“How to Resist the Con Artist Trying to make a “”Yes Man”" out of You through Mind Games.

The skilled con artist knows how to rig the game to make the players think they are winning. Every time you put a quarter into the slot machine, out come 2 more. In setting you up for the big con, this formula is altered a bit, to nothing more than ace-high salesmanship. They know they must get you in a good mood, very positive thinking, in every respect, in order to get you over to their side.

Thus, you are subjected to the preliminary “”Yes / No”" test. In it you are being set up, softened, conditioned to saying “”yes”" to that final (when it comes) “”closing”" question, “”Would you sign here, please?”" Their means? A long, introductory series of questions that you, in complete control of your mental faculties, can only say “”yes”" to. Examples: Would $2,000 a week in additional income be helpful to you? Would your wife appreciate the extra luxuries? Would it be easier to set up a fund for your children’s college education? Would holding a mortgage-burning party early make you happy? Would you breathe easier knowing that your retirement is secure?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes–to all 5 questions. Of course. Is there any doubt, really, as to what your logical reactions to such questions would be?

Now the con artist has you in the habit. You are being led, inexorably, like a sheep, to the slaughter, toward the desired end-result, the “”kill.”" This would be your final head-nodding, agreeable acceptance of whatever crackpot scheme or product this
artist is trying to sell you.

How do you break the rhythm, keep a full handle on your conscious objectivity in reviewing his sales presentation? You almost have to play a little game on yourself, a form of self-hypnosis combined with some amusing musings on answers.
For example, mentally–as you go, as he is talking–pose to yourself a mythical “”no”" answering routine. To demonstrate how this might work, let’s go through those leading questions again:

“Would $2,000 a week in additional income be helpful to you?” (No, I enjoy being a struggling paycheck-to-paycheck working slob.)

“Would your wife appreciate the extra luxuries?” (No, she enjoys home canning, making her own clothes and soap, and all the other joys of care-free poverty.)

“Would it be easier to set up a fund for your children’s college education?” (No, I’d only have more time to blow the money, like I might be doing right here, now, by listening to you.)

“Would holding a mortgage-burning party early make you happy?” (No, I don’t want to incur any prepayment or other back-end costs. And, besides, my banker’s got to eat, too.)

“Would you breathe easier knowing your retirement is secure?” (No, this whole concept challenges my Vow of Poverty.)

In sum, beware of stories with happy endings. Often they have unsettling postscripts. Thus, going through some such mental gymnastics–as you go through this person’s “”Yes Man”" routine–might a little better hold your feet to the fire, keep you focused on objective analysis. This, so you will be better positioned for the end-game: when you must ponder the only yes / no question that counts, whether on not to sign on the dotted line.

Jack Payne is the author of the legal thriller, Six Hours Past Thursday, a fictional book about real legal scams. For more information visit this site

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This article is for people who want do publicity and have had no training. Lack of training causes the big mistakes when doing PR. Ever had a change for some free publicity and blew it because you were not ready? Now is the time to get ready. You do not get ready for publicity when you are asked for an interview. There are lots of people who push to get free publicity but then do not have any idea of what to talk about when they get the opportunity. Always have your agenda ready. Always have a message you are ready to convey about your business and yourself.

You should always have a way to tie into the current events. If you do not watch the news or read any online, you have to find a way to be current. People who are clueless about what the rest of the world is facing have nothing to offer the media. You can not be a resource and you will not be the person they think of first when they want to a quote for an article.

Creating good sound bites that can be used over and over it the secret of the best publicists. There are many ways to say the same thing. You have to find the way that is creative and interesting. You need to find sound bites that are easy to repeat. By being repeated, you will be remembered. Another big publicity mistake is hiring a publicist hen you have no idea of what they do. You need to know what to expect and what services they really offer. Good publicists usually cost upwards of $5,000 month. One month of services will not get you the publicity you need. If you have the budget for it, this is a great way to go. If this is your last $5,000 you should think of another strategy.

Publicity is usually gone after by those with no training or expertise. Just the smallest amount of training will help you tremendously. If you want to make the most of any publicity you get, then get the training to make it happen. No one is a natural talent.

Dr. Letitia S. Wright, D.C. is the host of the Wright Place TV Show, now in it’s 10th year on the cable television. The show has strategies and tips for business owners and can be seen online. For more PR training and tips, go to this site

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Tags: pr, public relations, protect, mistake, publicity

Hiring a PR firm can bring attention to your company, its services, products and people. But public relations is not a hit-and-run venture; long-term strategies combine with short-term tactics to create a strong brand and positive reputation. Therefore, it is to everyone’s benefit that the relationship between the client company and the PR firm is a lasting one.

Occasionally, however, the relationship doesn’t work out, and while there are often various reasons cited, the problem usually boils down to a flawed vetting process when the firm was first hired.

Avoiding the following pitfalls can lead to a truly successful collaboration between client and firm.

1. Great Expectations

Public relations is not a magical enterprise. It involves creativity, hard work and dedication to the client’s interests. And it often takes some time before you see results. What can happen in the first meeting between the PR firm and a prospective client is an unconscious collaboration: the client wants to think the public relations person can make his company successful overnight, and the public relations person lets him think this because he wants him as a client. This can only lead to disappointment on both sides.
Most experienced public relations professionals will tell you what is – and is not – possible to achieve for your type of business and your budget. A long-term productive relationship is more satisfying for both the client and the PR firm than a short-term honeymoon.

2. Choosing the Wrong Size Firm

One frequent complaint that clients voice about their PR firm is that the top executives presented a wonderful proposal to them, but they rarely heard from those people again. Instead, their account was assigned to someone new to the firm, and they didn’t feel they got the attention – or the results – they deserved.
PR firms survive for the most part on the billable hours that make up the client’s fee. If your company is paying a fee at the low end of a firm’s fee schedule, you will probably get assigned to one of its less seasoned staff. Larger firms usually charge higher fees to cover their higher overhead costs. PR firm fees can range from $5,000 to $30,000 per month or more, so if a fee of $10,000 per month seems like a huge expenditure to you, it’s best to choose a smaller firm.

3. Not Knowing What You Want

From the point of view of the public relations professional, the most difficult clients to satisfy are the ones who really don’t know what they want. Meetings abound, ideas are put forward and shot down – as the public relations person tries fruitlessly to read the client’s mind. In the end, everyone is frustrated.
This outcome can be avoided with some advance planning. Before your first meeting with a firm, do some internal brainstorming and be ready to state your goals and the principal audiences you want to reach with your messages. If you are doing a small project, such as a brochure or website, show examples of the kinds of things you like, your current stationery or logos, and some of your competitors’ materials. You will save time and money by being prepared.

4. Being Cagey about your Budget

Some business owners think that if they talk about their budget upfront, the PR firm will “spend it all – and then some.” But the cost of public relations programs can vary greatly, depending on your goals and your budget. Be clear about both. If you outline goals that require extensive work with expensive outside services and act like money is no object, expect the PR firm to present a proposal for a big program that costs a lot – maybe more than you can afford. If you are honest about how much you have to spend, you have freed the firm to discuss what can be accomplished within your budget. Give the firm a chance to show you what they can do with a smaller budget. Then you will have a more accurate picture of the firm’s resources, creativity and capabilities.

5. Hiding Negative Information

When you are interviewing a PR firm, be open about the possibility of any negative publicity that may be on the horizon involving your company. Public relations people need to know these things – not just at the beginning, but throughout the relationship – in order to plan accordingly. Managing negative news is much more effective when done early on, before it festers and grows into a costly crisis.

Finding the right PR firm doesn’t have to be a shot in the dark. Check with your local chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Ask other business people for their recommendations, and visit the firms’ websites. Interview several firms to see if they might be the right size and have the right background and experience level to do the job. Ask for a written proposal. Once you feel comfortable that a firm understands your business, your budget and what will be needed to achieve your goals, take the plunge. You will probably be pleasantly surprised.

Margot Dimond is an accredited public relations professional with more than 30 years of experience in the field. Currently a principal with DoubleDimond Public Relations in Houston, Texas, she has been on both sides of the public relations firm hiring process.

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Tags: public, relation, mistake, firm

Successful product launches are key to a company’s success. For a start-up company, the success of the launch may well determine whether the company survives.
And yet in nearly 30 years of advising companies, from start ups to Fortune 500s, I’ve identified 5 common mistakes that can sink a launch. Here they are the five:

1. Assume the product/technology/service will sell itself.
Lots of things have changed in the past few years. But one thing remains the same: People will not beat a path to your door if you build a better mousetrap, UNLESS, they a) know it exists; b) are convinced it really is better; c) their current situation is painful enough that they have a desire to change; and d) they can afford it.
2. No “Story.”
Start-up entrepreneurs often get so caught up in their solution, they forget to mention the problem they set out to solve. Established organizations often assume everyone already knows the problem. But venture capitalists, analysts, potential customers, and especially the media, need to hear your tell “The Story.” Part one of “The Story” is the pain/frustration/fear/loss that your solution solves. Part two is your solution filtered through the concerns of the audience.
3. No articulate, excited beta users, early adapters, satisfied customers or clients willing to “go public.”
Reporters crave the opportunity to talk to people who have used the product or service. From the very beginning of product testing be looking for willing customers and exciting stories. (There are ways around this lack of users willing to comment publicly, but that is a separate topic!).
4. One presentation fits all.
I recently learned of a CEO who gave a group of industry analysts the same presentation he had given to venture capitalists. In addition to being a painful experience for him, it created a lasting skepticism on the part of the analysts. Yes, we know everyone is already stretched thin and working long hours, but VCs, analysts and the press are audiences crucial to success. If no one in house can put together a powerful presentation, hire an outside source to do it. It’s too important to leave to amateurs.
5. Media attention before the message is clear and the spokesperson is ready.
Media attention is great, IF the coverage is good. But companies, especially start ups, often go after the media before they’re ready. A big play in Computerworld, the Wall Street Journal or Moneyline can set the company and the product or service being introduced back significantly if the messages aren’t persuasive and the spokesperson comes across as uninteresting, unclear, or defensive.

And now to keep you focused during your launch, I invite you to claim your Free Instant Access 400-year-old tool I’ve adapted to help you stay on message by visiting this site.

From – Lou Hampton, The QuoteAbility(tm) Coach and Speak to Lead.com

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Tags: PR, strategy, Mistake, product, launch

Not using it. The power of video is legendary but a lot of companies still shun this media often unaware that costs have fallen since the high-flying eighties. I also believe that a lot of PR people (who usually make the decisions on corporate videos such as Video News Releases and promotional programs) have a straight print or university background with very few coming from a TV or video production grounding. A pity, as video has incredible power to sway viewers, to educate, inform and entertain.

Calling in the video producer too late. On numerous occasions we’ve been commissioned to shoot a video at, say, a presentation day for a firm but there has been either no time to organise a reconnoitre or budget to do so and we’ve found the venue very video unfriendly – areas designated for interviews are within earshot of noisy entrance foyers or strong sunlight streaming through big curtainless windows. On one occasion a client had a big announcement to make to the media and scheduled this for a garden area just outside their Head Office. Again, we were called in late to record video of the event for staff consumption only to find the sun was creeping over the top of the building and almost obliterating the speakers’ dais. Fortunately we had just enough time to relocate the dais and microphones to a more evenly lit space nearby. We later found out the internal PR department responsible for the event had decided on the venue after an afternoon reconnoitre not realising the sun would be in a different position for the morning session.

Not thinking of video framing when organising events. When a company organises an event that is going to be recorded on video, it pays to think about the framing of such video. Put your speaker in position along with any signage on backgrounds or adjacent pull-up banners and think how the video camera will see all that. Video of people talking is normally shot with the bottom of frame around the 2nd coat button and the top of frame slightly above the top of the person’s head. If you visualise that, can you still see any of the appropriate background or the logo, say, on those vertical banners?

- If you have more than one speaker, is there much height difference and, if so, will that make a difference to the shot composition? We’ve seen examples where logos have been out of shot or, worse, half in shot due to a lack of such thinking before the event.

- We’ve also seen additional problems because the dais has been set up in line with a screen for a PowerPoint presentation. In other words, think where the cameraman might have to set up his camera and make sure the screen from that position will not be directly behind the speaker as that will cause either the screen to blow out (be unreadable) or the speaker’s face to be too dark if the screen is to be seen and the slide recognised. Also tell your presenter not to walk between the projector and the screen as this will blow him/her out as well with that extra light on their body.

Graham Kelly runs The Video Production Group in Australia and if you like those tips, they’re part of a FREE report The Top 10 Mistakes Made With Corporate Video that is available at this site

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Tags: PR, corporate, video, mistake

During my 25 years as an Editor I saw some shocking press releases that immediately got rejected. Do your efforts make these five deadly mistakes or are you one of the 5% that succeed?

Nothing but a sales spiel – This is last thing an Editor wants to see is a sales or selling pitch masquerading as a news story. It’s attempting to cheat the system and ends up in immediate rejection of that release and potentially each future one that is submitted.

The wrong people write it – I hate press releases that are by PR folk as they typically have one thing in common they know so very little about the service or product that they are describing that it shows. This phenomenon is so much worse if you are a tiny company hiring a third party PR company.

Don’t do it – There are those that have great stories to tell of innovative products or great services but keep them to themselves as they never release a press release. There can be many reasons for this and one may be because perhaps they don’t realise that a press release is both one of the most effective forms of internet marketing but also one of the most cost effective. The worst and most common reason is that they feel that a press release is just for the big companies with big PR departments and not for them.

Spend a fortune for nothing – Its a sad fact that too many people are being conned, scammed, over charged and generally ripped off throughout the internet and sadly the area of press releases is no exception. There are too many ways to waste money whether it be getting a press release written or submitted with extra or bonus options that eat up money but deliver very little. Your focus should not be on whats promised but on the results that are delivered.

Bend the truth – No matter how tempting it may be you must never bend the truth to make a better story for your press release. Nor should you copy or plagiarise as you will be found out find that publicity harder to handle.

I gained a unique view of press releases as I would trash 95% of them when I was a magazine Editor. Now I have released the Press Release Video Course to help you enjoy press release success and the Free Press Release Distribution Software to help you send your press release to 10 submissions sites for zero dollars!

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Tags: press release, mistake, press, pr, news, coverage

You sent out another press release… and waited for a journalist to call. If you’re still waiting, it’s often that you committed a fatal mistake in your announcement that sent it straight to the reporter’s trash bin.

There are several issues that make a reporter cringe. Are you doing one – or more – of these?

Grammatical Errors- You can be the best writer in the world but still miss grammatical errors and typos when proofreading. Look over your work when you are most alert and read your copy aloud to yourself. It is also a good idea to have at least three other people review your work before submission.

Upper Case Letters- Do not write your news release in all uppercase characters as it is bad formatting. Use mixed casing when writing your press release.

Lack of Content- Be sure your media announcement answers the five W’s (Who, What, Where, When, Why) as roughly 90% of all press release submitted to reporters are rejected. Also ask yourself if your release is newsworthy. The main purpose of a news release is to inform a public.

Press Releases that are Really Ads- Do not write your news like an advertisement. You are not trying to sell anything when writing a press release. Remember a reporter’s job is to inform the public, not to sell to the public.

You want to be professional when submitting press releases to reporters.

Shannon Cherry, APR, MA is your Power Publicist and owns Be Heard Solutions, a virtual publicity and marketing agency. She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services, and boosting their business. Get more tips and tactics with your free publicity power pack by visiting here

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Tags: media, relations, press release, news, mistake

If you could reduce the number of serious mistakes in your life with a solution that costs nothing, would you do it? Many hospitals are reducing deaths and injuries from mistakes. Their solution is not more technical training for surgeons, or fancy new equipment. The remedy is much simpler – teaching people to talk to each other in a clear, concise way.

“Poor communication in medical practice is one of the most common causes of medical errors,” said Richard M. Frankel, Ph.D., professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and a research scientist at the Health Services Research and Development Center on Implementing Evidence-Based Practice.

Indeed, 60 percent of death-and-injury events are the direct result of communication errors, according to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations

The most crucial situation is where a patient or task is handed from one person to another. A simple misunderstanding can lead to a patient getting the wrong medicine, or worse.

Now think about your job, and your family. How often are mistakes the result of some miscommunication? If you analyze it, you’ll find that a great many mistakes in life come from two or more people suffering a simple “failure to communicate.”

One solution is the use of a “communication model.” Dr. Frankel said that many health professionals are adopting a very simple conversation technique first developed in the military and aviation, where fast-but-accurate briefings can mean the difference between life and death not just for one person, but for hundreds or thousands. The day I spoke with him (Friday, June 30), Dr. Frankel was getting on a plane to Kenya, where he is lending his expertise to help administrators who operate a large AIDS treatment center.

There are different models. Most involve a structured way to have a multi-step conversation in just a minute or two. “It’s not rocket science,” Dr. Frankel said. One example is the S-B-A-R model:

S – Situation. Describe the problem in a simple sentence.

B – Background. Anticipate the listener’s questions about the situation and provide those answers.

A – Assessment. Summarize your observations about the situation.

R – Recommendation. Provide a specific recommendation for solving the problem.

The use of such a formula forces both the speaker and the listener to move through a discussion in a predictable, logical flow. It cuts through hierarchy. It allows people with differing communication styles to “get on the same page.” It puts more weight on the conversation. It causes the listener to react to the speaker’s recommendation, rather than passively taking in the information. And it saves time by cutting through extraneous detail. A SBAR briefing can be done in as little as 60 seconds or less.

A major Illinois hospital implemented the SBAR approach and reduced cases of harm to patients by more than half in the first year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

This technique was created in the aviation field, where NASA and other agencies recognized that hierarchy interferes with communication in a crisis, Dr. Frankel said. Surgeons, ship captains and others at the top of a hierarchy often don’t receive critical information because underlings are unable or unwilling to speak up in a clear and assertive way. “In medicine we see that certain surgeons who intimidate others have a much higher complication rate, because their style breaks down the communication loop,” Dr. Frankel said. The SBAR model provides a tool to overcome hierarchical barriers that can end up killing people.

Just as a conversation model like SBAR can help doctors and nurses reduce deaths, injuries and malpractice claims, improving interpersonal communication can help all of us save money, enhance relationships, and reduce mishaps in our own lives.

“Any kind of manufacturing process, personal service or service organization has tremendous potential to benefit” from the use of SBAR, Dr. Frankel said.

Try the SBAR approach in your work, or even at home. Once you get used to it, it becomes second-nature, and your day-to-day interactions will become much more productive.

Steve Cebalt of Bottom Line Public Relations is Founder of the Social Marketing Leadership Roundtable in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

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Copyright Steve Cebalt 2007 May be used with author acknowledgment

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Tags: public relations, communication, advice, mistake, reduce