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

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

Click here for information

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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

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