I used to consider these inquiries a nuisance, because it would bother me to ignore them, and I didn’t feel I could benefit from them, directly.

But now, I take a different tack.

For example, at present, my firm doesn’t do appointment-setting, but we know others who do.

So, without hesitation, I didn’t call him to say no; I passed along his inquiry to someone who can say yes.

I won’t earn a spiff, a commission, or a referral fee of any kind.

But it’s in everybody’s interest to make the economy more efficient, so instead of sitting on this lead, I sent it out as soon as I could, which happened to be within five minutes of receiving it.

This is the second time this week that I’ve done it, and I know, somewhere in the ether, someone, the great Overseer of All Business, is keeping track, and my very minor generosity will come back to me.

Perhaps multiplied, as some folks believe.

No matter, we should develop a small but responsive network of people to whom we can distribute excess or not quite relevant leads, if for no other reason, than it feel so good, and makes us feel we’re making a contribution.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

For along period tubed televisions were normally much less costly than any type of Liquid Crystal Display or Plasma. Shoppers trusted and felt secure with them and they knew exactly where they stood with them & for sure the central explanation was because they were economical. Today it is a whole different story as tubed TVs have been ceased and in its place been swapped by bargain TVs in the way of Plasma & LCD’s, what had been particularly expensive are today extremely cheap and outstanding value for currency.

Its currently likely to procure HD TVs at an astonishingly discounted retail price. This is the most modern type of technology with regards to TVs, High-definition machinery have let an incalculable number of adults to take advantage of its crystal clear picture & audio. Hi-Def has taken over analog broadcasting & replaced it with an all digital system. To observe true Hi-Def you need a source of HDTV signals, a tuner to obtain and decode those signals & a high performance display screen that can mimic the marvellous detail & dramatic colours of High-definition TV images. You might also need to buy a telly that is HD compatible, it is feasible at the moment to purchase a cheap digital flat screen whether it is an LCD or Plasma that will be able to help you to reach this.

With a digital TV you are likely to receive a notably improved image & technical class. Therefore you can now view anything within the comfort of your own home. Enjoy an electronics bargain today with Digital Direct’s bargain televisions!

Waving

When you’re driving around town, remember to wave to your regular customers, your corporate customers and even non-customers. Soon you’ll notice everyone is waving in your direction, honking their horn and some may follow you to your next stop for service just to get a business card. When you are driving a company vehicle with a magnetic sign on it, you are advertising, if you follow that up with a high-energy attitude you will attract new customers and enhance referrals from your previous golden customers. Sometimes you’ll need two hands to wave to everyone and won’t be able to shift the standard transmission in your car or truck. Encourage your crews to show the same friendliness and enthusiasm when driving any of your company vehicles.

Honking

If you drive by a business where you know a lot of people and customers, announce yourself by honking. Catering trucks do it all the time. Honk and wave when you go by a gas station even if you don’t know anyone there, because someone will think your friendliness was directed at them and will wave back. Others will assume you were waving at someone else and that you must have lots of friends around town.

Thumbs Up

Give the thumbs up sign to police and fire vehicles. Give a thumbs up especially to the police. Due to the nature of their job, they believe that no one likes them and the fact is that many people don’t. After all, no one likes to get a ticket. A lot of people do like police officers and if you let them know you’re on their team and appreciate their efforts to keep crime under control, you create instant good will with the police department. If the police wave back to you at a crowded intersection, this increases the public’s recognition of your role as a positive, contributing member of the community and makes people feel safe and happy about your service as well.

Grocery Stores

When you’re in a grocery store and you are wearing your company logo on your shirt it helps to smile at people and make positive eye contact. Be friendly at all times, especially in line where you are most able to make personal contact with others. It makes people happy even though you both have to wait in line. Make sure you always carry business cards with you.

Be proactive when you are not a work too and any time you are in public, it is best way to win friends and influence people. It is a good idea and it adds positive vibes for the entire community. Think about it.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Despite NASA’s reports in March, that the area covered by sea ice had increased slightly from 2007, most of the ice is thin, formed during the previous winter. It is more fragile than the thicker, less saline floes that have been around for several years. A few years ago, scientists were predicting that the Arctic ice would have melted in the summer by about 2080. Then computer models started projecting earlier dates, around 2030 to 2050. In the summer of 2007 the Arctic sea ice reduced to the lowest amount ever recorded; 4.2 million sq km from 7.8 million sq km in 1980. By the end of last year, a research group had predicted the ice melting entirely as early as 2013.

“I think we’re going to beat last year’s record melt, though I’d love to be wrong,” said Dr Stroeve. “If we do, then I don’t think 2013 is far off any more. If what we think is going to happen does happen, then it’ll be within a decade anyway.”

Despite this eminent loss off ice being environmentally catastrophic, countries surrounding the Arctic are seizing up the economic opportunities that melting ice could expose. Canada and Russia are exploring sovereignty claims over tracts of Arctic seafloor, while President George Bush has recently encouraged more oil exploration in US waters, possibly with intent to extend the exploration to reserves off the Alaskan coast.

In their rush to maximize the situation economically, countries are not reflecting enough upon the climatic problems this will cause. Greenland has already lost ice into the ocean, contributing to the gradual rise in sea levels. The Arctic ice cap could increase sea levels globally by about seven metres if it all melted. Natural climatic cycles such as the Arctic Oscillation play a role in year-to-year variations in ice cover. Many scientists feel that the ice is now so thin there is little hope of preventing the melting cycle.

“If the ice were as thick as it was in the 1970s, last year’s conditions would have brought a dip in cover, but nothing exceptional. But now it’s so thin that you would have to have an exceptional sequence of cold winters and cold summers in order for it to rebuild,” said Dr Ian Willis, from the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.

Here’re three ways on how content can attract free, long term, targeted traffic to your website:

1. Content attracts free search engine traffic

It has been well-known that the search engines love content. The more content you have in your website, the more keywords you can rank for, and thus the more traffic you can get from the search engines.

However, not every content can do well in the search engines. The search engines have sets of rules (also known as algorithms) to rank websites in their indexes and some of these rules go beyond content (off-page factors). You need to “optimize your site” to meet these rules if you want to rank well in the search engines.

The problem, though, is that there are differing opinions about these rules and it seems that no one can give exact answers about them. Also, these rules often change, which makes them quite difficult to be followed.

That’s why I usually only do little optimization, sometimes as little as putting one keyword in the title tag and getting links. I stopped paying attention to the details because they wasted my time more then they gave me results.

2. Content attracts links from other websites

There are two benefits of having incoming links pointing to your site. First, you can get direct traffic from people who click through the links. And second, incoming links can increase your search engine ranking. In general, the search engines count incoming links as votes to your website.

Now how can content attract links to your website? Well, there are various scenarios on how content can attract links to your websites. But since I only have limited space and time here, let me just tell you the two popular scenarios.

First, you can write articles with link in your resource box and submit them to article directories and relevant websites that accept article submission. Many web publishers out there have a “content deficit” problem, and they’re hungry for your content. You can get your links spread out fast around the Internet by using this method.

Second, if your website contains “linkworthy” content, then other webmasters might voluntarily link to your content or website. However, this is a passive method, and you may not want to rely on this method and wait for someone to link to you.

3. Content attracts viral traffic

Viral marketing works by encouraging other people to transmit your marketing message to the others. If done properly, it can spread your marketing message around the Internet just like a contagious virus spreads around a society.

There are various motivations that can encourage other people to spread your marketing message. One of them is the “desire to obtain material possession.” You’ve probably seen the tactic of giving people incentive to spread a marketing message.

However, not all people are moved by the “desire to obtain material possession.” Many people are moved by mere excitement or other non-selfish motivations.

This is where content can attract viral traffic. If your content (that is part of your website or contains link to your website), is extremely useful, informative, or just downright funny as hell that people will say “Wow!” when they see it, then people might spread or tell others about your content.

You can also try to increase the viral effect of your content by making it easy for people to spread or tell others about your content, for example by using a tell-a-friend script.

Mohamad Zaki Hussein is the webmaster of http://www.webtrafficideas.com. To learn how to build a perpetual traffic engine by combining Viral Marketing with RSS and Blog, get the FREE “Instant Traffic Formula” report at http://www.webtrafficideas.com/getviral.

The most important part of this page is to immediately generate attention and interest. At minimum, that means an eye-catching headline, and a compelling 2-3 sentence statement of how you help your clientsnot just what you do.

If they’re looking at graphics or animation, that’s included in the ten secondsso if you plan on putting those elements in, make sure they don’t distract from your key message. I generally recommend to my clients that they omit the bells and whistles and needless distractions of graphics and fancy logos.

Your headline can be problem-oriented: “Retail Managers-Do you struggle with employee retention?”

Or your headline can be promise-focused: “Florists: How to make Valentine’s Day pay off for the rest of the year!”

In each of these I’ve specified a target market. Although not necessary for your headline, if you have a clear population you market to, this technique can provide greater clarity.

After your headline, develop your 2-3 sentence opening statement. This can be in question form or a simple statement of how you help your clients. By focusing on their specific challenges, you can help visitors see your profession in a new light.

“If your dog seems to be feeling under the weather, we can provide a wellness consultation to assess underlying problems. Dogs can’t speak, but they communicate in many ways. We’ll help you figure out what’s going on.”

“Your marketing materials form the basis of your communication with prospects. And your business card is key to opening up and maintaining lines of communication. How often have you forgotten the face associated with the card, but still been intrigued by the service? We’ll help you design attractive and compelling written materials that keep your service at the forefront.”

CAPTURE

I’m a big proponent of giving away useful information that helps you establish credibility with your visitor. A common way of doing this is to offer a free report to anyone who signs up for your list. The free report is nothing new, but if done well, I think it remains one of the best ways to attract clients to your business.

I’ll discuss how to structure a free report in an upcoming article, but for your home page you want to capture the name and email of your visitor, using an attractive box above-the-fold.

If you’ve enticed them, your visitor will sign up.
One of the strategies I teach my clients is to test their home pages and sign up rates, by comparing the number of unique visitors with subscription rates. Your sign up box should be seen immediately upon landing, and your copy should clearly state what you offer and how it will help your reader. Nothing more.

If your wording is good, you’ll get a significant sign-up rate for your free information. What’s significant? I would say anywhere from 5-10%. But this is tricky. If you’re getting much lower rates, analyze where your traffic is coming from; you could be attracting the wrong target market.

NEXT ACTION

1) Figure out what kind of freebie you could give. Also called a “One-Banana” or “Pink Spoon” from the Multiple Streams model, your free report should be truly valuable, easy to access, and not so extensive you never get it done.

2) Write the copy for your sign-up box. Test different versions with your target market and your colleagues to see what resonates with people.

3) Now write your intriguing and clear opening statement.

4) Lastly, write out your headline. Again, test this with your colleagues, and test different versions if you’re not getting the results you’d like.

Stacey Morris, Focus Coach

Is your website generating great results, or is it just hanging out in cyberspace?

If you’re ready to finally make money from your website, visit http://www.OnlineServiceBusiness.com.

Maybe the assistant noticed you entering and offered you a smile and said hello. They are telling you that you are welcome in their space both physically and mentally. Compare this with a shop where you were completely ignored until you went to pay for something. What message are you getting there?

What is rapport?

Rapport is the art of being ‘in tune’ with the people around you. Good rapport will enable you to let others know that you are interested in them, that you care about what they have to say and are keen to understand them. It sends them a message that there is common ground and creates a sense of consideration, respect and trust.

Good rapport lies at the heart of your effective communication. It enables you to get people’s attention and for them to take onboard what you have to say. Good rapport comes from body language and how you say things through the tonality and rhythm of your voice. Together, body language and how you say your words make up 93% of your communication. What you say is only 7%!

Of course, when interacting with others our communication can be non-verbal using just our body language. How are you communicating right now?

I’m sure that you have experienced a situation where within a group of people one person makes a suggestion and you just know that others don’t agree - even if they remain silent. What tells you that they don’t agree and feel comfortable with the suggestion? Those of you who are in agreement will probably be sharing the same body language; they may be more animated in the discussion, and as such will be actively buying in to the idea.

Those that disagree can do so without having to say or do a thing. All they need to do is withdraw their rapport in some way; maybe though pulling back in their seat, crossing their arms, closing their book or leaving the room. Maybe, through all those things if they really wanted to make a point!

So, assuming that we have some words to say, how can we maximise our tonality and body language to ensue that we have good rapport when saying them?

How to get into rapport with people.

Matching and mirroring are the two main ways to establish rapport. People that are in rapport have a certain rhythm to their voice and body movements.

Voice Tonality and Rhythm. This is 38% of your communication. The tone of your voice and the pace that you talk affects the message that you are trying to portray. People use different tones and speeds when talking. Do your best to adjust your voice to come closer to their way of talking.

Try it yourself - say something cheerful in a sad voice and see how it comes across, then switch it around and say something sad in an upbeat voice. What message are you receiving in each case?

What about when someone is talking to you and you are distracted by something else, maybe something you see? Does your voice respond in an interested manner, and does your body language bear this out?

Body language. How you hold and use your body makes up 55% of your communication. Use your body to match people’s body movements. There will be a certain pattern and rhythm to their movements that you can copy.

It’s wise to pay attention to this even if you have good intentions for doing otherwise. You could easily be misinterpreted.

How about if that shop assistant smiles and says hello but without looking at you - does that feel the same? Maybe she was preparing next week’s stock.

What if two assistants are chatting while you are in their shop even whilst politely serving you? Does the rapport exist between them or between you and them?

What if in a work environment you ask somebody to do something for you and they agree quite nicely but you can see them tense up or see their body sink slightly lower in their chair? Are they really happy to do this for you or are speech and body telling different stories?

All together now!

The next time you communicate think about rapport a little. Is it good or not? What makes it good? How could you use your body language and voice to improve rapport?

And stick with it. It can seem odd at times whilst you practice but when it becomes second nature you’ll become a more natural communicator.

Mark Spall is a Coach and Leadership trainer and delivers his materials through a variety of innovative mediums. More on Mark can be found at http://www.markspall.co.uk . Mark is the founder of the Agile Leader Network (http://www.agile-leader.com ), a knowledge base and support network for young people who wish to achieve their best in their careers and their businesses.

Scottish Friendly is an accredited provider of the Child Trust Fund. The Government is eager for people to have access to Stakeholder accounts and this is the form of account that we supply. This means that:

• Investments are paid into our Managed Growth Fund, which

intends to provide good growth potential.

• It invests in part in shares to make the most of potentially higher returns over 18 years,compared to a cash deposit account (although the value of shares can decrease as well as rise whereas capital would be protected in a deposit account).

• It comes with a low ‘Stakeholder’ funds charge of just 1.5At age 18 per year

• young person the get will completely a lump sum, current law free of Capital Gains and Income Tax under It’s.

• additional affordable - put payments can be as little as in the account from can £10

Anyone - parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends - give a maximum to the Child Trust Fund to augment of £1,200 per year to help is not allowed to

the child’s Fund (once added, this money All this means be withdrawn).provides our Stakeholder account potentially a good balance between lower high returns and a There is level of risk. additional also the complies assurance that our account However with the Government’s stakeholder criteria. doesn’t this assured mean that returns are appropriate or that Stakeholder accounts are Remember for everyone. decrease that the value of shares in the Managed Growth Fund (where your Child Trust Fund money is invested) can rise as well as whose birthday is and is not guaranteed.

Only children authorised on or after 1st September 2002 are open a to older kids Child Trust Fund. If you have allowed who are not look at you could saving aiming for them with a Child Bond - it’s a tax-free savings plan for long-term growth.

I only want a few things for Christmas this year, Santa. Don’t worry about jewelry. I can guilt my husband into buying me some. And I can buy my own clothes. No offense, but I’m just not comfortable having you pick out clothes for me. A red jacket with white fur trim and black boots may look great on you, but they’re not really my style.

Here’s what I want for Christmas.

1)Use of a flying reindeer on Christmas day so I can visit my whole family even though they’re scattered in different states. I only want to borrow the reindeer for a day since I’m not sure that the neighbors would be too happy about having a reindeer parked in the driveway. And my town may have some ordinances against it. Also, I don’t want to have to clean up piles of reindeer poop. (I wonder, since I’ve never seen reindeer poop, does it fly too? If so, your stable elves really have my sympathy.)

2)While we’re on the subject of loaners, I’d like to borrow a few of the elves to help clean my house. I realize that they’re terribly busy before Christmas, but what do they have to do on New Year’s Eve anyway? It would be great if they could clean up after my party so I don’t have to start off the New Year welcomed by the stale smell of champagne that’s been sitting all night.

3)The next Harry Potter book before anyone else gets it. I know it’s not due for a few years but this is going to be a tough one with all the security involved so I thought you might start thinking about it now. And Santa, can you please get J.K. Rowling to make the next book shorter? I read the last one out loud to my daughter and I got a bad case of Severus Sore Throat.

4)The gift of youth. I don’t mean the slimy stuff that comes in a jar, I mean the ability to recapture a sense of child-like wonder that makes ordinary things seem special. I’d like to be able to look at a hamster and see it as a special friend instead of an annoying varmint that’s going to leave little pellet droppings all over the place and cost me lots of money for silly plastic tubes. (Of course, as part of the gift of youth, it would be nice if you could also have a few people tell me how young I look.)

5)Another year where my pre-teen daughter likes to be around me. I don’t expect that she’ll like me all the time and some tantrums are okay. I just don’t want her to make believe that I don’t exist when her friends are around.

6)But most of all, please give me the gift of forgetfulness. I don’t mean forgetting where my keys are (I can do that without any help from you); I mean forgetting other people’s little mistakes and faults. I want to focus on the positives so I can remember what a wonderful year I had. And help me to remember that my family and friends aren’t perfect. I’m certainly not, so I shouldn’t expect them to be.

I realize that you’re busy, so you don’t need to wrap anything for me. Merry Christmas!

This article comes with reprint rights providing no changes are made and the resource box below accompanies it.

Laura Browne is the author of a serious but practical & easy-to-use book for women, Why Can’t You Communicate Like Me? How Smart Women Get Results At Work, available at http://www.inyourfaceink.com. Go to this website for information on a free teleconference that will show you How To Deal With Difficult People At Work presented by Laura Browne. (The book is also available at Barnes & Noble online.)

When Laura isn’t writing, she helps women be more successful through WOMEN Unlimited, a nationally recognized resource for cultivating leadership excellence, http://www.women-unlimited.com.

(This article was originally printed in Cranberry Magazine.)

1. Who is your target market?

2. What makes them buy or sign up with an organization?

The easiest and cheapest way for you to find the answer to these two questions is through testing and tracking. These methods will highlight your advertising strengths and weaknesses and allow you to maximize your marketing dollar.

Testing:

The purpose of testing is to increase the response rate to your ad or offer. For instance, you could write a sales letter and test out different headlines for the ad. Often a headline can make all the difference in your response. Many marketers have increased sales by as much as 200% simply by changing their headline. Remember, even if your ad is producing steady sales, you should always test. A small change could move your sales from steady to overflowing!

Tracking:

You should keep track of everything you do in your business. Not just your profit and expenses, but also your promotional and advertising campaigns.

Let’s say, for example, you’re running an ezine ad. What kind of information should you keep track of? The most essential are:

Where you placed the ad including the name of the ezine and date the ad was run

How many subscribers to the ezine

The cost to you

The number of responses generated by the ad - Dividing this into your cost will show you how much you paid for each response

The number of sign ups you got as a result

Contact person and email address for ezine

The URL of the ad you used. This is especially important if you promote more than one program

Any comments or notes you’d like to keep

Headline used in the ad

You could also keep track of other items, depending on how detailed you would like to be. The important thing is to study the numbers. Some ads may produce great interest but if no one buys, your profit is zero. Other ads may produce only a few click throughs but generate more sign ups. Which ad was worth the most to you? Obviously, the second one.

You will also probably use other forms of advertising, such as maybe a pay per click program, and it is just as essential that you keep track of these numbers as well. Set up a spreadsheet in Excel or keep one on paper. Every dollar you spend on marketing should be tracked so you don’t waste precious money on things that aren’t working.

Also, don’t forget, if you have a prospect and you’re not sure how they found you, ask them! You must keep track of all your leads.

Do not underestimate the power of testing and tracking! By following these techniques, you’ll know exactly where you’re making money online.

By: Anne Ahira
Editor The BEST Affiliate Newsletter
http://www.thebestaffiliate.com