He was brilliant. Polished. An asset for the company he represented. In less than an hour, he worked up the crowd to fever pitch. Hundreds of people lined up to sign up for the next step—which involved a no-cost, eight-hour financial investment training day.

He was also an author. He told his story of how he met a man who invited him to several investment meetings. And those meetings changed his life forever.

He became wealthy from practicing those investment strategies. He turned from amateur to pro. He had finally arrived. And now he wanted to teach those same strategies to investors.

He made the audience laugh, repeat “yes” for the umpteenth time, and put everyone at ease with his low-pressure persuasion techniques. He was even crawling on the floor to illustrate a point. There’s no doubt he graduated Sales Mastery with honors.

But the crowning moment was when he invited four investment newbies to take the stage. He showed them how easy it was to make money whether the market was going up or down. He had them bobbing their heads the entire time. This provided the social proof people needed to participate in the next step.

But many knew better…

I spoke with Ashley, a graphic designer who signed up because Carmen, her realtor mom, wanted to check out the training. Ashley was suspicious of the sales pitch and she wanted to protect her mom from these cleverly disguised sales wolves. I hope Ashley doesn’t lower her guard either.

Because once they get you into their training room, they will hit you with a variety of persuasion techniques to scramble your radar. They will make you feel like you have an IQ of a slug for not investing in their program. Don’t forget to take prescription strength “stubborn” pills with you on that day.

And my colleague, Dana, didn’t approve of the fact that she was being sold. She was skeptical from the start of the presentation. She never cracked a smile during the entire talk. She may have been half-fuming. (Or half-envious.)

But let’s be real…

Salespeople have to make a living. Selling is their job. The economy becomes stagnant when nothing gets sold. I hope you agree that selling is a good thing.

Yet people don’t like to be sold. They like to buy, but not be sold. Buying puts us in control. We own that power. We lose that power position when we’re being sold.

So the speaker did a great job. He racked up hundreds of people into the next phase. He’ll receive a nice bonus for his persuasive presentation.

Yet the question remains: If you could—should you?

If you could bottle fountain water to sell to unsuspecting supermarkets: should you?

If you could pay off the FDA to market your medicine: should you?

If you could pressure people with their last dollar to invest into your program: should you?

If you could sell company secrets to competitors: should you?

If your boss commanded you to lie to consumers: should you?

If you answered “yes” and can sleep well at night, then you are lower than the slime on the bottom of my shoe. You may dress in business attire on the outside, but the inner person is polluted with soot. Despite the media coverage that white collar criminals get incarcerated to Club Fed: You should hold yourself to a higher standard.

Besides it’s hard to become stealth with unethical conduct. Your inner circle of friends and closest allies notice what you do. Especially in a hi-tech society where everything is traceable.

But if you decide to burn people anyway—the Universe always has a way of settling these accounts. Eastern philosophers call it karma. Western ministers label it “reaping what you sow.” And enlightened people name it the Law of Cause and Effect.

So why would anyone corrupt themselves for a buck?

Avoid the scandals, fines and embarrassment. Do the right thing always. And leave a legacy of integrity, accountability and upstanding character for generations to admire and model.

Tommy Yan helps business owners and entrepreneurs make more money through direct response marketing. He publishes Tommy’s Tease weekly e-zine to inspire people to succeed in business and personal growth. Get your free subscription today at here.

Get a FREE 5-week Secrets to Web Mastery e-course. If your websites aren’t making sales or capturing leads, you can’t afford to let it idle in Cyberspace. Read more..

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Tags: ethical, salesperson, product, career, company

Tell most people that you are in sales and watch their reaction. Their experiences with high pressure, poor service and poor quality have conditioned them to believe the worst when they hear this word – salesman.

This visceral reaction might be why many involved in sales now call themselves business development representatives. Yet, after talking to them, you know that what is, is. They are in sales.

So why this extreme negative reaction? If we look to the past, we may remember the used car salesman or the high-pressure salesperson that we encountered during our work experience. Our negative reaction has more to do with their ethics and values than their selling skills.

What most of these salespeople have in common is a lack of ethics. Without clearly communicated ethics and core values, theses salespersons will do almost anything to secure the order. Their beliefs and attitudes were once the sales were made, go on to the next sale or sucker.

Today’s marketplace is different. Buyers are far more intelligent and have easier access to researching potential products and services. To differentiate yourself demands that you construct your own values statement or business ethics statement. These values or ethics are non-negotiable behaviors that you will consistently demonstrate in all interactions.

Maybe, it is time to use a core values statements to disqualify potential clients so that you can secure clients who will truly benefit from your products or services. When we as sales people take any order just to make a sale, we may be compromising our own core values and ultimately end up with a dissatisfied client. Remember, that dissatisfied clients share their unhappiness with more people than satisfied clients do.

If you are a salesperson and do not have a written values statement for yourself, take the time right now to construct one right now. For you and more importantly your demonstrated ethics are the change in the world.

Do you want to increase your sales? Then, you might be interested “Simply Speaking, Increase Sales by…” a truly quality e-book combination workbook that focuses on helping you within the 3 key areas of Marketing, Selling and Planning. Learn more at here.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. is a speaker and national business coach who has written hundreds of articles with a focus on leveraging human capital for transformational change by developing results driven leadership in people, teams and organizations.

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Tags: ethical, salesperson, product, career, company

Here is more great information on the art of writing an effective press release and the correct press release format to use.

1. Headline. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Be creative and keep it to one sentence.

2. Capitalize the first letter of all words but do not use all caps.

3. Exclamation marks (“!”) only sell your release as advertising, not news.

4. Paragraph 1 City, State, Month, Day, Year – Begin with a strong introductory paragraph that captures the reader’s attention and contains the information most relevant to your message such as the five W’s – who, what, when, where, and why. This paragraph should summarize the press release and include a hook to get your audience interested in reading more.

5. Paragraph 2, 3, 4, etc. These paragraphs should contain more detailed important information, and make up the body of the release.

6. Make sure you use correct grammar so as not to affect your credibility negatively.

7. Use quotes or information about businesses and most importantly have an angle that will appeal to journalists (often by connecting your release to current events or issues).

8. Effective releases usually utilize a strategy known as the inverted pyramid, which is written with the most important information and quotes first.

9. The body of your release should be more than one paragraph.

10. The final paragraph should restate and summarize the key points of your release.

11. Additional 1 Provide avenues for the reader to obtain additional information, demos, samples, etc., but please DO NOT include Internet links.

12. Additional 2 Trademark acknowledgment, product or event time lines, availability, logistics, etc.

13. Additional 3 Background information about the company featured in the release, if appropriate, as well as any applicable safe harbor statement. ### (end with these characters) A FINAL NOTE: With an effective release, it should be possible to cut off the bottom half of the release and still provide journalists with sufficient information.

Clyde Thorburn

Search Engine Optimisation Services Specialist

Johannesburg South Africa

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Clyde Thorburn – EzineArticles Expert Author

Tags: public, relations, specialist, career, jobs

2007 saw an increasing trend in PR agencies dedicating a consultant or even a team to concentrate strictly on digital/online PR. This is an area which is experiencing a huge boom due to the UK consumer’s ever-growing consumption of online media. This brings to light all sorts of questions!

Which is more influential; new media or traditional press? How do you measure the effect ‘blogging’ has on a brand? Are social networking sites here to stay or just a passing fad? How does this affect jobs in PR? To get a view from a fellow PR professional, the PR Moves team discussed these and other questions with former Career Moves Group candidate Lee Hobbs, Director of PR at Jetix:

What new-media outlets do you use to gain coverage for your company?

As a pan-European kids TV channel new media is essential to us and allows us to communicate with multiple territories simultaneously. These include online versions of magazines such as Broadcast, Television Business International and digital news-wires such as C21Media.net and Rapid TV News.

What do you think is more influential? New media or traditional press? And why?

I think at the moment traditional media still has more influence than new media although this is clearly changing. We’re now finding that online or digital media is consistently breaking news and setting the news agenda – with traditional media playing catch-up.

Is social networking just a fad or do you think it will change the dynamics of PR forever?

I think it will change the dynamics of PR forever especially with media consumption fragmenting and technology allowing consumers to watch, listen and download programming whenever and wherever they want to. Social networking can be an incredibly effective marketing tool and give your campaign real talkability – something that E4 successfully did with the MySpace campaign it ran for Skins.

Do you use new media as a means to get coverage for your company’s brand?

Yes

If yes, how does it compare to the more traditional ways of gaining coverage? How do you measure new media’s circulation etc?

We look at the hit rate of each site although I still feel that the industry has not mastered how to most effectively monitor the success of new media PR. There is still too much focus on traditional print media and the need to give clients or management a cuttings report that they can thumb through. I think PRs need to get to grips with new media and understand how to make the most of growing consumer-led trends such as social networking.

What’s the future of social networking in your view? What are the advantages & disadvantages of using it?

The one disadvantage is the lack of control that social networking offers companies. Even if you start a discussion off with positive topics users could change the tone and even end up being critical of your brand or organisation. But I think it’s a risk worth taking as word-of-mouth endorsement is arguably the most powerful endorsement your brand can gain.

2008 is bound to see this trend continue, and even traditional PR jobs are changing to have a more digital emphasis. PR recruitment agencies are also increasingly seeking out the candidates with online and social media experience to meet clients’ requirements.

The author is in the traditional media line and he has seen the changes in pr recruitment agencies, jobs in pr. For more information please visit this site

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Tags: public, relations, specialists, salary, career

Press releases are a great way to draw extra attention to your business and create a bit of a buzz around new events and products. However, if poorly written, your press release will never be picked up by the media and your great news, even if newsworthy, won’t see the light of day. Here’s how to write a press release that will have the media begging for more.

Give It an Angle

Your press release needs to have an angle built in so that it is easy for an editor to turn it into a front page story if necessary. Write your press release as if it were an article and you have a very good chance of it being picked up. Editors love it when they don’t have to work too hard.

For your press release to garner favor, it’s a good idea to turn it into a story that people will be interested in reading. For example, no one will care that you just got new carpet in your office, but what can create a newsworthy release is the fact that the new carpet is made from recycled plastic and marks the beginning of a green era for your business.

Make It Snappy

A press release is not a college essay and it shouldn’t read like one. Write it like a magazine article. A good tip is to take a look at the publication you want to get into and write the press release to fit that style. This gives you an added advantage… the reporter won’t have to struggle to make your article fit into the magazine. To keep your press release interesting and fun to read, make sure you write actively. That means using active instead of passive verbs and making the action leap out to the readers.

For example, rather than say; “The new carpet was installed”, write “We lay the carpet ourselves to save money” or something similar, using an active voice. Also, you will want to keep the press release fairly short. Most editors don’t have time to be reading fifty pages on how your business is coming out with a new product.

Split It Up

Using subtitles and bullet points is an excellent way to make your press release easier to read. To do this easily, write down all the information you want conveyed, in a magazine style, then go back and divide the report into sections. Label each one with a short subtitle. Extra ideas or resources can be listed with bullet points.

Using bold or italics for some important points will help them stand out as well and can be a good way to get busy editors to check out your report. They will be able to simply scan it and get an idea as to what your press release is about, making it easy to decide whether or not to use it.

Headlines Count

The title you give your press release could mean the difference between it getting read or just tossed in the junk pile. You want a title that isn’t too long, but catches people’s attention. Again, a quick look at the publication you want to get into can be a very helpful way to figure out what they are looking for. In general, stick to active verbs and get straight to the point. A vague, wishy washy headline isn’t going to win you any points!

Short, newspaper type headlines are almost always good. The editor may change it, but chances are, if you offer something usable your press release will get used pretty much as is.

Writing a press release is fairly simple. Make it newsworthy and interesting to read as well as nice and easy and you’ll have a very good chance of it getting featured.

Make your public relations efforts stand out by submitting a well-written press release to the right media.

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Tags: career, public, relations, marketing, jobs

Whether you are starting a new business or sprucing up your existing enterprise, you will find yourself fielding requests for a headshot. A good headshot is a business essential. It gives you a leg up when it comes to publicity, a professional web presence, or a potential speaking contract. A strong business portrait personalizes your business. People see who you are and are more likely to want to work with you.

In contrast, an unflattering, badly posed or technically inferior headshot can work against you. The subconscious questions that may come up are: Does this person take herself seriously? Is she a consummate professional? Will she give my account the attention it deserves?

Your headshot should showcase you as an accomplished yet accessible professional. Depending on your business, you may want to show a softer side, a no-nonsense attitude, good listening skills, compassion, or a combination of these. And you want to look your best!

It’s important to choose a seasoned photographer who will be proficient in lighting, composition, and posing, and who will work with you to understand the nuances of your business and the message you want to send. Here are some questions you might want to ask your photographer before booking:

* How long will the photo shoot last?
* Will I have an opportunity to be photographed with a variety of expressions?
* How do you elicit different moods?
* How many images will be taken?
* How many do I get to keep?
* How are the proofs presented? As digital files? As contact sheets? As prints?
* Will I have the opportunity to have a clothing change for a different look?
* Are the images available in print, as a digital file, or both?
* Will my chosen images be retouched?
* Will I have unlimited use of the images, or will I need to pay more for additional usage?
* Is there a makeup artist or hair stylist available at the studio?
* What is your policy in case I don’t like any of the photographs?

Once you have made your appointment, there is still some preparation to do for your session! Here are a few pointers:

1. If you are having your hair cut, do so several days before the shoot so it will have time to settle down.

2. If you wear a suit, be sure the jacket or blouse fits well. This is critical! The camera blatantly shows if seams are straining, or if your shoulders are swimming in extra material. Choose a solid color that is somewhat darker than your natural skin tone. Tweeds or patterns are distracting, and may cause a moiré pattern in a digital file. Come to the session with your clothes clean and pressed.

3. Consider booking a few sessions with an image consultant prior to your photo session. You can get great advice that can have a positive impact on the photo session and your general appearance.

4. Have your makeup professionally done for the shoot, or wear a little more makeup than you normally would. Photographic lighting can wash out your features.

5. During the shoot, imagine you are greeting a favorite client as he or she walks through the door. This exercise keeps you from worrying about how you look and brings out your warmth and accessibility.

Your headshot is part of your brand. Be sure it is sending a message compatible with your professionalism.

Gretje Ferguson is a portrait photographer based in Dedham, Massachusetts, where she runs a portrait studio. Her passion for people, the Arts and the human condition has fueled her photographic journey for more than 25 years. She has photographed hundreds of Canadian and U.S. artists and business executives, has been published in more than 50 international magazines, and has shown her work in one-woman exhibitions across Canada and the Eastern United States. Her recent project, Confronting Cancer: Images of Strength and Hope, highlights the strength and optimism shared by many people undergoing cancer treatment. Her portraits of prominent cinematographers have appeared in international full-page color ads for Kodak motion picture film. She was the only media photographer permitted to document the making of the United Nations 50th Anniversary portrait of 186 diplomats.

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Press Releases are great technique to capture the media’s interest which also gets them to advertise your business/service free.

Press Releases Two Main Functions:

>>To influence the print reporter, show journalists or radio host to cover the story and to perform their own personal discussion.

>>An article posted on it’s own to be used as a space filler applied by the Print or Internet Publications.

These are both great methods to advertise your business/service. It takes practice to learn how to capture the reader’s attention in the way that you want with your writing. The idea is to not present your entire story to the reporter. You want to give the reporter just enough information that will get them to be creative and think of methods to make your story stand out alone.

Press Release- A Story Teller:

At times, it does not matter what you do, you are unable to obtain an editor or reporter to cover your story. Sometimes though they will allow you to submit the press release yourself and locate a space for it. Internet Publications with not much of a budget will often do this. Article-style is not really a “release” but mostly an article. Article style releases need to be fully researched and fully interviewed in its last appearance.

Do not think that this is place in which to put in a sales pitch. It is not to be written to sell anything.

Write your press release like a reporter. Include all the angles in a neutral approach. You will need to back up all your claims with documentation of all facts.

Press releases create you as the Specialist for people to go to for information about your line of business. The smaller internet publications and print really like this form of release because it supplies them with free of charge copy.

Press Release Required Content:

Every good press release needs to include the following:

>>Title should be short but captures both the reader and the editor’s interest. Do not use all capitals but it is a good idea to capitalize the first letter of every word of the title.

>>Convincing beginning: This paragraph should be a summary of the Press Release and written in such a way to grab the reader’s attention to read more.

>>Concise overview: When writing the press release, include the most imperative facts first followed by the less important.

>>At the end of the press release, include your contact phone number or website.

>>Be short and to the point. Try to not be too wordy. You can quickly lose a reader.

>>Ensure the facts are correct. Verify every fact.

>>Fact, no fiction

Learning how to give what the online media is searching for while writing the press releases, you soon discover that you are requested repeatedly for more press releases.

Announcement Release:

Announcement releases are an additional advertising tool which is delivered as an email campaign to current and future customers of new updates, products, services , upcoming sales or changes to existing ones.

By: Kathryn Ali

Copyright marketing.actual-facts.

Kathryn Ali is the Owner and Author of marketing.actual-facts.

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Tags: career, pr, press release, work, reason

It can be difficult for charities and not-for-profit organisations to maintain their respective profiles in the minds of those audiences that are important to them. Securing the support of celebrities is a tried and tested way to raise profile as well as encourage the support of donors and key stakeholders. So, how do you get celebrities interested and how can you avoid paying them big bucks for their involvement? The key lies in taking a strategic approach and doing a bit of research, in particular:

Is your audience a mass market or a special niche audience? If it’s a special niche audience, how is it defined: by age, by gender, by geographical demographics? Are your customers primarily men or women, urban or rural?

These are all extremely important questions. Do your homework. Take a look at your competitors and see how they market and who they market to. I’m not recommending that you do expensive demographic testing or studies, just use some common sense and get rid of any preconceived ideas you have. Try to step outside and look at your business as a disinterested onlooker would.

Although I believe that it is important to listen to your gut feeling, you have to walk a fine line here, be realistic, be cautions, get feedback from others, weigh all of the possibilities, and then make your decisions.

For example, let’s say you’ve developed a new line of baby wear. Okay, who is your target market? Parents, and primarily mothers. Right off the bat, I’d say you could write off auto racing and golf-oriented publications as your primary media targets.

Where do you reach mothers? The most obvious would be parent and child-oriented publications (of which there are many), talk shows, local magazines, newspapers, TV and radio programs, and women’s magazines. But study the various women’s magazines; are all of them targeted towards parents of infants and toddlers? No. You want magazines that new mothers read. Seventeen or Teen should probably not be on the top of your list.

Okay, you have defined your message, and your market, and narrowed your target. You have done all of your preliminary work, work that most people tend to ignore. You have defined what you do, what your message is, and who your target market is. Now you are ready to launch an effective public relations campaign You’re ready to learn to communicate your message not only to the person next door, but to hundreds, thousands, even millions of people across your city, throughout the country, and around the world.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2007

Anthony Mora
President & CEO

For further information visit this site

Anthony Mora began his media career as a freelance journalist for such publications as Us, Rolling Stone and other local and national publications. He also served as editor-in-chief of two Los Angeles-based entertainment and lifestyle-oriented publications. In 1990, Anthony formed Anthony Mora Communications, Inc. a Los Angeles-based media relations company that specializes in media placement, image development, and media training. AMC Inc. has placed clients in: Time, Newsweek, 60 Minutes, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and other local, national, and international media outlets. ! Anthony has been featured in: USA Today, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The BBC, CNN, Entrepreneur, Fox News, MSNBC, and other media. He has written three books. The most recent, “Spin to Win,” is a step-by-step guide on how to define goals and utilize the power of the media to achieve success in any field.

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Tags: career, media, media relations, news, newsworthy