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For those of you who have not hear of Twitter before here is a short explanation of what it is.  Twitter is a privately funded startup company that was started as a side project in March 2006 in the neighborhood of San Francisco, CA.  Twitter is a real-time short messaging service that works on multiple networks and devices.  It is used to update people on friends day-to-day activities, world news, and even for businesses.  So now that you know what it is you may be thinking to yourself how is it really useful for business? Below are a few ways I have found it to be helpful for my blog.

1. Create an account.  Use the search feature of Twitter to see what your competitors are doing and read and learn from them.

2. Add a picture of your company/logo or yourself.  People like to see who you are and that way they can relate to you a bit more easily.

3. Talk to other people on Twitter. Even if it doesn’t help your business it shows you are human and are interested.

4. Point out interesting topics on your space and don’t just put things about yourself.

5. Share links to interesting places / websites / blogs.

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\\ tags: Business, Twitter

It’s time to visit a topic that may be uncomfortable for some, but something that must be discussed. Are you losing people with your voice? In a time where face-to-face meetings seem to be rare and more business is conducted via the telephone your voice could be hindering your success. On the telephone we do not have visual cues or body language to strengthen our position and message, all we have is our voice.

Not too long ago I had a young lady come in for an interview for an Account Coordinator position. Our office is in a loft format like many ad agencies today, so it’s an open floor design without individual offices. I heard the young lady arrive and speak with someone as she entered the office. I didn’t even have to look at her to know that she was not the right person for the job. Why? Unfortunately it wasn’t her skill level or education, it was her voice.

As an Account Coordinator working with an agency that does national business a lot of your time is spent on the phone. Professionalism, friendliness and confidence has to be vocalized using the instrument of your voice.

I realize that we are all born with our voices, but they can in fact be trained. If you spend a lot of time on the phone conducting business perhaps it’s time to assess your own voice skills. Your voice is in fact a tool. It’s a tool that can gain you business or lose you that next business deal.

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\\ tags: Business

Contrary to popular belief, to be a successful salesperson, it doesn’t matter how much you know about your product or service. It also doesn’t matter how much of an industry expert you are. It doesn’t even matter how great your mother thinks you are. The only thing that really matters to be successful in selling is your ability to shut-up and listen. On numerous occasions, everyone in sales has heard how important it is to get the customer talking, so it’s imperative that they have an arsenal of great questions to ask. Despite trying to follow this guideline, every salesperson seems to overstate the amount of time they believe they allow the customer to talk. The many interviews I’ve conducted over the years with customers and salespeople alike confirm this reality. Therefore, salespeople need to take a step back and consider their sales presentation.

To talk less means you have to ask questions that truly engage the customer. However, this doesn’t mean you need to develop complex questions. Instead, the best tactic is to ask shorter ones. Long questions tend to result in short answers, while short questions will generally result in long answers. An example of a great short question is, “Why?” In my opinion, there isn’t a better follow-up question you can ask after the customer has shared with you some information. Consider how your customers would respond to other short examples like, “Can you elaborate on that?” and “Could you explain more?” These shorter questions elicit detailed responses and that’s just what you want. On the other hand, asking complex questions often tends to perplex customers. Because they are not sure what you are looking for, they respond with the universal answer representing total confusion, “What did you say?” Questions should not be your means of showing your customers that you are an expert. Save that for your statements.

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\\ tags: Business, sell

• If your goal is to get the phone call returned, don’t leave information that would allow the person to make up their mind. Add a call-to-action to your message by providing a key date or something of interest that will encourage the person to return the call. You have to create a reason for them to call you back.

• Repeat your phone number twice. If the person can’t quickly write your number down, you’ve given them a perfect reason to not call back.

• Avoid asking ask the person to call you back at a certain time. This provides them with an excuse not to call you.

• Never state in the message that you will plan to call them back. Again, this only gives the person an excuse to ignore your message.

• Messages left on a Friday afternoon are the least likely to be returned. For most people, Monday mornings are very busy and, as a result, only high–priority activities will get their immediate attention.

• Do not leave voicemail messages at odd hours of the night. Most voicemail systems offer a time stamp and the person hearing the message will immediately suspect you really did not want to talk to them.

• The best hours to leave voicemail messages are from 6:45 AM to 8:00 AM and from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM. Aggressive people are usually working during these time periods, and the person receiving your message could potentially view you as one.

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\\ tags: Business, Sales, Sales Tips

There is a difference between dissatisfied or disgruntled customers and complainers. The former often only have to answer to themselves; the latter most likely will have to answer to others about the results of their experience.

Everyone has dissatisfied or disgruntled and complaining customers and clients. Businesses have them, organizations have them, government certainly has them, and, unfortunately both employees and employers have them.

Anyone offering ideas, information, skills, services or products has obligations:

1. The first obligation is to what is being offered – to make sure that what is being offered is presented in the best possible manner, given the limitations of time, space, effort, and/or money. These limitations should not be used as excuses for a poor presentation.
2. The second obligation is to give customers enough choices (more than one of two or yes or no but not so many as to confuse customers) so they believe that in making their decision to buy or not they have made the best decision. If customers sense they are not being given enough options, they will delay their decision until they find the right options to satisfy their needs.This is called giving customers a “marketplace,” a place where they see what their options are. A marketplace can be in time, location, space, size, color, material, effort, services, or money. There are almost 100 ways to make a marketplace.

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\\ tags: Business, Sales

Recently, a client of mine complained, “I’m really good at what I do. I shouldn’t have to market myself.” In fact, he is quite good at his profession, but the problem is that not enough prospective clients know about him. Like many professionals, he is reluctant to talk about his accomplishments. “It feels like bragging,” he says. “Doesn’t it make me seem unprofessional?”

If thoughts like these often cross your mind, ask yourself this — who are the biggest names in your profession? In your line of work, who might be considered unquestioned experts, those with maximum credibility? Now, how did you get to know about those people’s work? Did you read an article or book they had written, hear them interviewed, learn about them on the web? Or perhaps you were told about them by others who had heard them speak or read their words.

The point is that these well-known people became well-known because they showcased themselves, usually in multiple ways. They shared stories, examples, and ideas about the work they had been doing with a wider audience than just their friends and family. You know about their work because they showed it off. And I’ll bet it never occurred to you to call them unprofessional for doing it.

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\\ tags: Business, Sales

We’ve all received them. We occasionally read them. However, most end up in the recycle bin . . . But why? They’re only a page or two long, and yet many direct mail sales letters are just as dead as the felled log they were fashioned from . . .

Okay, so you’ve targeted suitable companies, found the name and title of the decision maker for your product or service, and the Trojan-like envelope has made it past the always-suspecting secretary/assistant, and the decision maker has opened up the letter! What will your letter read like? The following checklist will hopefully ensure an image to set yourself apart from the pack.

• Ensure the message matches the needs of the target audience.
  Does your offer of products and/or services match the needs of the recipient? Don’t make your pitch to a company president if your message only applies to the marketing staff.
• Get to the point.
  If you begin your letter with general, hazy information - you risk losing the reader. It’s critical you make your point in those first few lines.

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\\ tags: Business, Sales, Sales Tips

Recommending that you stop writing press releases and start writing news releases is not a play on words. It is sound advice.

In common parlance, “press release” and “news release” mean the same thing. However, the terminology people use often betrays a fundamental difference in how they put this information together and how well it is accepted by the media.

Early in my career, I was editor of a daily newspaper and later a writer with The Wall Street Journal. One of my jobs was to screen submissions to decide which ones we would print and which ones we would throw away.

Approximately 80 - 85% of submissions failed the first screening, a life or death decision usually made within 60 seconds or less. On the other hand, the vast majority of those that survived this first screening also survived the second one and were ultimately published.

What made the difference? Basically, it was in how the author of the document viewed the material being submitted.

• Losers. Information a company or organisation wanted to see printed for its own benefit.
• Winners. Information a company or organisation wanted to see printed for its own benefit and the benefit of our readers.

In both cases, the submitter had something to gain if we published the release, i.e. positive publicity. However, in the first case, the focus was on only how the submitter would benefit from publication. In the second, it was on both how the submitter and our readers would benefit.

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\\ tags: Business, Public Relations

Reporters are always looking for compelling stories. You can help them and, at the same time, win press coverage for your products, services, organization or cause. Every organization, including yours, has newsworthy information. Sometimes you just have to dig a bit to get to it. Here are seven suggestions that will help you find the stories within your organization that you can pitch to get positive press attention and boost your public relations:

1) Identify trends in your industry - use your organization/product/issue as an example of a trend — and pitch them as story ideas to the magazines, newsletters and Web sites your customers and prospects read.

2) A milestone: does your organization have an accomplishment or anniversary to brag about that is of public interest - a new product, service, partnership, event, contract win or hire? Find a news hook for it. Here, for example, are some commemorations that might be good news hooks for your products or services: National School Success Month, National Preparedness Month, Self Improvement Month, and Hispanic Heritage Month.

3) Take note of a “First in a Series” article. If you and your company would fit into the series as good sources, contact the reporter with reasons you might be included in the next article in the series.

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\\ tags: Business, Public Relations

Whether you have four employees or 40,000, the ability of every member of your team to speak in a unified voice is a very powerful business tool that will help you get higher visibility.

Effective messaging provides you and your team with a PR “codebook” to communicate with all audiences: customers, potential customers, the press, investors, partners and employees. It provides a shortcut for all of your public relations: creating speeches, marketing materials, web site text, news releases and language for proposals, contracts and other official communication. Your team will find it indispensable.

It need not be complex — 2-3 pages is standard. It includes:

1) The ID graph. This is a single paragraph, the “boilerplate,” that describes your organization. Like all of the other messages below, it should answer the question “What Can You Do For Me?” It is often used at the bottom of press releases under “About XYZCo.”

2) The Elevator Speech. Keep it to 3-4 floors! Practice a 15- second pitch on how you and your organization can help your “elevator-mate’s” organization succeed. What they want to know is “What can you do for me?” good conversation starter at networking events.

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\\ tags: Business, Public Relations