The answer was found in entrepreneurship. By teaching high-school students the methods and rewards of starting and owning their own businesses, Steve Mariotti set out to accomplish far more than he would have if he had only focused on math proficiency scores. Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the books Don't Wait Until You Graduate and Prospect & Flourish. He is also a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

P.S. These techniques could be adapted for job searching, too.

Case in point: years ago, a beginning New York City high school teacher named Steve Mariotti faced his first day on the job at Boys & Girls School. This inner-city high school had become known as the worst in the entire district:

• Seventy-two teachers preferred unemployment over going to work.
• The dropout rate was 50 percent.
• The NYC Board of Regents placed the entire school on probation.

Keith F. Luscher is author of the books Don't Wait Until You Graduate and Prospect & Flourish. He is also a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

One of the fundamentals of networking and meeting new people is the notion of a common connection: you know one person, who in turn introduces you to another whom they know, either through work or some other association. But what if that connection isn't enough? Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the books Don't Wait Until You Graduate and Prospect & Flourish. He is also a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

This is the point where business owners get curious about sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. What are the best social media outlets for your business. That's really up to you and your clients to decide. You can look for networks that are favored by your industry, you can look at what your clients are using, you can look at what networks may be the most appropriate for your business.

Twitter: I have said this before but when I first signed up for Twitter, it seemed ridiculous to me. I just didn't get it. I really think that Twitter doesn't make sense until you start expanding your network with people who are really using it. The main complaint that I get from small business owners about Twitter revolves around this same lack of understanding that I had.

What's great about Twitter is that it gives you access to a whole group of people that you would typically not have access to. It's a great opportunity to meet new people, run across great ideas and share your own great ideas.

I will avoid getting on a soap box about how to best use Twitter or any other social networking platform for that matter. I am certainly not a social media expert but I do use it on a daily basis. What I will do is share how I use Twitter so that it works for me.

The first thing I do with Twitter is use it to update my followers on information that is relevant to small business owners. Typically I do this by sharing other people's content that I run across on a daily basis. The second thing I do is use to expand the reach of my own information that I create. Beyond content, I use Twitter as a connection tool. I am not so much of a conversationalist on Twitter itself but I do try to set up 1-2 calls/meetings a week with people that I connect with on Twitter.

The connection aspect has been a great way to find mentors as well as create synergies with people to move my business forward. One word of caution about Twitter, be careful what you say, you don't want to have this happen to you.

Facebook: For me Facebook is more of a friendship site. I don't link my Twitter account to it and I don't really pursue a lot of business there. However, that doesn't mean that you can't or shouldn't use Facebook for business.

I have made great professional connections through Facebook. I have also seen business owners really use the fan page function of Facebook to get communicate and share with their clientele on a regular basis.

Alex Mandossian has done a great job with this through his Productivity Strategies platform. They post content regularly and seem to have created an active and engaged following through their fan page. You can certainly pick up some tips for how Alex has structured his page to get ideas for your own business.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the more buttoned up and professional of the major social networking sites. LinkedIn provides a lot of unique features for its users.

One of my favorite features is the ability to recommend people in your network. This is a great way to share with others the great things that people in your network are doing. I also enjoy the question and answer feature that allows you to weigh in on questions that other LinkedIn users have about various topics. You can also integrate Slide Share into your profile which is a great tool for my graphic and web design business. As a business owner there is plenty to like about LinkedIn.

Those are the 3 main sites that I use regularly. It's up to you determine what networks are best for you and how much time and effort you want to put into using them. To get past the social media is dumb and a waste of time issue that a lot if us business owners have, it takes jumping in and giving them a try so that we can see how to make these networks work effectively for our business.

Brandon Allen is a business and vision coach with The Business Blueprint. Brandon focuses on helping businesses get clear on their vision, mission, core values and leadership. Brandon is the author of the small business blog Build Your Soul Purpose ( www.buildyoursoulpurpose.com).

The email newsletter is an essential part of the marketing mix for companies large and small. Consumers are invited to sign up with the promise of a flow of fascinating and useful information. The reality is often different with the result that disappointed readers unsubscribe from the distribution list. Here are some do's and don'ts to help you succeed with your email newsletter:

Don't

1. Think it is about you and your products. Look at it from the reader's point of view. You have to provide something interesting and valuable to customers so lots of product features are not the answer. Tips, hints, how-to advice and user stories are better.

2. Try too hard to sell. Too many special offers and sales pitches will turn readers off.

3. Make it long, detailed and dull. Surely no explanation is needed yet many newsletters display these mistakes.

4. Mail too often. Most people are suffering from newsletter fatigue so a regular monthly mailing is generally preferable to something every few days. Continue reading ...

Article by, Paul Sloane and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

"For a number of years," Phil says, "we did very well driving new business purely on referrals. But as the economy tumbled, I came to notice that those incoming calls were slowing dramatically...which meant that I had to increase my prospecting activity." Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

The number of red-eyed people tuned into YouTube's videos should tell you how important video search engine optimization is for your site. Today everyone thinks of jumping on to the YouTube bandwagon and creating a video but few would stop to think about video search engine optimization. With millions of videos all over the web, how would you optimize your videos to get the complete benefit of video search engine optimization?

Video search engine optimization isn't as difficult as it sounds because it has the same benefit that sites that were being optimized 10 years ago had, video search engine optimization is still in its nascent stage and thus optimizing it simply means optimizing a video's Meta tags.

But much before we go into video search engine optimization, we have to first think about the video itself. A video that you make for your site and then put through video search engine optimization must have content. This content has to be interesting and flow nicely to attract people to watch it in the first place and get video search engine optimization to work for you. Continue reading ...

Article by, Jamie Dawson and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

1. who knows you,
2. who likes you, and
3. who trusts you.

In today's economy, when EVERYONE is in business for him- or herself (which has been the case for more than 20 years), we hear quite the buzz about "personal branding." Indeed, Harry Beckwith in his classic book, Selling the Invisible, states very clearly: "Nothing beats a brand." Further, he emphasizes, "Invest in and religiously preach integrity. It is the heart of your brand." Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

Article by, Terry Lipperd and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

This question presents a challenge for many people. Such was the case for Chad, who approached me after my talk. He had a diverse background, largely in information technology. "I've been instrumental in deploying updated systems for one employer; at another I developed new protocols for support teams..." Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

Article marketing is an effective way to broaden the online presence of any small business. By distributing articles to various article directories on the Internet, your business can reap the benefits ranging from an increase in web traffic, lead generation, new customers and a solid reputation. It's a simple concept that has the potential to take your business to the next level and higher.

The foundation of article marketing has evolved from a well-known strategy called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO; a practice where web pages are optimized with keywords and published online in an effort to increase search engine rankings. There are three steps to article marketing; research, writing the article and distribution.

Research

The first step is keyword research. It is vital to inundate your article with keywords that you want to rank well for in the search engines. For example, assume you sell used DVDs online. You should research what keywords people are searching for relative to the term DVD (i.e. rent DVD, DVD rentals, DVD, or buy DVD). Then, you would make a list of approximately 10 or so of these keywords and sprinkle them throughout my article. This step is relatively simple and only takes about 30 or so minutes; unless of course you are still using dial up Internet. Continue reading ...

Article by, Michael Brito and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

Social networking will improve your webpage performance because it will improve your chances of appearing first in web search engine optimization.

Google has great tools for researching search-based keywords and website optimization tools. Google also offers a free Blogger website. Create backlinks on your blogs to improve website optimization.

YahooAnswers is a great general website that you can create backlinks on. For specific subjects, such as gardening, it is best to find sites related to your topic to create your backlinks. Continue reading ...

Article by, Ranee Wright and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

Perhaps the secret is in the one piece of advice very few of us likely follow: repeat. Most of the time (unless for some reason I am feeling really icky...) when I wash my hair I do just one cycle. I don't see the point in repeating it. Yet consider how often we receive directions on how to effectively live our lives and/or grow our businesses, and don't follow through or keep up the good behavior?

How often do we hear the expression, "Well, it's back to basics...?" Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

But, after a while, things slow down and you hit a wall. You find yourself chasing after prospects and wondering why it is taking so long to convert prospects into clients.

You're stumped!

You start exploring different techniques and try to find a solution. But, no matter what you try, the results are the same and the sales cycle is a much longer process than what you would like.

So where do you turn when you are stuck in sales quicksand and can't get your prospects to move forward? Continue reading ...

Article by, Jeremy Ulmer and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

The things that I've noticed is that for many different companies once they get into their marketing routine they stop really paying attention to it. They define exactly what they're going to do in order to appeal to people and that becomes the end of it. This is their marketing campaign and that's all their marketing contains.

If they aren't using a particular type of marketing already than they don't bother to try using it. Why should they? They've already decided what their marketing is, and that's it.

Only new companies just starting out need to focus on what their marketing is going to contain. Once you have your marketing system set up what point is there in looking at it again? Continue reading ...

Article by, Kaye Marks and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

Once you have mastered the basics, you'll be able to get a much higher reader response to your articles. You'll also get your articles published on more websites as well. And in the end you will end up with that much more traffic to your site.

Let's cover one very powerful basic article marketing strategy you need to master right away before anything else. Continue reading ...

Article by, Sylvia Rolfe and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

Online websites are well established in our everyday Internet use. Being able to have a domain name that is easily recognizable with your product or service is very important. But before even choosing the name, you will need to purchase the domain. There are many websites available, but here are the top five based on cost, ease of purchase and additional services.

NetworkSolutions.Com: This company has been in the domain registration business since 1993. Upon entering its site, the company gives you the option to search up to 10 names for availability. They currently host over 7 million names. Along with your name registration for $9.99, you get a free local listing in the directory, free instant web page, and 24/7 online support. This company is very reliable. Continue reading ...

Article by, Mrs. Mon E. Penny and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

Everywhere you look, you can see advertising giveaways in some form or another. These items are literally everywhere. Using specialty advertising products is a very effective way to create brand awareness.

Products Used for Giveaways Advertising

Popular specialty products used for advertising include calendars, coffee mugs, calculators, key chains, bumper stickers, and the list goes on. There are literally thousands of items that can be used for this form of advertising.

But is this method of advertising effective? The answer is yes! Promotional items are relatively inexpensive and a great way to continuously remind your customer about you and your business. Using specialty advertising products to promote your business is definitely effective, especially if you select promotional items that are useful and directly relate to the service that you offer. Continue reading ...

Article by, Nicholas G. and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

The reason that this post resonated with me right now is that I feel that I have personally been in violation of the one goal rule. I took a step back and looked at some of the different ventures that I am involved in and wondered to myself how I had gotten in the position that I currently stood. I realized that if you aren't careful, it's really easy to overload yourself with projects and ventures as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs have a hard time with staying focused on one goal typically because of money. We figure sometimes that the more things that we are involved with, the more of a chance we will have at stumbling upon success. The problem with the many irons in the fire mentality is that it never works out to the kind of financial and business success that we are looking for in the first place. In the end we master nothing and then end up starting over.

There is a lot of power in one goal for the simple fact that it's simple. One goal allows us to avoid over-complicating our lives and gives us the space to focus on that one goal that we feel is most important. The power ultimately lies in our ability to master that goal that we have and when we master something, we are able to create the highest potential value in the marketplace for our clients.

What's your one goal?

Brandon Allen is a business and vision coach with The Business Blueprint. Brandon focuses on helping businesses get clear on their vision, mission, core values and leadership. Brandon is the author of the small business blog Build Your Soul Purpose ( www.buildyoursoulpurpose.com).

A fair few promoters would have you believe that you could start earning money as soon as you bought their product, NOT TRUE.

Many of the products on the market today DO NOT work, not because they are flawed, but because they give false hope, by promising instant wealth, and the majority are far too complicated to set up unless you know what you are doing. If you are new to the concept, with little or no knowledge, of the affiliate business and you buy one of these products chances are you won't even impliment any of it, your are not alone, 98% of newbies fall at the first hurdle. Continue reading ...

Article by, Joe Anderson and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

According to Helen Leggatt in her article, Consumers Unhappy With Lack of Mobile Marketing Messages, marketers are missing out on a great opportunity to promote their brands and increase revenue. And since consumers are saying they want to be marketed to in this manner, it seems like the obvious choice.

Although, according to HipCricket, mobile marketing has increased from 28 percent in 2008 to 34 percent in 2009, it still hasn't caught on as quickly as one might expect given consumers' demand for it. If brand recognition is important, then it appears that mobile marketing is definitely the way to go.

We have all worked for or with someone who suffered from the curse of knowledge. This is the boss/entrepreneur who assumes that everyone clearly understands their complete vision after talking with them for five minutes or assumes that you know what they are thinking just because you work there.

The vision in our mind is so clear that we think that everyone just gets it. In order to build high performing teams for your organization, it's important to get past the curse of knowledge so that you are able to get everyone associated with your business, whether it be internal or external team members, on the same page and driving towards a common goal. Business owners who are able to do this find that their business is able to get high results much faster and easier than business owners who ignore this.

What tips can you give for articulating the vision of your business? How has this worked for you in the past?

Brandon Allen is a business and vision coach with The Business Blueprint. Brandon focuses on helping businesses get clear on their vision, mission, core values and leadership. Brandon is the author of the small business blog Build Your Soul Purpose ( www.buildyoursoulpurpose.com).

Your network, and the strength of relationships with people in your network, is one of your most valuable assets. A network of followers, friends, business contacts, colleagues, and clients is by no means a commodity. Therefore, it is not something you should take for granted. Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

It's a common thing to hear about success stories on profitable blogs these days.. Some generate amounts of up to $100,000/month and beyond. Profitable they are. You as a blog owner probably need to do a few things differently in order to get the most out of your internet marketing techniques and take a few steps to increase search engine rankings, make more money and have it run on autopilot.

What I've found is that creating a traffic pulling blog is more than just about getting search engine rankings. You need more... See... Blogs are so easily syndicated using RSS and tools such as RSS submit to get your website spread like wildfire in just one go. This is no news... This isn't any news either, but you want to "deep link" your blog posts and have strictly defined anchor texts. Continue reading ...

Article by, S and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

But I learned a few tricks here and there about marketing that can make your job as an entrepreneur a little bit easier. The first trick is to link every effort to revenue. If you place an ad in the paper you need to track, how many people called you for your product. If it isn't working, there isn't any point in wasting more money on an ad that isn't getting you any new business. So you might as well take that money and find a better use for it. Continue reading ...

Article by, Ryan Barnes and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

Just like the 'cat and mouse' relationship, there has always been known friction between a company's marketing and finance departments primarily on account of marketing spend. Marketing after all spends money to make money so to speak. There is then an occurrence of natural polarity, marketing and finance usually gravitating towards opposite sides. In the past I have been hounded by one finance person after another seeking explanation as to why I spend this much in marketing, how I spend it and where are the returns.

Now in order to make ends meet with Finance, there has to be first - mutual respect. I have the highest respect for a number of finance professionals. I have grown my own analytics section in the marketing department just so there is straightforward and clear communication. One of the main proponents to instill is not just peace but understanding to explain that we are all on the same side with adherence to the same company goals. To achieve this, communication is vital. However this communication shouldn't just be peripheral or meaningless chatter, but instead purposeful conversations that exchange ideas and transfer knowledge. May it be a debate, argument or what-have-you - it is very important that a routine dialog be maintained by both parties to arrive at agreements, directions and decisions. This though should be supplemented by plans, documentations and carefully crafted strategies. Continue reading ...

Article by, Athena Catedral and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

About Generation Y

Generation Y consists of people born between the years 1977 and 1994. They are the generation of e-commerce and Britney Spears. A complex, extremely diverse group, those born in Generation Y exist to consume. They are materialistic, but not so much that they don't pay special attention and respond to particular advertising strategies.

Generation Y is probably one of the most difficult groups to both categorize and market toward. They are second only to their parents, the baby boomers, in terms of diversification in their buying tendencies. Continue reading ...

Article by, Sara Malarchy and courtesy of Associated Content, Inc.

Twitter is free and only takes minutes to set up an account. The first objective of most Twitter users (called "peeps," among other expressions, but that's my favorite) is to get followers. At the same time, you will likely seek out other peeps to follow, ideally based upon a common interest, industry, profession, location, other connections, etc. These factors are typically indicated in your profile. You will also be sending out "tweets" (message posts) that relate to what you do and those like interests of your prospective followers and clients. Such messages should also have keywords included so that potential followers will find you in their searches. Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

As I said in [a previous] post, how well you manage the internal aspects of your business will dictate how positively the public perceives your business. In the beginning of a companies' life cycle, the business owner is the foremost dictator of how things play out in their business. This is why when you consider your companies brand, you identify concisely what you want to be known for.

The follow through aspect is the most tricky for entrepreneurs. Because they don't normally have the attention span to see things to completion, things always fall through the cracks. They don't return calls or e-mails on time, they are frequently unorganized and unprepared for important meetings, communicate poorly and most importantly activities that need to be accomplished seem to pile up. These areas affect customers, vendors that do business with you, partnerships and employees. Ultimately being poor in these areas affects your brand as it starts to break the trust that you are trying to build with these different groups.

This is why I mentioned putting a list together that identifies strengths and weaknesses. Look at where you are weak and then figure out what personnel or system needs to be in place to make up for your deficiencies in this area. The Kolbe test is one great resource for helping you hire the right team. A common mistake that I see business owners make is hiring an assistant to help them with follow through and then you find out that the assistant isn't strong in follow through either. Math is still the only area I have seen where 2 negatives can become a positive.

There are resources to help you create a great image for your company and insure that your weaknesses don't become your firms weaknesses and ultimately cripple your brand in the process.

What resources have you been able to use to ensure that your company operates smoothly and your weaknesses aren't exposed?

Brandon Allen is a business and vision coach with The Business Blueprint. Brandon focuses on helping businesses get clear on their vision, mission, core values and leadership. Brandon is the author of the small business blog Build Your Soul Purpose ( www.buildyoursoulpurpose.com).

There is a saying (and I don't know if it is very common) that goes, "If you don't make the call, someone else will." I don't think that's always the case, nor is it the worst thing that could happen. The worse thing that could happen is that NO ONE will make the call, and your prospect's needs, which are often very important, will go unfulfilled. Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

I have already talked about why mission, vision and values are important to your business. They really are the foundation for everything that you do and your results are no different.

Many small business owners wander ahead with their business without understanding the fundamental questions about their business. Questions such as: Why do I exist? Where do I want to go? What's most important to my business? Knowing these questions will then allow you to create the results that will make the answers to the aforementioned questions a reality for your business.

Business can even have success without defining results...also in the short term. The reason businesses don't define results is due to the lack of clarity or for other reasons that I will discuss later this week. Having success without defined results or an understanding of why results happened is the most dangerous kind of success because at that point you have grown your business which means more liabilities and more customers to answer to. Not having a plan in place to manage your results then becomes suicide for your organization.

What's the first step? Get results defined for yoru business but before you do that make sure that you understand why your business exists in the first place and where you want it to go. The long term success of your business is counting on it.

Brandon Allen is a business and vision coach with The Business Blueprint. Brandon focuses on helping businesses get clear on their vision, mission, core values and leadership. Brandon is the author of the small business blog Build Your Soul Purpose ( www.buildyoursoulpurpose.com).

As reported by Mobile Marketer, Kmart's "Be a Schoolebrity" campaign does not include any mobile advertising components such as cell phone text messaging (SMS) blasts, mobile web sites, and SMS keywords. Instead, Kmart is relying on the old style mail-in sweepstakes using forms that customers can obtain when they go to the stores. Seriously, does any tween or teen use the mail? I've heard that 40 percent of college students don't even know their own zip codes. While that seems to be a negative reflection of the students, it really isn't. If you didn't send or receive anything by mail, why would you need to know your zip code? Their subscriptions are on-line, they pay their bills on-line, their written communications are electronic, and they probably couldn't find their way to a post office if their lives depended on it.

Is this oversight afflicting all retailers? Nope. One of Kmart's closest competitors, JCPenney, ran a multichannel, back-to-school ad campaign that involved mobile. They encouraged teens to sign up for text alerts at a special mobile web site. My guess is that a year from now we'll be applauding Kmart's efforts to reach tweens and teens through their most prized possession: their mobile phone. And when that happens, watch Kmart's sales increase.

So whose call-back rate are we talking about? You guessed it...Just as the headline read: It's yours.

We have all been there, especially when it is a part of our prospecting routine. Whether we are making that first phone call to a prospect, or the tenth, making the necessary dials is something many of us sometimes put off until it is too late. I am just as guilty.

Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

Best Buy, Galbraith says, realized its mistake and worked diligently to correct it. By focusing on the needs of the customers, Best Buy was able to provide a more enjoyable shopping experience that - pretty much always - translated into increased revenue.

"Customer-centric organizations essentially become more complex organizations that are grouped around experience, consumer segments, products, services and software," says Galbraith. He goes on to add that the complexity should only be on the organization's side of the equation, never on the customers.

It's not easy for retailers these days; consumers continue looking for more ways to save money. But retailers who remember to focus their energy on satisfying their customers' needs and wants stand a much better chance of surviving these dire economic times.

It reminded me of a tip I received not long before from a senior colleague at Principal, as we were about to go into a closing meeting with a business prospect: "There may be a point when I place our solutions on the table, and ask him to make a decision," Mel said. "There may be an awkward silence..."

Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

Article by Gary Hankins and courtesy of Pygmalion, Inc.

A famous coach once said, "If I have to choose between the player who is high on skill, but low on discipline, and the player who is low on skill, but high on discipline, I will take the latter, because I can make him a star."

Indeed, most successful people will be the first to admit that they are not brilliant, but they are focused, and that focus helps them maintain discipline. (In fact, they often surround themselves with brilliant people to make up the difference!) This is what is meant by the expression, "Focus Beats Brilliance." Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

Because Steve Jobs has always understood Marilyn Monroe. He has spent his entire career making sure he wasn't selling things people liked.

Like is a commodity. Love is a force and a barrier to entry. Great marketing always finds a way to transition a product, a company, from like to love. If the marketing fails to do that, the marketing is just a glorified way of going through the motions.

I want to live in a world surrounded only by people and things that intoxicate me. Unfortunately, there are no such pure plays, but I am bored to tears when I have to spend time in the land of like. So I search out the people and things I can be passionate about- and like a soldier carrying his girlfriends picture into battle-I think of them. Amazing how they cast a glow that makes everything more beautiful.

Every time you wonder how you can make your business better, resist the temptation to read a treatise from Harvard Business School.

Look at a picture of Marilyn Monroe.

Article by, Mark Stevens, the bestselling author of "Your Marketing Sucks," "Your Management Sucks" and"God Is A Salesman." Stevens is CEO of MSCO, a global marketing firm, who has advised many clients over the years such as Estee Lauder, Virgin Atlantic, Guardian Insurance, MONY, Giorgio Armani, Starwood, Intrawest, etc. Stevens delivers more than 40 speeches annually and is a regularly featured media commentator, lending his insights and opinions on Fox Business Network, to the Associated Press, on CNN International, BBC Radio and Bloomberg TV.

More and more frequently, we see billboards, television shows, print ads, and on-line ads urging us to use our cell phones to text a keyword such as "college" to a cell phone short code number such as 876289. For example, text the word "college" (without the quotes) to 876289. You'll receive an automated response from CollegeRecruiter.com and we'll instantly receive an email notification of your request.

Text messaging keywords is an inexpensive way to engage current or future customers. The cost, with no contract (cancel at anytime), is $40 per keyword per month plus $0.25 per response. Want an even less expensive solution? Sign up for one of our three-month plans:

• One keyword with up to 2,000 responses = $600
• Three keywords with 5,000 responses = $1,500
• Seven keywords with 12,000 responses = $3,000
• 15 keywords with 25,000 responses = $6,500
• 35 keywords with 60,000 responses = $11,000
• Other options = call/email for quote

For additional information, please call Betsy Larson (800) 835-4989 x701 or email us.

You as the product

Viewing yourself as the product that you are marketing, might help you in wrapping your mind around the power and the necessity for personal branding. You could be transitioning to another position and look for positive exchange with a potential employer; it could be you as a referral partner looking for a positive exchange with someone who services the same target client that you do in a non-competitive industry; or it could be you developing the foundation of your expertise looking for advisers to your personal board.

Let's look at your personal brand with you as the product.

What are the 5Ps?

Product: What's your deliverable? How do you benefit people? What makes you so unique that if you were in a room with 250 of your competitors or colleagues that you would stand head and shoulders above the rest of them? What is your unique promise of value? And, how do you address the question that is on anyone's mind that you are looking to exchange time or talent with - "what's in it for me (WIIFM)"? As the product and professional at what you do, how you benefit people and who you are, it is your job to connect the dots for others so that they immediately know what you can do for them. Product development is key to an effective marketing strategy. A poor product that is positioned well will see a short success moment because the foundation is not congruent with what the product actually delivers.

Place: These days, place is more than being in the geographic area it is also timing. It also means do you have a presence where the people that you want to exchange with spend a majority of their time. Just like a store front that must research in depth this location, location, location question - so must you. If you're looking for a position with a certain industry, where do the industry "movers and shakers" (in great quantity) spend time? Is it in a social service organization like Rotary? Or, are they at an industry based association? Research where to find them and be where they are so that you are fully immersed in the place that they feel comfortable associating with others.

Promotion: Does the way you promote yourself honor your personal brand? If it doesn't feel right, it might work for someone else but it might not be a good fit for you. When someone else, just learning of you, experiences that disconnect caused by positioning that's not congruent with the product, they will tend to shy away from you and often advise others to do the same. Word of Mouth is the most powerful form of advertising. In fact, 92% of people, according to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, make purchases because of a word of mouth recommendation. Yet, word of mouth is also a double-edge sword. Are you positively buzz-worthy?

The fifth P is one that is new to the mix and I learned of it from @BPrickett during this past week's #brandchat conversation on Twitter. The fifth P is Participation.

Participation: No longer do brands see great success from merely blasting out promotional messages or broadcasts (which by definition is to cast out a large message to a broad audience) their benefits. Brands now require participation.

According to Unilever's Chief Marketing Officer - Simon Clift (in a recent Advertising Age article), "Brands are now becoming conversation factors where...key opinion formers discuss functional, emotional and social concerns. The conversation is no longer one way." He goes onto say that "listening to consumers is more important than talking at them." Are you and your brand engaged in the conversation?

There are numerous posts here on this blog alone that provide excellent practical tips on how to jump into the social conversation and how to engage others. Examine your five Ps to determine at what level you are now and then determine what are you going to do to get to the next level you want to be at? Someone once said that the definition of insanity is to "do the same thing the same way and expect different results."

What do you need to do to move forward?

Maria Elena Duron, is chief buzz agent and identity coach with buzz2bucks.com. Buzz2Bucks, a personal branding and word of mouth firm,is the community manager around your brand, online and offline, and coaches community managers on how to become buzz-worthy. She contributes to several publication including the Personal Branding Mag and is editor of the Personal Branding Blog.

Article courtesy of Dan Schawbel, the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. He authors the Personal Branding Blog and publishes Personal Branding Magazine and authored the upcoming book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, Spring 2009). Dan has been called a "personal branding force of nature" by Fast Company and his work has been published in BrandWeek Magazine, Advertising Age and countless other publications.

How has selling changed in the past two years?

Selling changed dramatically and no one told the salespeople. Most salespeople are still slogging along using the same old ideologies and techniques from the 80's and 90's that are based on ideas from the 60's and 70's. The result is a bunch of very frustrated salespeople and managers who are not making their numbers. Then, along comes an economic downturn and wholesale destruction of many industries and salespeople don't know what to do or where to turn. What really changed was buyer mentality and buyer psychology. Consumers and prospects are overwhelmed with choices, markets commoditize faster than ever now and virtually all of them are over-communicated. The result is that they've become ambivalent, lack trust and are slower to buy.

Buyers don't trust their old relationships that were based on concealment of information, they demand transparency and relevancy of messages. Buyers have instant access in the palm of their hands to shop around for better pricing, to see what your reputation is and to see if what you are saying is true. What they are really looking for is a real reason to believe. If you can give them a real reason to believe and earn their trust, you have the opportunity to create a relationship and ultimately a customer.

Social media and online social networking absolutely impacted sales greatly because buyers were able to band together in networks and share information instantly. They also learned how to discover the truth online (at least most of the time) and they learned the power of shared experiences. They began reporting their experiences on blogs, on their Facebook pages, and instantly on Twitter. Salespeople and many companies were stunned by what came out and very slow to react. Now, they are rapidly trying to navigate the new landscape and figure out what to do. Sadly, most of them don't hire a strategist with experience in new selling to help them, they simply muddle about hoping to get it right.

What do you tell salespeople about personal branding?

I'm glad you asked. Let's face it, if you stay at the same job for five years now, you have a long career with a company. The salespeople who are going to earn the most in the future are those who embrace the idea that they are their ultimate product. Building a personal brand is what will allow you to take your clients with you wherever you go because they will seek you out if you've built a strong brand. A powerful personal brand will also set you apart from your competition and give people a reason to believe.

In my book How To Sell When Nobody's Buying I tell salespeople that they must have a blog, a personal facebook, Twitter and Linkedin account and their name as a website. They need a coordinated place to showcase themselves, their information and their knowledge. And, I also reveal the most important information that they must gather from each client in order to best position themselves for future business. I also strongly recommend your book to everyone who needs to build a personal brand, it is the most actionable information on the market right now. Salespeople must embrace this or they should just get out of sales. The only problem with that is, not matter what your job now, you must take control of your personal brand. So, the smartest thing any salesperson can do is decide what they want to be known for, what do they want people to say about them, what are they willing to do every day to be sure it happens? Once they decide that, they can build the rest quickly.

You've created something called "The Leads Machine" for people who buy your book, what is that?

The Bold Approach Leads Machine is a web 2.0 powered contact manager that allows you to share and exchange leads with other salespeople so you never have to cold call again. It is a collaboration between my company Bold Approach, Inc. and Mywayinteractive.com.

One of the principles I talk about in the book is leveraging established relationships. The best leads you'll ever get come from other salespeople who have a good relationship with the account you want to get into. The challenge of course is knowing who is non-competitive and who may be willing to share leads with you. The Bold Approach Leads Machine takes all the work out it, you just search and find someone who has the contact you need and exchange leads. It is completely free and also full incorporates social media, down to the point that you can see a contact's live twitter stream right on their lead profile page. It is a powerful tool.

Using the same old tools doesn't work anymore, you need new tools for new times and new psychologies, this is it. The leads machine has thousands of leads and thousands of members already so you'll walk into a virtual goldmine of potential new business with background information so that you never cold call again.

What is the Chapter 0 in your book? I've never heard of a chapter 0 before. . . .

Chapter 0 is like ground zero. If you have to make sales right now and only have a week to turn things around, what do you do? Chapter 0 is a complete implementation plan for how to kickstart your sales immediately. One of the things that I teach salespeople is that implementation is everything and money follows action. So rather than give them room to try and figure out what that means on their own, I decided to make it simple and gave them a very specific action plan for the next five days of their career to create massive momentum.

Chapter 0 breaks down what you do from the moment you walk in the office until the minute you walk out. And guess what? I don't tell them to start cold calling, that is a very low value activity. We start by going to inactive accounts and non-buyers, people with whom we at least had familiarity. By the time we get around to calling new prospects, they are using The Bold Approach Leads Machine to find them so they aren't cold. They have a great deal of information that will allow them to succeed in closing an appointment right away.

I also talk to them about message to market match. People don't want to be force fit into a solution, they want something elegant that fits perfectly. Chapter 0 shows them exactly what they need to do to become relevant and how to do it. And here is what is interesting about that information. If you substituted job hunt and interview for all the sales reference, and applied everything in Chapter 0 to getting the job you want, you'd have the job of your dreams in no time. Especially if they've followed your advice and built a powerful personal brand.

Article by, Dan Schawbel, the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. He authors the Personal Branding Blog and publishes Personal Branding Magazine and authored the upcoming book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, Spring 2009). Dan has been called a "personal branding force of nature" by Fast Company and his work has been published in BrandWeek Magazine, Advertising Age and countless other publications.

Who taught Elvis how to dance, received the Congressional Medal of Honor, got Nixon impeached, became the world ping-pong champion, built a national shrimping empire, and fathered Haley Joel Osment?

One man: Forrest Gump.

If I could choose one mentor in business, or in life in general, it would be Gump. I don't care that he's not real. The wisdom that he conveys is real, and I think we could all learn something from it.

This advice is so great, I'm going to tweak it for you so you can use it for medical sales (and still make a little money):

"And cause I was a gazillionaire, and I liked doin' it so much, I cut that grass for free."

If you're in sales, you better like people and love sales. If you're in medical sales, you better love the science and technology of it, too, so that keeping up with trends and development in the industry is a pleasure, not a chore. Be in the kind of medical sales that really interests you-there's a lot to choose from: medical device sales, laboratory sales, pharmaceutical sales, hospital equipment sales, imaging sales, pathology sales, cellular or molecular products sales, surgical sales, clinical diagnostics sales, or biotechnology sales. If you love it, you'll be good at it, and if you're good at it, the money will come.

E.Q. is just as important as I.Q. Successful salespeople know that sales are a lot about building relationships-it's not just about the product. Customers know if you're really in it to help them, or to help you.

"Stupid is as stupid does."

Make good decisions. All the time. Don't get caught not being where you said you'd be (sometimes they're tracking you), keep your commitments, follow through, and make your company look good.

"When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go... you know... I went."

Take care of yourself. Keeping yourself in good physical condition by getting enough exercise, eating right, getting enough rest, and taking mental breaks from the job once in a while will keep you at the top of your game.

"Momma always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them."

Find a mentor. Read books on sales. Read medical sales blogs. Come to the medical sales recruiter for custom consulting to help you be the best sales rep you can be and have the best job you can have.

"I gotta save Bubba!"

Loyalty matters.

"Jenny taught me how to climb. And I taught her how to dangle."

If you had a mentor (or even if you didn't), be one. Be a team player. Always be networking. You never know where your next lead is coming from, or whether you might need a job sometime in the future. Someone who has been willing to help others will almost always get that generosity rewarded in some way down the road.

"My Momma always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on."

Don't dwell on a sale that didn't close, or a job that went bad. Learn what you can from it, and move on.

"I'm sorry I had to fight in the middle of your Black Panther party."

Learning the art of apologizing will serve you well. Using it even when you don't think you're wrong will (sometimes) serve you better.

"Now you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I can run like the wind blows."

If you're in sales, you better know how to brag. About your products when you're selling, and about yourself when you're job searching. One great tip is to keep a brag book. What do you keep in it? Letters from happy customers, "good job" letters from sales managers, sales and revenue numbers, data on improvements you've made, training you've completed, awards and accomplishments. Learning how to use it in interviews will give you an edge.

"My Momma always said, 'Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.' "

On medical sales: No kid ever said, "I want to grow up to be a medical supply sales rep!" Still, there's satisfying reward, financially and otherwise, in educating customers and delivering a product that will benefit people. There's a lot of ways to combine the loves of people, business and science in healthcare sales.

On job searching: Don't be afraid to move on (and up) if you get the opportunity, and don't be afraid to go after what you want. Be open-minded about relocating, because it could be the step that leads to really great things. One tool that can help you move up or get the job is the 30/60/90 day sales plan template

"That's all I have to say about that."

Just as important as knowing when to talk, and when to push for the close, is knowing when to shut up and wait.

Article by, Peggy McKee, the Medical Sales Recruiter

Courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates seeking entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Originally posted on Confessions of an Executive Restaurant Recruiter

Gary Hankins is a communication expert and President of Pygmalion, Inc. in Los Angeles, CA. As the author of The Power of the Pitch: Transform Yourself Into a Persuasive Presenter and Win More Business, he teaches clients how to influence the decision, close the deal, get the job or win the vote. Contact him at gary.hankins@pygmalion.com.

In the article "6 Ways to Get Fast Feedback" on 1000ventures.com, they give some great tips on getting started with market testing. Initially you will want to set some pricing parameters for your product. If it's a physical product that you are manufacturing, you can just go off a certain percentage mark-up above cost. Industry analysis will help with this decision. If it's an information product, the great thing is you can test different price points as well. Just be prepared to tell people a price when you approach them.

Once you have done some analysis of the market and have established some pricing parameters, start approaching would be buyers about the product and get their feedback. As the article above states, you can do this at trade shows, approach people you know who maybe interested and go to places where your target customer is going to be. Another great resource is to do surveys to get some initial feedback. I will caution that verbal feedback is one thing. People actually buying the product is another.

Your product or service starts with a great idea. "6 Ways to get Fast Feedback" shares the story of Ross Perot to illustrate this. Getting a customer to front manufacture costs can be a great strategy to get started. However, you must have high integrity to make this work. If you take someone's money for a product/service, you better deliver the goods. Your reputation is critical in business and doing this wrong will kill it.

Last, take a look at the budget you have allotted to test. Many entrepreneurs try and skimp here to save some money. Unfortunately, handling this wrong up front is much more expensive than if you just went out and tested in the first place. Make sure you have a budget or resources available to do some market testing.

What avenues have been successful for you when testing an idea?

Brandon Allen is a business and vision coach with The Business Blueprint. Brandon focuses on helping businesses get clear on their vision, mission, core values and leadership. Brandon is the author of the small business blog Build Your Soul Purpose ( www.buildyoursoulpurpose.com).

Video is a powerful tool in capturing what a happy customer says about how you helped them (and in some cases, showing). More importantly, however, video can capture the emotion of those happy customers in a way that cannot be expressed in written word alone. This all can be accomplished by creating a Customer Showcase. Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control released a study showing that we may have reached a tipping point. For the first time in history, the number of households which have only cellular / mobile phones was greater than the number of households which have only land lines. According to the study, some 20 percent of U.S. homes only have mobile phones while only 17 percent only have land lines. That ratio has changed dramatically. As recently as 2003 the number of mobile-only homes stood at just three percent while 43 percent only had landlines.

Interestingly, the percentages of those living in homes with only mobile phones wasn't just determined by age. Other groups who are likely to live in homes without landlines include the poor, renters, Hispanics, southerners, midwesterners, and those living with unrelated adults such as roommates or unmarried couples.

Approximately 60 percent of homes have both landlines and mobile phones and two percent have no phones at all.

Oh. Did I write that we have 13 blogs? Well, that's so last week. We now have 13 blogs. Please join me in welcoming the newest addition to our family: the CollegeRecruiter.com Insights by Consumer Marketers Blog. We'll use that blog to better communicate tips, strategies, and the occasional wacky article to clients of ours who want to stay current on how best to market their products and services to today's college students, recent graduates, and alumni.

But even though we've done a pretty good job of understanding that the students, recent graduates, and alumni who use CollegeRecruiter.com are also consumers of products and services that have nothing to do with employment and we've helped the marketers of those products connect with the users of our site, we didn't have anyone on our sales team devoted to servicing our consumer marketing clients. That is, we didn't until this past fall. Betsy Larson, national account executive, and Sarah Ennenga, client services representatives, head up our strong and getting stronger consumer marketing business.

Enjoy!!