A while back I posted a blog about "camel mail," which is a direct mail technique of making your piece lumpy so recipients are curious enough to open it and find out what's in it. Recently I received a piece that took a slightly different spin on that concept: The "envelope" was a brown paper [...]
Recently a friend asked me to review her resume before she sent it to a prospective employer. As part of her contact information, she included the url for her blog and her LinkedIn profile. A good idea -- but one that could be taken a step further. Consider these two job hunting tips before you send [...]
Ever had a customer whose nuisance value exceeded his profit potential? Or who demanded champagne service at beer prices? The fact is that some customers just aren't worth it -- but how do you deal with such a situation? The first step is recognizing that the relationship needs to end. Some of the signs [...]
The last few years have seen a lot of business reorganization driven by the recession and an economy that is still struggling. An instinctive reaction to tough times is to cut, and to grow when times are good. But that may not be the best strategy for your company. If your organization is not [...]
Sales professionals know that a gatekeeper is anyone they must go through to get to the decision-maker -- and it can be a challenge to get past the gatekeeper. Gatekeepers are typically receptionists, secretaries and assistants, but they could also be first-line managers, other decision-influencers, outside consultants or even your competitors. Many sales reps view [...]
We all know the benefits of online advertising. The top ones that come to mind include: It's affordable. Online ads have one of the lowest CPM (cost per thousand reached) rates of any medium. It can be tightly targeted. You can define a very specific market and reach only those people. It's global -- or [...]
Is it possible to avoid spam? Sadly, I don't think so. One of the reasons I had my website redesigned recently was to integrated my blog with my primary site for greater search engine optimization. It worked. More people are finding and visiting my site--and more spammers are leaving comments filled with links on my [...]
Full disclosure: I'm a ghostwriter. I write books, articles, blogs and more that are published under my clients' names. Using a ghostwriter is a smart move for busy executives, professionals and subject matter experts who need to publish material but don't have the time and/or writing skills to do it themselves. One caveat: If [...]
Press releases can be a powerful weapon in your marketing and public relations arsenal. Just be sure you don't shoot yourself in the foot with them. I can’t count the number of press releases I’ve written over the years in my career as a business writer--and it’s almost as hard to count the number [...]
If you extend credit to your customers, how long has it been since you’ve done a credit check on your accounts? If it’s been more than a year, it’s been too long. You may know that JK Harris & Co. was my client (I was the ghostwriter for JK Harris’ books Flashpoint, Sales Flashpoint, and [...]
