Business Book Summaries

Do you sometimes feel like you're in information overload? And do you notice yourself becoming a bit more cynical than you once were? I sure do.

I want to share some thoughts with you about how I think the information age and a growing cynicism in our country make it even more important than ever for conscious business owners to nurture and nourish their existing customers or clients.

Let's first take a look at Information Overload.

I think we all agree that today, more than ever, we are inundated with marketing messages on every turn. As soon as we wake up in the morning and sit down to breakfast, we see them on our cereal boxes. Traveling to work, they're on the radio and on the billboards, buses and trains.

We are bombarded with marketing messages from everywhere.

Add to the barrage of marketing messages our "hyper-connectivity." We've got cell phones, I-Pods, email, instant messaging, teleseminars, webinars, forums, chats, blogs, my space, your space, their space. It's a frenzy!

It's incredible that we have all of these avenues to stay connected and informed, thanks to the scores of advanced technologies. The Internet is an amazing tool that all people everywhere can use to make themselves better informed, richer, smarter, prettier, sexier and any other ‘er' you can think of.

More marketing messages. More to take in. More connection. More choices.

Now, let's take a look at Cynicism.

I see information overload and cynicism as first cousins. While we're all on the treadmill of life, trying to survive and stay a step ahead if we can, we are also taking in new information, new technology, new war atrocities, new technologies and more and more information to process.

Every single day, there's more bad news. Every single day, there's more technology and more and more to absorb and ferret out.

And, let's face it; while the Internet is wonderful in so many ways, it is also a vehicle for some pretty unscrupulous characters. So, we all have to be hyper-vigilant in our discerning process. Who can we trust? Who do we buy from?

When we consider the consumer distrust and an ever-increasing distrust in our government, we have a quagmire of cynicism that's sucking the last bit of trust out of people everywhere, leaving us feeling pretty jaded, I believe.

"Yeah, right. Prove it. And even if you offer proof, why should I believe you?"

This is the spoken or unspoken feeling that most, if not all, of us operate with today. It's a sad commentary, but burying our collective business/marketing heads in the sand won't make it go away.

So, what can businesses do today to communicate and touch customers in a way that will genuinely demonstrate to them (in a way they can feel) that we really understand them and that we care?

Big question, isn't it?

Well, we can wring our hands and say it shouldn't be so hard. And we can agonize over how much money we must spend to get a new customer nowadays. Or, we can put our creative heads together and come up with a better way.

And what would that better way be? I think that one good answer lies in meaningful relationship marketing to your invaluable, existing customers or clients.

If you, as a business owner, want to capture your fair market share … you need to nourish your existing customers as the precious asset they are. And stop the churn.

Instead of nurturing customers they already have and keep them, many businesses spend 80% of their marketing budget, going after new customers.

It's estimated to cost 6 times more to sell to a new customer than to sell the very same thing to an existing customer. Isn't that incredible?

For most businesses, 80% of sales come from only 20% of their customers. Is that true of you as well? And repeat customers spend over 30% more than new ones do. And the referrals that come from repeat customers spend 100% more than new customers do.

I read that 70% of lost business in the U.S. is lost, due to the customer being ignored after the sale. Do you ignore your customers this way?

It seems clear to me that many business owners are stepping over a gold mine to get to something that may or may not pan out. It's always a smart idea to spend some of your marketing budget to find new customers. But forgetting your existing customers — that's not smart at all.

What can we do to ensure we are keeping the customers we've worked so hard to get? Here are some ideas: 1. Stay in touch with your customers, using email, surveys, special offers and new products that will genuinely benefit them. 2. Offer a very fair price for incredible value. 3. Extend your irresistible offers in a clear, concise way and make it easy to order. 4. Whenever possible, provide a 100% no-risk guarantee. 5. Provide unsurpassed customer service. 6. Stay in touch after the sale to ensure they're happy with their purchase. And ask them what you can do better or different that would serve them. 7. Send thank you notes, via email or even snail mail for an 'extra' surprise. 8. Remember them on birthdays, if appropriate.

You can make sure your product/service is more than just a commodity, by keeping your existing customers happy and letting them know you genuinely care about them.

In conclusion, I believe our sound-bite society, with an attention deficit brought about by information overload, and a growing cynicism greatly contributes to a lack of trust and loyalty as well.

Developing trust and loyalty is a long-term effort, which starts after the very first sale and goes on forever. Just do it right, and you'll be well served by continued purchases and referral business.

If you calculate the lifetime value of a customer, and determine that it represents a good deal of money to you, by all means do the smart thing (which will be the right thing, too) and nurture and nourish that customer like you would a valued friend.

Technorati tags: book summaries, business books, business productivity, self improvement, business strategy, marketing

I find it interesting that when I search the internet for articles on sales the focus is generally on the sales person and not the manager. I do appreciate the importance for sales people to improve their sales skills but who is improving the manager? Let's look at what I believe are the top 10 sales manager mistakes:

1. The Sales Manager/Account Rep who has to wear two hats. To be a successful sales manager you must be a manager of your people and focused on their success. If they succeed, you succeed. Give up the account rep role even if it is a plum account. You can still be involved with the account but you should be there to support or help close for your rep.

2. The Let Me Sell Sales Manager; a great Sales Person does not always mean a great Sales Manager. Some of the most successful sales people I have met over the years were the best closers. Aggressive, talkative and very social. However, many of these people when moved to a managers role began to fail. Why? Because they spent their career focused on their success. It is very difficult to turn that switch off. It requires EI, Emotional Intelligence. I believe a measure of a persons EI is nurtured over the years and also has to do with how they are wired. In other words, they are naturally empathetic and care about the success of others.

3. The I Can Do But Can't Teach Sales manager; a great sales manager must be a great sales trainer. Too often I see sales managers who are great communicators but don't know how to reverse engineer what they do to teach others. Send them off to a seminar or get additional training outside the company is their mantra. My suggestion is for this sales manager to get some training on how to train.

4. The Ivory Tower Sales Manager is the manger who is not accessible. They have the "I've made it" attitude and hide away in their big office sending emails and planning golf games and taking trips. Sure the sales manager needs to do this but not if their objective is get as many perks out of the job as possible. In other words, their rep or the reps client could care less if they were there or not and in fact, would prefer if they were not there because it is effecting the nurturing of the relationship started by the rep.

5. The Harping Sales Manager is the person who never upgrades their experience and knowledge of sales and is stuck in an old school mentality. They believe if they answer any question with a standard response or sales management spin or use a strong arm bully approach this will work on their reps. All this does is churn out sales reps causing a low retention rate and from the outside looking in, your clients and prospects don't want to work with a company that can't even keep employees or keep them happy.

6. The Sales Manager With "I" Problems is the person who takes credit for all the teams successes and passes mistakes and failures onto their team or an individual. If you want to be a leader, a sales manager, then you must take responsibility publicly for all failures and pass the accolades onto your team. The respect you will garner from your team will be inspirational and they will climb the highest mountains for you to make you proud of them. In some respects you are assuming the role of a parent and they are the child. Your vocabulary should then change from "I" to "We" or "Them". Try it and see how good it feels.

7. The Grunter Sales Manager is the person who never listens to his reps and shows their lack of interest in many ways. For example; they keep working on their computer with their head down responding with a grunt on occasion. When a rep has a problem, stop what you are doing and listen. Now I know we need to manage by effort but if they are in your office then we must assume you gave them permission to enter and therefore speak to you, so listen to them.

8. The Talker Sales Manager is the person who loves to hear his own voice and never truly listens to his reps. "Seek first to understand before being understood" is Stephen Covey's 5th principle from his book the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This essentially means we need to listen with our ears and our heart. We need to connect by understanding the other persons view point before having them understand our view point. Listen, but NOT with the intent to respond. Which means don't be deaf because you are thinking only about what you are going to say next.

9. The MBA Sales Manager is the person with very little real life experience but has a wealth of education that abounds with theory. I pity the reps with this person. This sales manager answers every problem with a book answer. Throw the book away and get some real sales experience under your belt.

10. The Numbers Guy Sales Manager is the person who tries to manage the rep by the Statistics but has no clue on how to interpret the numbers. In the old days maybe a poor rep could be motivated to work harder by the numbers but reps are smarter and more educated today. One thing we all know about stats is they can be interpreted to mean what ever we want to say. As sales managers we do need to be on top of the numbers but don't use them as a big stick to get your reps to work harder. The numbers should be used to isolate problem areas in your sales process unique to the individual and the team. Then once isolated you work together to fix the weakness.

About Author: Ray MacNeil writes in his Blog daily for New Entrepreneurs and those people considering the move into Self-Employment. His blog can be found at: http://franchisefun.blogspot.com

Technorati tags: book summaries, business books, business productivity, self improvement, management, sales

Many people talk about what you need to do to become a great business coach where you are in the upper 10% earning more than $100,000 and not like most earning less than $20,000. There are a lot of good strategies, but sometimes it makes sense to list what you should not do. This way you may avoid critical mistakes than actually lengthen your learning curve.

1. Do Not Market Yourself Many coaches as do most small business owners do not market themselves. They believe in the old adage Build it and they will come. Not! You must direct your message to your target demographics, psychographics and geographics.
2. Do Not Have a Target Market Failure to have a clearly articulated target market within your strategic plan may result in you believing that everyone and anyone is your client. This could ultimately lead to disaster.
3. Do Not Provide a Complimentary Session Would you buy a piece of jewelry or an expensive suit without first trying it on? Would you buy that new or pre-driven vehicle without a test drive? By trying it on or test driving it has the value been diminished? Coaching is a personal experience and demands a trial fit. This is for your protection as a coach as much as it is for your prospective client.
4. Do Not Have a SEO Website Since coaching is personal and can be done via the telephone, your website can be your cyberspace handshake. However the website must be search engine optimized, reflective of your style and it must provide quality content and value for visitors.
5. Do Not Have a Brag Book A brag book is a collection of testimonials, services or products available, a marketing executive summary and should also include your vision, values and mission statement.
6. Do Not Belong to a Coaching Mastermind Group Consider all the business groups or business associations that exist to help those within that industry. Coaching is no different. By joining with other coaches possibly in different geographic areas you can help each other grow your businesses through the masterminding process. This is a great strategy to shorten the learning curve within the coaching industry.
7. Do Not Have a Coach or Mentor If you are a coach, then find a coach preferably one who is far more successful than you. Years ago I read to be a millionaire you must find other millionaires. This is very true about coaches. Find another coach who is willing to coach you or even mentor you. The investment is well worth it.

There are some experts who are coaches and who work with other coaches. These individuals believe exactly the opposite than what was shared in these 7 Top Do Nots. However, if you truly wish to increase your sales and go where you have never gone before, then be honest with yourself. Look at these 7 Top Do Nots and determine what don'ts are keeping you from the cans in your coaching practice.

About Author: Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. is a speaker and Indianapolis business coach & Chicago business coach who has written hundreds of articles with a focus on improving individual and organizational performance through excellence in leadership to executable strategic plans.

Technorati tags: book summaries, business books, business productivity, self improvement, management, business strategy

What makes a good team leader? Should the team leader be very strict, very friendly or something some where in the middle? A few years ago I was promoted to the role of team leader after spending two years as being a member of the same team. I was not exactly sure of how to approach the role and decided to consult a good friend of mine who had held a similar role for a different company. I would like to thank this friend, who is called Ian, for his invaluable advice. In this article I will describe the advice that he gave me and how I went about leading this team of ten people.

I was based in the insurance industry and worked in the compliance department of a very famous life assurance company. I had been a member of a team of ten people whose role was to ensure that our clients had received the best advice, that the policy they had taken up was affordable for them and that the policy had been sold in conjuction within the compliance regulations.

Even though the role may on paper seem quite a boring one I actually really enjoyed it. I liked the people who I was working with and we had a bit of a laugh throughout our working day.

Then one afternoon I was called in to see the head of the compliance department. He informed me that my team leader was about to leave the company and that he wanted me to take over. I was quite flattered and duly agreed to take on this new challenge.

I now had to be the boss of all of my fellow team members, this was quite a daunting task. I decided, after seeking the advice from Ian, to be quite a relaxed team leader. I would offer continued training to each member of the team and would be happy for them to talk to each other, as long as all of the work was being completed to the required levels of quality.

Each month, I awarded the top member of the team an extra half days holiday as a way of thanking them for their hard work. The competition for this little reward was red hot and it certainly helped to improve productivity.

I made each member aware that I was now the boss but that I would be very approachable. They could see me with any questions that they had and to give me their ideas to improve the team.

I held this position for around a year before also moving on to pastures new. I would like to think that I was a well liked and respected team leader, I was certainly pleased and proud of my achievements during that period.

About the Author: Stephen Hill runs The How To Stop Stammering Centre. He has a number of websites including:

http://www.stammering-stuttering.co.uk/ http://www.adaptatech.co.uk/ http://www.coach-life-london.co.uk/

Technorati tags: book summaries, business books, business productivity, self improvement, management, leadership

The one fact that most people do not realize about starting a business opportunity is that around 90% of all businesses started will fail or go out of business within their third year. Some business will never make it past the winter depending on their product or service. This is just fact. This statistic is not secluded to traditional, international, home-based, or any other type of business opportunity individually. It includes them all. Let's run through the 10 most common causes of failure in a business opportunity.

1. Under capitalized – Starting and operating business costs money. If you run across a business opportunity that has a no cost start-up and no operating expenses……run! Without sufficient capitol to keep your business going, until it is profitable, it will sink. No doe, no show.

2. Lack of a System – Most new business owners, of course, have very little knowledge about running a business and have no mentor, or go-to man. They are left alone to succeed which can be very difficult without the lack of experience. This is probably the reason why most self-made millionaires attempted and failed and several businesses before they were a success.

3. No Mentor – This goes hand in hand with the lack of a system. In business it is everyone for themselves. Business is a cutthroat operation. The strong survive and the weak die. To go and ask the donut shop around the corner how he made his store successful is compared to presidential candidates asking each other their campaign secrets and techniques. You might as well ask him to turn over to you a portion of his bank account.

4. Poor Vision – Poor vision starts from the moment you came up with your business theory or idea. Would it work? What product or service do you offer? What is the supply and demand? Is this the right timing for this business opportunity and is this the right market for it? Will my products or services hold their value and be of use long term? A lot goes into a business and failure to look forward into the future could be disastrous.

5. Location, Location, Location – This part is self-explanatory. In a traditional retail business, location is everything. You may have the best business opportunity in the world but without the location, you are going to fail in retail. Other business opportunities don’t need location to be successful. When depending on the public for your profit, this is vital.

6. Poor Marketing – Every business opportunity will require some form of marketing to create business and to be successful. People don’t know you are selling guns unless you have a sign up or tell them you are selling guns. A poor marketing campaign will drown you quicker than any other reason for failure.

7. Lack of Ambition – It takes a pretty ambitious person to start a business opportunity. Without ambition, you are like a car without any gasoline, dead! There has to be some fuel behind the idea.

8. No Personal Development – If you think that anyone has been successful in any business opportunity without working on themselves personally, you are ignorant. This is vital. Knowledge, self improvement, positive thinking, creates excitement and motivation.

9. Poor Planning – In order to build a home, you must have everything drawn up on paper, measured out on the plot of land, and financed before you even begin. Failure to have a successful business plan, step by step along the way, will result in confusion and frustration. This is tied directly to vision. See it before you build it.

10. Bad Product of Service – You know, I believe that a good salesman could sell ice to an Eskimo or camels to the Middle East, but if you have a product that people don’t need or want, you are up the creek without a paddle. Supply and demand with a good, well priced product comes from research. Resort communities need hotels. Lakeside communities need boats and fishing supplies. Find a need and you will have a product.

About Author: Matt Siltala has been helping people with business opportunites since 1999 and authors an SEO Blog that shares insights & information about things like search engine optimization, search engine marketing, link building, social media marketing and reputation management. Well there you have it. From my experience, these are the most common reasons people fail at any given business opportunity. Make sure that when starting a legitimate business opportunity, these reasons don’t become your excuse for failure. Align your vision for success with good business ethics and you will do fine.

Technorati tags: book summaries, business books, business productivity, self improvement, management, business strategy

As a rule, promotional products are imprinted with a company's name, logo or message. They include both decorative and useful items of merchandise that can be incorporated in marketing and communication campaigns. Items are used to endorse a product, service or company agenda and can include business gifts, and awards, prizes, commemoratives and other decorated or imprinted items.

Promotional products that are imprinted and distributed free are referred to as Advertising Specialties. Imprinted promotional gifts that are given as an inducement for a precise action are known as Premiums. Business gifts, awards and items that commemorate are also known as promotional products.

The importance of promotional products is in their power to carry a message to a targeted audience. The products are both useful to, and appreciated by, the recipients; consequently, they are retained and used.

Rewards for using promotional products

Promotional products are flexible, substantial and ongoing. Their influence can be easily calculated and have a higher apparent value which compliments the selected audience.

Promotional products engender goodwill towards a company and its salespeople.

On-Line promotional products

The majority of sites offering promotional gifts have websites that are linked to promotional product shopping malls. For this reason, products provided are very often not discounted. YesGifts.co.uk offers the most varied range of products on-line. As testimony to our purchasing power, most gifts are offered at discounted prices from selected distinguished manufacturers.

Our promotional products range

At YesGifts we offer the leading on-line index of promotional products in the UK. These include promotional pens, promotional keyrings, and promotional mugs, and go right through to travel and leisure gifts, desktop products and promotional fashion and attire.

Tina Rinaudo is one of the leading lights in the UK promotional products industry. Tina is a key member of YesGifts, the UK's fastest growing online promotional items resource specialising in promotional pens, mugs, mouse mats, umbrellas, conference items and much more. For more information please visit YesGifts Technorati tags: book summaries, business books, business productivity, self improvement, management, sales

One of the first things you should do to streamline the marketing in your business is to make sure that you have all your marketing materials in place. It still amazes me the number of new businesses that will start up and not have the materials that they need! Your business cards, letterhead, brochures, magnets, thank you cards, business gifts, promotional products, flyers – anything that a customer or potential customer sees should have a common theme and style. There are many graphic programs out there that you can use to design your own, or you can hire a graphic designer to design them for you at a nominal cost.

Do you have a USP? USP stands for unique selling proposition – the sentence or slogan that sets you apart from your competitors and uniquely identifies your business. An example of this is “Fresh, Hot Pizza in 30 Minutes, or It's Free.” Can you identify the company that this once belonged to? Of course, you can – it's Domino's Pizza. This particular slogan is probably one of the most memorable unique selling propositions in history, and there's no reason why you can't develop one for your business that works for you.

To develop your USP, you have to determine the things about your business that sets you apart from your competition. The phrases “We have the best service” or “We have the lowest price” are platitudes that people won't believe anyway, so don't use them. Find other things that you can quantify, such as “Your oil changed in 30 minutes or less – guaranteed” or “Call us for a professional plumber 24 hours a day.”

If you have an advertisement in the yellow pages, look at all the others in your category. If you cut the names out of all the ads, would you be able to tell which ad belongs to which company? Or do they all pretty much say the same thing? Spend some time and develop a way to distinguish your company from the rest.

If you really DO have the best service, then say it, but you better be able to quantify it! Are your working hours longer than everybody else? Do you have more service technicians? Are they all better qualified or certified? Do you have the latest whiz-bang equipment? Tell people WHY your service is better, not just that it is.

You will have to do some research on your competition, but the results will be worth it. You will know, and you'll be able to tell your customers, what the advantages of doing business with you are. Quantify, and then promote. Give people specific reasons to choose your company over someone else.

Develop your USP, and make sure you use it on all your marketing materials consistently.

Phillip Baker, CAS, is a 29 year veteran of advertising and marketing and is an expert in promotional products, integrated marketing and advertising consulting. He can be reached at 850 995 9557. Visit http://www.bakercreativeadvertising.com to enter to win $1,000 in promotional products or subscribe to the free Marketing Magik newsletter and podcast.

Technorati tags: book summaries, business books, business productivity, self improvement, sales, marketing

Your Network consists of your friends, relatives, business associates, church members, merchants you do business with and anyone else who knows you by your first name. You've started your business, whether it be a retail store, a home business a service business or whatever.

Obviously you need to tell everyone you know or meet about your new business.

What is step one to get the word out?

Step one is to immediately order some business cards. I would immediately go to a place like vistaprint.com and at the very least take advantage of their 250 free cards program.

Some of you may be looking for a certain image to portray and that is great but how much marketing are you getting done while you ponder the design. How long will it take to get the cards designed and printed?

I would suggest that you immediately order some cards to get your business off the ground.

Okay, you took my advice and today your cards came in. If you are like most people, which I hope you are not, you’ll take out a few and stick the box of cards in a drawer. Most folks are still using their first thousand cards two years after their business starts.

Not you! You’re going to immediately load up your wallet, your cars, you wife’s purse, give them out to all your network of people.

I recently got into the car business as a dealer so I give cards out to everyone I meet. When giving them out you give a little commercial like this: :”I recently got into the car business, if you, a friend or family member need a good car at a great price have them call me, please!”

Then answer any questions they may have and give then a couple good reasons to deal with you. Mine would be: “I help people buy cars below retail and I personally check them out thoroughly. After I check them and buy them my friend at Randy’s Brakes goes through the brake system. He makes sure the car is safe to drive by bring the brakes up to factory specifications.”

Your business card is the number 1 best way to spread the word on your business if you will use it properly. Can you get that first thousand cards in circulation this week or at least this month? You will won’t you?

Darryl Van Kirk has been self employed the majority of his life and working from home 9 of the last 10 years. One of his current projects is the web site resource: start-a-work-at-home-business.com Newest business is Car Business Web Site UsedCarsSarasotaFlorida.com He is also involved in other home based business ventures.

Technorati tags: book summaries, business books, business productivity, self improvement, small business, business strategy

GREAT entrepreneurs don’t necessarily have to be natural born sellers to get their share of the market. Most people are daunted by the sales side of their business and can often shy away from making new contacts or cold calling. But I am a strong believer that with the right attitude and a good bit of planning, almost anyone can succeed in sales.

The two of the most important factors are a friendly, sincere and open manner, coupled with a good ear. People should not be frightened of selling their products or services. Very often it is seen as an arduous task and people put it off. Often its fear of rejection or fear of invading people’s space. Even the most out-going people can be frightened of sales but it doesn’t need to be that way. If you believe in what you are selling then so too will the people you are selling to – in fact you have a duty to spread the word! One of the major mistakes is being too focussed on your sales pitch and not listening and reacting to the customer. You must find out what your customers’ needs are and then adapt your sales pitch to give the right solution for them.

Here's how you can avoid the pitfalls and grab the attention and interest of your customers.

Top 10 Sales Mistakes

1. Too busy

Always undertake some level of pro-active business development, even when you’re busy. This is the best time to look for future business, when you least need it and are less desperate.

2. Lack of Passion or Belief

Failure to be passionate about and believe in the value of your product or service will always result in a lack of ability to get the client interested. We buy from people we like, trust and believe in. It’s vital to bring your positive personality to the sales table.

3. “Winging it!”

You should always plan your success and never leave sales to luck. Prepare what you can and be flexible and spontaneous in the areas you can’t.

4. No customer focus

Don’t talk about what you do – but rather what you can do for the customer. How do you impact on their life/business, what pain do you take away or what value or advantage do you give? Which leads on to.

5. Talking too much

Too many sales people do all the talking and forget to listen to or involve the customer. If you are to truly provide worthwhile solutions that customers relate to, then you must listen to and understand them.

6. Generalising

Too many people go into standard presentations where they list all the FAB’s (feature and benefits) which is counter-productive. The skill is to pull out the points that are truly relevant to your customer and their business.

7. Failing to handle objections

Even the best sales person will encounter objections – it’s often a sign that the buyer is really interested. In some cases you might be best off being the one to bring them up. Go on the offensive, rather than be defensive and never argue with the prospect.

8. Failing to ask for the business

Many people are great at chats and meetings and getting on really well with the buyer but get distracted and fail to close. Again, you need to always remember to be leading the customer towards a logical conclusion – a sale or commitment.

9. Being too pushy

Don’t try to sell too quickly before the buyer has understood the value of your product. You have to be getting the right vibes from the customer to demonstrate they understand you and your value. If they are still unsure or confused, they won’t buy so don’t attempt to close.

10. Poor follow-up

Ok you’ve had a great meeting, now what? Do you do what you said you’d do, when you said you would? Remember the golden rule – under promise and over deliver. Remember a quick thank you e-mail and summary or follow-up call, if the next step is going to take a while. Stay in touch and keep things warm. A sale is never a sale until the money is in the bank!

About Author: Jackie Wade is Managing Director of Winning Sales based in the North East of England. She was formerly Head of International Sales at Slendertone before starting up the Professional Sales Academy, intensive sales courses that teach entrepreneurs how to capitalize on sales. She was born in Dublin and is married with two children. Technorati tags: book summaries, business books, business productivity, self improvement, marketing, sales

As business owners I'm sure you recognise the power of publicity and how positive media coverage can have an impact on your business. Free media exposure has a lot more credibility than advertising. In fact it's said that publicity is seven times more effective.

However you may also think that you don't have the skills or knowledge to gain publicity and maybe you're not in a financial position to hire a PR firm (yet!).

But if you follow my 10-point plan I'm sure that you'll soon experience the power of the press.

1. Gain the appropriate skills and knowledge to become an expert in your field. Experts on specialist topics are sought after by the media. Become a qualified member of your industry's association, as this will give you credibility when the media choose to profile you.

2. Be clear on what your message is, know what you want to say. Understand that you need to have a point of difference or something interesting to say and that you need to get that across in an entertaining and informative way. Summarize your message in short, succinct, sound bites.

3. You need to have an audience to listen to your message. Do some research on your ideal customer, perhaps a survey. Look at whom your competitors are talking to. Zero in on your target.

4. Reach out to your target audience through the media. Research the most appropriate magazines, newspapers, on-line media or TV shows for your story. Build a database of media contacts or buy a media directory.

5. Approach the media. Send out a well-written media release, follow up with phone calls. Submit articles to magazines. Submit articles to on-line sites. Follow up again. Make sure to be consistent with your media liaison.

6. A picture tells a thousand words. Send out a professional and creative photograph with your release or ring the media outlet and suggest a photo opportunity. Stage a creative film opportunity for television. Media is entertainment and most people are attracted to strong visual images.

7. Be persistent. Keep on submitting media releases and articles. But learn to take no for an answer and don't be a pushy publicist. You need to build good working relationships with journalists.

8. Be prepared for media interviews. Prepare beforehand possible questions and rehearse the answers. Prepare a few points you want to get across and stay on track. Again think of sound bites and memorable phrases to convey.

9. Build up a portfolio of information about you. Your media kit to include on your website as an online newsroom and for meetings with journalists.

10. Consolidate your expertise by publishing books, CD's and DVD's and reap the rewards of successful public relations.

About Author: Sue Currie, the director of Shine Communications Consultancy and author of Apprentice to Business Ace – your inside-out guide to personal branding, is a business educator and speaker on personal branding through image and media. Sign up for free monthly tips at http://www.shinecomms.com.au/contactmanager/default.cfm To learn more about how you can achieve recognition, enhance your image and shine, visit http://www.shinecomms.com.au

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