I mean,  any entrepreneur in her or his right mind could easily almost die or justify opting in to becoming an ostrich. 

But, no. Here you stand, taking it on the chin (and in the wallet)! You are in it, and you’re going to make it work for you because you are not a quitter, because you’ve got guts and gumption, because you believe in your ideas. What’s missing? Sometimes you teeter on the edge of not believing in your SELF. Sometimes you need a re-charge.

Well, step right up, business and professional practice owners and managers and operators and partners and investors! I know you think you’ve got a “killer” business, so I’ll tell ya what I’m gonna do: I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse. Are you ready?

Here’s the deal: You stop reading newspapers and news magazines and newsletters . . . stop watching and listening to news reports and programs . . . take more deep breaths than ever before . . . think more about your family than you normally do and say a few more prayers than you’re used to . . . for 21 days!

If you fail to make something of really major importance happen for you and/or your business in that amount of time –21 days, but you must follow the news abstinence path outlined– I will devote a full blog post to promoting your business interests for free plus provide you –also free– with a professional news release you can use.

I’ll even throw in step-by-step personalized professional guidance on how to make it work . . . Over $2500 worth of professional services for FREE if you fail to succeed with the approach outlined above. No strings attached. No gimmicks. I will not try to sell you on anything else, or on any extension of services.

This is a straight ahead offer.

If you are successful, you get –free– a full 45-minute customized and personalized telephone consultation on how to make more effective and more economical use of your planned and existing marketing efforts. No strings attached. No gimmicks. I will not try to sell you on anything else, or on any extension of services.

This is a straight ahead offer. 

Deadline: You have until July 29th to stake your claim. I will expect a dated, detailed report of the steps you take and the results you produced or failed to produce. You can contact me by email or phone message anytime, and I will respond promptly.

You have nothing to lose except news

(and that never changes anyhow).

                                                      

# # #

                                                   

Your FREE subscription: Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No responses yet

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