Paul Palmer, proud to be a pisces man

What do these companies have in common, Southwest Airlines, Neiman Marcus, Marriot, Disney, and Enterprise Car Rental? They are all customer service pioneers. Each company has forged a new path through their commitment, dedication, and innovations, to become known as leaders in delivering excellent customer service. Serving the customer is more than some fancy words on their company mission statements. Customer service truly represents the very essence of each company’s’ existence.

These companies, along with hundreds more, have already done the hard work; they have laid the ground work, set the examples, and blazed the trails for other companies to follow. They have demonstrated how to achieve success by serving the customer.

Why then, don’t all companies follow this proven path to success?
Do they not know the core principles these companies follow?

To borrow a concept from the Late Show with David Letterman, this is a top ten list of principles all companies need to implement to achieve service excellence.

Number 10: Focus – The customer should always be the number one focus of any company. All decisions, services, and products should be based upon satisfying the needs and expectations of the customers.

Number 9: Take Action – The best laid plans will never come to life, without action. If you are going to talk-the-talk, then you must walk-the-walk. When companies, which brag about the importance of customer service, fail to deliver outstanding service, customers and employees lose faith and trust in them.

Number 8: Create Happy Employees – Your employees’ beliefs, attitudes and behaviors determine the quality of the customer service provided. The quality of customer service will never exceed the quality of the people who provide it. Happy employees create happy customers.

Number 7: Develop Employees – The three key words in employee development are training, training, and training. Teach your employees how to serve the customer, equip them to serve, and then empower them to serve with excellence.

Number 6: Establish Relationships – Customer loyalty is achieved by having a relationship with your customers. The stronger the relationship, the more loyal your customer becomes. Relationships are built upon trust, communication, and interaction. Every customer interaction is an opportunity to further enhance communication and improve trust.

Number 5: Measure Performance – If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Measuring customer satisfaction, customer feedback, and employee adherence to customer service standards is paramount in delivering exceptional customer service with any degree of consistency. Always inspect what you expect.

Number 4: Build Team Unity – To achieve optimal success everyone must be on the same page, striving for the same goal, aspiring to the same vision, and functioning as a team. Teamwork will always produce greater results, then individuals working alone.

Number 3: Formulate a Plan – Is the care your customers receive by design or by default? Without a crystal clear, well defined, universal set of customer service standards you will leave customer satisfaction up to chance. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Number 2: Commit to Excellence – Customer service is the number one differentiator in today’s competitive marketplace. Having a good product or a low price does not guarantee a competitive advantage or customer loyalty anymore. Commit to installing and fostering a customer-first culture within your company. Serving with excellence is a choice.

And the Number 1 principle all companies need to implement to achieve service excellence is:

Belief – Believe in the power of customer service. Believe in necessity of customer retention. Believe in the relationship between customer loyalty and the growth of your business. Believe that becoming customer-focused not only makes good business sense but it guarantees increased revenue and profit. It has been said,” A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses, it is an idea that possesses the mind.”

I challenge every company to not only implement these principles, but to have the faith, courage, and vision to move beyond providing excellent customer service to building a reputation as a customer service pioneer.

Some companies make things happen
Some companies watch what happens
Some companies wonder what happened

The Service Coach
http://www.articlesbase.com/customer-service-articles/customer-service-principles-734559.html

 SHE ALWAYS COMES WITH A PURPOSE

She came to me many a times, though sparingly, with gentle steps often and some heavy ones in between. But every time she came, she set me to thinking…..giving me an opportunity to contemplate about what her purpose of coming was. At times, it was very obvious, but sometimes it really took a lot of energy, courage and time to search and find the right purpose and then accept what the purpose was. And then to absorb the purpose into my life with whole-hearted acceptance was another effort. However, I am very grateful to her for having come to me from time to time and for becoming an eye opener whenever she visited me.

As far as I remember, the shorter, softer visits have been literally forgotten and often their messages were not even considered, I suppose. So, she, too, would not spare me and that is why would decide to make another visit to teach me what I missed out the previous time. My memories are crystal clear about the major visits she made when she really hit hard enough to put sense into my head. This time her visit has actually shaken off many a notion of mine about Life and living, about the very purpose of our existence. Her visit has reinforced into my consciousness the uncertain and transitory nature of our whole life which exists only in moments.

This time she was with me for about a month. Some may say that she comes unannounced.  But I know that she always sends her brief messages and only if we do not realize that she is coming and ignore her pointers that she comes in with a big bang and then we are taken aback, surprised, rolling in self-pity and wondering why she had to target us, why she had come to us and not someone else. We are a very strange species. As long as she visits others, we very comfortably sermon to them about how to treat her and how she comes only if you are destined for her visit and blab la blab la.

I must say that her visit this time really has left me refreshed. I am very well aware that she has not visited me suddenly. She has been sending me signals for quite some time   now and I have not been paying attention to what she was indicating at and just brushed her aside and let  life go on as if everything was fine and  all that was crossing my path was non-existent. This is how we often live. We do not see or accept that which we do not want to for the lack of courage and comprehension of the situation, if it is beyond our capability to handle or acknowledge.

So, she was sending her small but significant messages and I ignored them for lack of time or whatever other reason I may give. Then, one day she came with her full vigour and, there I was unable to move under the force of her pressure. I lay flat on the bed for a week, thinking deeply about what I might have done that she visited m e with so much of enthusiasm this time. I reflected upon the commissions and omissions on my part  in the recent past. I wondered what her message was for me this time for my future. I relaxed although she had literally entangled me with her powerful pangs. I watched her while she was with me in her ebb and flow. I prayed for the clarity of her purpose to dawn on me.

Slowly, as days passed and her intensity of being with me reduced, I sensed her intentions to a certain extent. When she refused to leave me soon, I found that she was only trying to confirm, reaffirm and ascertain her message that she wished to leave behind. And now after a month, I can surely say that her coming has installed a joy within me because her being with me for so long gave me the confidence of my conviction of the direction my life was struggling to take. I am very grateful to her for her visit. This is indeed a turning point of my life, though whenever she comes, life takes a  turn to move onto a new path. But I am filled with a divinely fragrant freshness never experienced before, surrounded with energy never enjoyed before. My whole being is vibrating with positivity and playfulness that is pregnant with creativity, never ever seen before. I suppose that the process of blooming has begun.

And do you know who this great visiting teacher of mine was? Who was this powerful visitor who brings a great message with her, whenever she arrives? Who is this whom people, normally, do not wish to welcome? Who is this great contributor who enhances the quality of our existence?

Well, her name is PAIN. Pain is never seen as a positive contributor in our lives. Science has made all devices to kill it. No one wishes to meet her. Pain is treated as an outcast, never to be touched and only to be driven away by all means. But is pain not a natural phenomenon, and how can something that is natural be unworthy of itself? Everything that Nature provides has a purpose. PAIN, TOO, HAS HER PURPOSE. We only need to find out what it is. Pathology can only find the physical causes of pain and suggestions lead to treatments that are only the physical. But we are not just physical beings. We are beings beyond the physical. Pain is a symptom of something underlying.

When she visits me, I talk to her in my solitude. She talks of herself as an indicator of direction, as an indicator of the imbalance. She takes pride in saying that she is the most prominent member of a class of sensations known as bodily sensations, and has her feathers of volume, intensity, duration, etc., that decide whether she is acute or chronic. She is very private, subjective, self-intimating and a source of incorrigible knowledge for those who have her visit them. She, also humbly, introduces herself as being no different from the standard perceptual processes like seeing, hearing, touching, tasting or smelling. She qualifies herself as sensory and emotional experience, and as a matter of fact says that she brings along an unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus. Nevertheless, she cautions that she is whatever the experiencing person says she is, existing whenever and wherever that person says she does. That is what she means when she says that she is subjective. She, further, tells me that it is very easy to treat her and she generally leaves if properattention is paid to her in a relaxed manner. She also brings to my notice her importance as being the body’s defense mechanism system that triggers a reflex reaction to retract from any painful stimulus and helps to adjust behavior to increase avoidance of that particular harmful situation in future. She promotes learning. Hence, she is a very significant part of the existence of all living beings. She encourages an organism to disengage from any stimulus that will invite her to visit. She is vital for healthy survival.  

However, something that was very interesting was when she informed me of her various forms – physical, emotional, spiritual and even intellectual.

When she visits the body, she is trying to slow down the speed with which that body is trying to move in this universe or may be she is trying to change the direction of the life of that person or may be she is drawing attention to our negligence towards the body and is suggesting that one needs to take greater care of this instrument, called Body, which is, perhaps, being abused due to lack of awareness of this gift from the Divine.

When she visits the emotions, she is trying to bring about an inner awakening about the futility of the entanglements that one gets into due to ignorance about one’s True Self. She is trying to pull that person out of the muddle of attachments that is dragging towards downfall of that person. One emerges emotionally enriched after her visit here. Her visits to the emotions are only for the evolution of the being she visits.

Her visit rinses and wriggles the intellect to squeeze out the dormant within. When one is drowned in the pool of intellectual activity, one has to dive deep to fetch the pearl that one is searching for and is unable to find. That is the time of her visit. When the intellectual growth is intended, she creates situations in the intellect that are necessary for the birth of new ideas and inventions.

At the spiritual level, she visits only a chosen few. Not everyone is able to recognize her at that level. But, the ones who do, experience such great spiritual sensation, which is beyond explanation by use of mundane words. It is said that the bud has to bear the pain of bursting to bloom into a beautiful flower that its potential is. So, pain takes the one who sees her positivity to a new spiritual high. Such a person blooms and is engulfed with a divine fragrance which floats, flows and follows the person everywhere.

So, pain is a teacher who brings her lessons to us, provided we are able to take them.

The first lesson was GO SLOW.

The second lesson was that YOUR PAIN BELONGS ONLY TO YOU.

Another one is LAUGH and Life will flow in a blissful rhythm becoming a rhapsody.

The fourth lesson is to LISTEN TO YOUR INNER SELF AND FOLLOW YOUR INTUITION.

The  POWER OF THOUGHT can be experienced very well when one wishes to get out of a painful situation..

JUST RELAX AND LET THE UNIVERSE WORK FOR YOU, was yet another significant message.

SHE IS A GREAT TEACHER. There could be no greater teacher than PAIN. Pain definitely has a purpose and a great role in our lives. Pain has her own mysterious ways of teaching. We, only, have to be open our chalice and let the learning be poured into our being for us to have a more purposeful living.

Bindu
http://www.articlesbase.com/motivational-articles/she-always-comes-with-a-purpose-638489.html

Did you know that one of the benefits of economic recession is that it is the time when most millionaires are created? So if you are an Internet marketer who wants to make it big, you should be full of good cheer!

Ever heard of a guy called Napoleon Hill?

I know, he was long gone when the Internet revolution started, but this is what he had to say about another major economic downturn, the Great Depression:

‘The “depression” was a blessing in disguise. It reduced the whole world to a new starting point that gives everyone a new opportunity.’

What Napoleon Hill wanted to emphasize was one of his key concepts regarding failure, namely that every failure brings with it the seed of an “equivalent advantage”.

Failure is good for you!

So failure on a massive scale is one of the great benefits of an economic recession and must be considered a wonderful thing by any ambitious person who wants to become a millionaire…

That’s why Napoleon Hill insisted on writing the word “depression” with inverted commas around it; he was not going to accept another person’s reality as his actuality.

The millionaire mindset does not allow itself to be pushed around by mass opinion.

Perhaps you feel rather fearful in the current climate. Do you remember the hymn by Cowper, God Moves In A Mysterious Way? Well, a couple of lines from it offer a clue towards achieving the millionaire mindset…

“Ye fearful saints, FRESH COURAGE TAKE; The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head.

“Fear Not!” is a command!

So, take courage, stop looking at the lowering clouds, stop reading the bad news in the newspapers, stop “reacting” and start “responding” to events.

Napoleon Hill understood that destruction is a necessary requisite to a new creation. Business failure on a massive scale will bring with it the seeds of an “equivalent advantage”. It is potentially available, this advantage, to “everyone”, but actually only the courageous few who grasp the nettle today, here, in this place, at this time, right NOW, will enjoy the fruit.

You see, the current recession is casting up a new opportunity for those Internet marketers who are willing to grasp it. Not only does the Internet allow determined and intelligent marketers to build a recession proof business, it also gives them an opportunity to get very, very rich indeed.

You might even say filthy, stinking rich…

Here’s how.

As more and more people are laid off work, an increasing number will start searching around for new opportunities to earn a living. Some of those people simply want to earn enough cash to keep body and soul together.

Others will be eager to start a new business venture. Yet more people will start learning new skills in a desperate attempt to gain an edge over their rivals in the shrinking jobs market.

These people are hungry and you can feed them.

Many of them will conduct some or all of their research the Internet. In fact nowadays the Internet is the first place many people go in search of information.

So, if you have an online business you have a great opportunity to “respond” to the new situation by offering food for hungry souls, by which I mean, the information and services that they are looking for.

Do you think that it is difficult to find real solutions for this newly expanding market?

But, if you already have a home-based Internet business up and running, then you will understand the benefits of doing business online. So you are already very well qualified to help those people.

If you can provide valuable information about those benefits, such as the comparatively small amount of start-up capital that is needed, the flexibility you gain over your own time, the convenience of working for yourself at home, and the opportunity to generate a fantastic income; if you can explain how to set everything up and teach people how to find goods or services to sell; if you persistently market your business day in and day out, there is no reason why you cannot become one of the new breed of “recession millionaires” who will, without a shadow of a doubt, spring up like roses from the ashes of disaster.

And if you need any more convincing that Internet marketing could be your ticket to a recession proof business, I recommend that you read Robert G. Allen’s book, Multiple Streams of Internet income, and Napoleon Hill’s classic self-help book, Think and Grow Rich. That way you will learn how to enjoy the benefits of economic recession.

David Hurley
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/will-the-economic-recession-create-even-more-internet-marketing-millionaires-747207.html

Human beings, the highest and mightiest of all creations on earth are endowed with qualities and potentials to grow to large heights. It is said that even Albert Einstein, the eminent scientist had used only a fraction of his brain. If that is the case of a scientist who toiled day and night, then what’s to say about the ordinary mortals like you and me. Each and everyone of us should look inwards to see how much energy we waste indulging in things of no use to ourselves and society at large.

Personal development is all about growing up, having the maturity to own up responsibility of ones life, career, emotions, relationships and finances. It involves a conscious effort to reach the goals of your life and balancing your inner conflicts. Personal development requires hard work and there is no easy way out. Beware of shortcuts because they will usually take you nowhere. The developed person or for that matter the person who is matured remains unruffled even at the challenges life throws at him in life.

The inner strength will see him tide over the crises smoothly. He will have the courage to face life and its unpredictability in a bold manner. Many resources are now available to give you practical ideas to mature mentally and to make decisions both small and big. They teach you to take life as it comes without becoming over-anxious or stressful. You are the captain of your life and steer your wheel to a safe shore of your liking. You should understand that it is you who makes your destiny. Learn to know thyself and avoid self denial and self imposed limits.

You should know your positives and negatives, your abilities and your weaknesses. To create the life of your choice, get motivated and disciplined. To reach the goals of your life you should have or need to develop the inner urge to scale the heights. Without motivation, you will get nowhere. Call upon your inner strength and face life positively. When you set out for something you are sure to encounter obstacles. To face these hindrances you need guts to move ahead.

Sometimes the obstacles come in the form of damaging remarks that can throw you haywire. You have to believe in yourself to overcome this. Develop a routine that is easy to follow. This will help you stay on track without much effort. When you choose a career, choose one where your passion lies. Only the work you adore can yield good results. If you are doing a job where your mind is not there, it will lack luster. Let your financial independence come from honest work without compromising integrity.

Enter into relationships that allow you to grow. Some relations are damaging in the sense that both are doomed. Always think of the rich life you have and make use of it prudently for some opportunities come only once. Those who lead a successful life are people who courageously explore, express creatively and embrace human life for the common good of humanity. They live a wholesome life, true to its core.

Robert Kokoska

Dear Reader,

This is gonna be fun!

I am going to do something a little crazy here and lay bare… how I believe anyone can follow what I’m about to reveal… to write a very good web site sales message for their own information product.

Let’s get after it…

Okay, here’s the basic “template” we will be following to create your sales message:

• Headline(s)

• Salutation

• Opening

• Star

• Story

• Solution

• Bullets

• Testimonials

• Guarantee

• Offer

• Close

• How To Order

• P.S.(s)

Alrighty, for me to make this real, I need to choose a product to create a sales message for.

Hmm. Let’s see, yes… here we go… how about if I just reach up and pull down a book from my bookshelf at random.

Cool. Here we go… I’ve chosen, “How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling” by the late Frank Bettger (by the way here’s what Dale Carnegie said of this book: “The most helpful and inspiring book on salesmanship that I have ever read.” – I couldn’t agree more).

Anyhow, let’s get down to business.

First, you’re gonna need a headline. By the way, you may be interested to know that the exact same headline of the book was used in space ads to successfully sell that book. So… if you are selling a book or info product that already has a great title you can simply use that title as the headline in your web site sales message.

But… I’m assuming that for the vast majority of you reading this you’ll need to get your thinking cap on and come up with your own headline. So, let’s see if I can’t help you out here.

How about I dream up another headline to sell “How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling”.

Okay, first I’m going to add a pre-heading that creates intrigue. Then I’m going to create a human interest heading with a negative adjective that also zeros-in on the major benefit the of the book. Finally, I’ll finish it off with a sub-heading that brings it home to the reader.

How about like this…

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“Why do STAR sales people the world-over rave about… and swear by this remarkable, life-changing book?

“How A Dejected 29-Year-Old Loser Salesman Accidentally Stumbled Upon The Sales Secrets That Swamped His Bank Account… And Made Him Enough Money To Buy A Seven-Million-Dollar Country Estate!”

“No Matter What You Sell… No Matter How Lousy You Are… No Matter How Dejected You Feel… You Are About To Discover How To Sell More, More Often, To More People Than You Ever Previously Imagined Possible!”

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How do you like that?

Okay, next you want to let the visitor to your site know that they are dealing with a real human being… and not just another faceless web site. So, let `em know who you are. Just like this:

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From: Joe Schmoe Monday, 8.37 a.m.

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That wasn’t too hard was it?

Next the salutation, and the all-important opening first sentence. Here, I’m going to use a very simple, yet very powerful opening that will seldom let you down. It’s called the “if/then” opening. You’ll see why:

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Dear Friend,

If you are interested in becoming a star salesman and enjoy the kind of income and lifestyle you previously only dreamed about, then this is going to be the most exciting message you’ll ever read!

Here is why:

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Now, I’m going to let you in on one of the oldest concepts ever developed by master marketers.

It also happens to be one the most profitable!

And, it’s called “The Three S Formula”… or… to be more precise, the Star, Story and Solution formula.

Here is where you let your star take center stage and where you weave a story of woe shared by your target audience… then when you’ve got them crying out for an answer to their problem you very elegantly present the solution: Your info-product!

Don’t worry, it’s not as hard as it sounds. In fact, I’m going to break it all down and show you how to string it together right here in these pages.

But first, just in case you’re thinking to yourself something along the lines of `Well that sounds great, but I haven’t got a star… I’m just a regular guy or gal trying to make a buck.’ Don’t worry.

Your star doesn’t have to be a major celebrity. No. You can take center stage and make yourself the star! Why not?

Maybe your info-product shows people how you discovered a way to lose weight, gain muscle, make more money, catch bigger fish, make gourmet food, buy cheaper holidays, travel first class for second class prices… whatever!

Remember, it’s your show!

Okay, here goes as we introduce the star of the show (by the way, notice that I have also used the “star” in the main headline. The dejected, loser salesman who suddenly turns it all around):

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In 1947 a man named Frank Bettger wrote an amazing, easy-to-read gem of a book called, “How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling”.

Why is that important to you?

Well, here’s what it’s all about:

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Alright, here we can easily answer the question in the reader’s mind by telling a “story” that weaves a tale of woe that is shared by the target audience. Something like this:

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Frank began his career as a pro baseball player but was forced to give up his career as a baseball player after a freak injury to his arm. That’s when Frank became a life-insurance salesman. Trouble was…

He Couldn’t Sell His Way Out Of A Paper Bag!

A dismal failure at selling, Frank finally concluded that he was never cut out to be a salesman. And so, he began answering “want ads” for a job as a shipping clerk.

But…

Frank realized that no matter what work he tried, he would have to overcome a strange fear-complex that was consuming his life and dragging him down at every turn.

That’s when he plucked up the courage to join one of Dale Carnegie’s courses in public speaking. And, unknown to Frank at the time, this decision proved to be…

The Turning Point For The Rest Of His Life!

Something unusual happened the first night Frank attended that public speaking course. Something that set into power “mysterious” forces… forces that grabbed hold of Frank from the depths of despair and failure… and catapulted him into…

“Sales Heaven”!

Suddenly, Frank had the “magic touch”. He discovered how to sell to just about every kind of person… without any “bully tactics” or “hard sell” closing techniques. Soon Frank was the top salesman in his industry. Everyone wanted to know his “secret”!

How did he do it?

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Again, see how I’m setting up the “solution” simply by answering the question at the forefront of the reader’s mind. Here’s how I present the solution:

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Well, fortunately later in life, Frank teamed up with Dale Carnegie and they were soon delivering sold out lectures on selling all across the United States of America.

Frank, eagerly told packed out audiences how virtually overnight he went from being a dejected loser to becoming a jaw-dropping success in sales.

Unfortunately, you will never be able to attend one of those lectures to find out the “magic” behind Frank Bettger’s success in selling.

But, all is not lost.

You see, Frank put all his powerful sales secrets into his masterful book, “How I Raised Myself From Failure To A Success In Selling”. A book that has been hailed as the “Bible of Selling”, and the “secret” behind every star salesperson!

Truly, the book is simply amazing!

If you’ve hit rock bottom in your selling career… if you just don’t seem to be cut out for selling… and you’re thinking of packing it in… all is not lost. Even if you’ve never sold anything in your life, you’ll soon be a star salesman with this book as your “secret weapon”. And trust me, you won’t want to let go of it for anybody… especially not your colleagues!

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Next, I’m going to go right into the bullets. First, with a short introductory sentence and the bullets that I’ve taken right out of the table of contents of the book (with some sparse editing):

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Anyway, here is just a small sample of the proven master sales secrets that you’ll be let in on as Frank Bettger reveals all from a lifetime of “in the trenches” selling:

How one idea multiplied my income and happiness! (p.9)

 This idea put me back into selling after I had quit! (p.16)

 One thing I did that helped me destroy the biggest enemy I ever had to face! (p.21)

 The only way I could get myself organized! (p.31)

 How I learned the most important secret of salesmanship! (p.33)

 How I made a $250,000 sale in 15 minutes! (p.45)

 Analysis of the basic principles used in making the sale! (p.52)

 How asking questions increased the effectiveness of my sales interviews! (p.58)

 How I learned to find the most important reason why a man should buy! (p.63)

 The most important word I have found in selling! (p.66)

 How I find the hidden objection! (p.69)

 The forgotten art that is magic in selling! (p.76)

 How I found this infallible way to gain a man’s confidence! (p.94)

 How to always look your best! (p.99)

 An idea I learned from Lincoln that helped me make friends! (p.100)

 How I became more welcome everywhere I went! (p.108)

 How I easily learned to remember names and faces! (p.112)

 The biggest reason why salespeople lose business! (p.120)

 The interview that taught me how to overcome my fear of approaching big men! (p.128)

 How to make the sale before the sale! (p.129)

 The secret of making appointments! (p.137)

 How I learned to outsmart secretaries and switchboard operators! (p.145)

 An idea that helped me get into the “major leagues”! (p.148)

 How to let the customer help you make the sale! (p.152)

 How I find new customers and make old ones enthusiastic boosters! (p.155)

 Seven rules I use in closing the sale! (p.165)

 An amazing closing technique I learned from a master salesman! (p.174)

 Benjamin Franklin’s secret of success and what it did for me! (p.186)

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Those will do. I could write much better bullets that would really tease the reader, but, like I said, those will do for our example.

Next, are the testimonials and a short introduction. Note: I don’t have any testimonials for this book, so I’ve made some up for illustration purposes. (DON’T EVER do this on your web site. It’s illegal.).

Okay, here goes:

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Wow!

Pretty amazing “sales ammunition”, don’t you agree?

But please, don’t just take my word for it. Here are just a few of the real life success stories I’ve received from other people who were smart enough to get themselves a personal copy of, “How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling”:

“I’ve been in selling since I was in short trousers. Thought to myself, `You can’t teach this grizzly old salesman any new tricks’. Boy, was I wrong. After reading this book and immediately applying just a couple things I learnt, I’ve had my best month selling condos in over 15 years. The scary thing is, this is supposed to be the `off season’!” – (Bob Jones, Real Estate Agent, Santa Fa, California).

“I’ve bought a ton of books on selling… all promising they’d show me how to make it in sales. None of them ever seemed to work for me and I was about to quit sales for good last month after struggling to make the rent. So to say I was skeptical when I stumbled upon Frank Bettger’s book on your site is something of an understatement. But I was intrigued by his story and thought what the heck. Well I can’t believe I’m sitting here writing this but for the first time in my sales career I’ve finally `cracked the code’. I’m already on target this month to triple any other months sales!” – (Mary Bly – Chicago).

“You might be surprised to hear that I’m not in sales, well not in the `conventional’ sense. I’m a junior high-school teacher with a class of 31 rowdy and raucous little darlings. Well, I’m writing to let you know that I recently applied a sales technique printed on page 67 of `How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling’ and joy be to the god’s, I’ve `sold’ the class on turning in papers with an average grade of B+. The highest I’ve ever managed to get out of them before is an average of C-. That is very impressive!” – (Kay Adams, Junior High School Teacher, New Jersey, NY).

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Okay, moving along…

Here I’m going to introduce the guarantee to take away any risk in the reader’s mind:

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Those are just a few of the testimonials I’ve dug out of my filing cabinet that is full to bursting with literally thousands of “thank you” letters from thrilled customers of, “How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling”.

But of course, I realize no amount of reading about other people’s success stories will convince you as much as having experienced your own success story. That’s why I insist that you try the book out for yourself totally risk-free, because it comes with a…

Love It Or Shove It… 90 Day `Money-Back’ Guarantee!

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Next, the offer and the all important close:

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Here’s the deal:

The price of the book is normally $15.95, but for a limited trial period only I am offering it to you for only $9.95.

I’m likely to up the price to the normal selling price of $15.95 at any moment. So…

Don’t Delay A Second Longer!

Order your copy of this amazing book right now, completely at my risk for only $9.95 (before it’s too late). Read it and try it out for yourself for a full 90 days without risk. And, if you are not more than thrilled with the information for any reason (or no reason at all) I insist that you ask for your money back. There’ll be no questions… and we’ll still be friends!

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Next, tell the reader how easy it is to order and exactly what they can expect to happen. Take away any confusion lingering in their mind:

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Here’s How To Order…

Simply click on the `link’ below to be taken to my totally secure online order page. There, you will be asked for your name, address, email address and bank card details. Follow the download instructions and the book `How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling’ will be downloaded onto your computer as a PDF document in just a few minutes for you to read.

Order Now By Clicking On This Link.

Sincerely,

{Signature} Joe Schmoe

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Now, finally comes the P.S.(s), which as you may already know are the second most read component of your web site sales message… and… can boost your sales by up to 30%!:

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P.S. Remember, any moment now I’m going to bump the price back up to $15.95. Don’t delay a second longer. Act now by clicking on the “link” above for the discounted price of only $9.95 while you’ve still got the chance!

P.S.S. Again, you are completely covered by my 90 day risk free money-back guarantee. There is simply no way you can lose!

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Well, that’s an example of a “meat and potatoes” sales message for a web site selling an info product.

Follow that “template” and you stand a good chance of writing a web site sales message for your info product that will make you some sales.

Thank you for reading along with me, and I sincerely hope the information in this article has been helpful to you.

Warmly,

Michael Silk. The World’s #1 Info-Marketing Copywriter.

Michael Silk
http://www.articlesbase.com/copywriting-articles/how-to-easily-write-a-hot-sales-message-for-your-info-product-3940.html

The only way to live a happy, prosperous, successful and fulfilling life is to learn to express the love that is within you. When you meet yourself, others, and the life that you express with love, then you will change everything for the better.

Who you are is an incarnation of love because what you seek, above all else, is to be well, safe, and happy; and that is what love provides, an assurance and promise of well-being.

The absence of love, the varying degrees of hatred, create conditions of distress that destroy the cells of the body and ruin the structure of a life, causing only illness, aging, stress, and destruction.

The human condition as we know it, in all its distressing dilemmas, is made possible only because of this denial of love.

Apathy, grief, fear, lust, anger, and pride which lead to poverty, illness, and loneliness all arise out of a denial of the love that is your very nature.

Love does not have to be invented. It is fully manifested in a new born. However, with social conditioning, it gets covered up quickly, as the little person is consistently denied assurances of well-being. Criticism, punishment, expressions of coercion, cause love to hide, become distorted, and retreat from full expression.

Even when avatars come to teach love, pointing out that your real nature is only love, they are met with various levels of resistance. Those who oppose them have a lust for power because they mistakenly believe that only force creates favorable conditions.

Yet if you look at the history of this world, you will always see that force only destroys, both the enforcer and the enforced. It does not replace what love does; it does not assure well-being.

All the disasters in our own lives and the world as a whole is a result of this substitution of force for love. We force ourselves, we force others, and we create institutions that assure the expression of force.

Yet force does not create safety, and enforced compliance does not create a better world.

Ironically, it is very simple to change everything to start working for you. In all cases where you want to apply force, apply love.

Within a week, your life will be much better. Within a year, you will not even be able to recognize your life.

As you learn to be more loving, you will not only affect your own life, but the lives of all those whom you touch. They will, then, pass on your blessing to others.
You will literally be changing the world; not by doing anything special, but just by being more yourself, the self that is naturally kind, loving, and nurturing.

A return to love is the answer to discover the life that you really want to live.

Love, like sunshine, can light up all the dark places in your life and heal the wounds of the world.

We are all in this life together, all hoping for some miracle that will right wrongs and make the crooked places straight; but the power that we seek to do good is our own lovingness. All we have to do to change everything for the better is gradually build up our courage to express it.

The great wisdom of life will not be discovered by your mind but by your heart. You, in your own divine splendor, are the light of the world, the promise of hope, and the assurance of better things for all beings everywhere.

If you ask for the happiness, prosperity, success, and fulfillment of the world, this is what will come back to visit you in your quiet hours. At every moment you have the choice to turn the mundane into the magical.

Saleem Rana
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/how-to-be-safe-well-and-happy-66971.html

For many people, obsessive-compulsive disorder responds well to a combination of antidepressant medication and cognitive therapy. Most people with OCD appear to be predisposed to the symptoms. Usually you can find other extended family members who share a similar pattern of ritualistic behavior. Therapeutic treatment involves the following process: relabeling, reattribution, relaxation techniques and refocusing strategies.

Relabeling and reattribution techniques are designed to assist in objectifying the disorder and realizing that people are more than their obsessions. For example, I teach people to internally respond by saying, “A part of my brain works in ways that make me repeat things continuously. This is merely my disorder speaking; I am more than my disorder.” This way of perceiving one’s obsessive features helps people to detach the nature of their problem from their sense of self.

Relaxation techniques may involve exercise, music, message, meditation and vacationing in a soothing environment. These strategies slow down the sympathetic nervous system minimizing anxiety and making it easier for people with OCD to manage their thoughts and behavior. One’s level of anxiety is directly related to the impact of compulsive behavior.

Refocusing techniques refers to assisting patients to shift from obsessional thinking and behavior to other more self-rewarding activities. A change in activities lessens the impact of the OCD thinking and behavior. For example, a child may have a ritualistic pattern of continuously changing the television remote control in a certain order. A therapeutic goal might be to get the child to leave his obsession by getting up and leaving the room, possibly departing the house for a brief walk. I have people track the intensity of their anxiety during the time that they are away from their ritualistic behavior. When removed from an obsessional behavior, anxiety initially becomes worse and then dissipates in strength over time. Once the child returns to the obsessional pattern after voluntarily leaving it, it usually has decreased in its impact and intensity. The child may say, “I was able to keep from repeating the pattern continuously. I only did it twice!” Reinforcement and encouragement are important for people attempting to minimize obsessive patterns.

Those who experience OCD are typically anxious about their symptoms and fight to get rid of them. It is essential that those who suffer from OCD learn to accept their symptoms rather than struggle with them. Acceptance of any form of anxiety helps one to minimize the symptoms. For example, one might say, “Here come those “crazy feelings” again. They sure are annoying but they won’t hurt me. If I learn to “let them be” they will eventually dissipate in their effect on me.”

It is important for those who experience OCD to share their problem with a close friend or therapist. Expressing one’s feelings about the pattern may help in dealing with any feelings of shame or embarrassment. For the OCD sufferer, it is significant to remember that most people experience features of the disorder. All behavioral problems lie on a continuum. Struggling with OCD is no exception. When we share our problems with others, we realize that we are not alone in our difficulties. It takes courage to admit that we are less than perfect and to allow ourselves to share our humanity with others. When we learn to quit fighting with our imperfections, the issue eventually seems less troublesome.

James P Krehbiel
http://www.articlesbase.com/wellness-articles/cognitive-therapy-and-obsessivecompulsive-disorder-74200.html

It’s simply amazing that ten years into the digital revolution, Eastman Kodak is trying to figure out what business they are in. For decades Kodak dominated the chemically based photographic process. You shoot a roll of film, and then you physically took the roll to a developer, and made a second trip to pick up the finished prints. Their only competition in the industry was the Japanese company, Fuji. The upstart would just eat away each year at Kodak’s market, but never becoming a real threat to Kodak’s dominance.

Meanwhile from outside the industry, Polaroid back in the late 1950′s invented a camera where the chemical based development of the pictures took place inside the camera. The picture was ready in about 60 seconds. Polaroid developed a wonderful business and made a fortune for both its shareholders and its genius creator, Dr. Edwin Land.

What happened next was a business disaster, and Kodak should have learned from Polaroid’s mistakes. Dr. Land came up with a moving picture development system. They poured hundreds of millions of dollars into a chemically based system. It would allow users to take moving pictures. The movies would be developed chemically inside the camera system, the same as the still picture system then utilized.

What Polaroid not only didn’t plan for, but couldn’t even imagine was that a disruptive technology would be created from another industry that would basically destroy Polaroid’s business model. Japan would create digital photography. The first Japanese VHS and Betamax camera systems became available. The electronic based technology made so much more sense than Polaroid chemically based system. It forced Polaroid to shut down its movie system products. It also resulted in the immediate write off of hundreds of millions of dollars (equivalent to billions today) that it would never recoup.

Now I ask you, Kodak was in the business, we know that. They saw what this new technology did to Polaroid OVERNIGHT. Couldn’t they imagine that it could happen to them? The answer is apparently not. The management team at Eastman Kodak has been brain dead for at least 20 years. The management team and the Board of Directors should have been dismissed more than a decade ago for gross incompetence. They took a magnificent cash generating machine, and allowed it to turn into a boring, mundane second class company.

They simply chose to ignore what was coming, and what was coming was a TIDAL WAVE, that would sweep away Kodak’s traditional business. Kodak could have chosen to lead the digital revolution. They could have chosen to take the billions of dollars of cash generated by their traditional chemically based systems, and redeploy in other high end technology driven businesses like digital imaging in the medical industry. No, neither choice happened. The company chose instead, to DO NOTHING. Try to maintain the status quo was the order of the day.

Now Kodak is faced with a “what do we do now” decision? It is just a question of how many years it takes before the Kodak way of doing business (chemical processing) completely evaporates. There are a number of lessons to be taken from this example of a formerly world class company going belly up because of an inappropriate business model. Among them are:

• Every company must absorb the central thesis of Clayton Christensen’s two books, “The Innovator’s Dilemma”, and “The Innovator’s Solution”. Harvard professor Christensen was the individual who coined the term, disruptive technologies, or what happens when a new innovation comes in and completely blows away a company’s formerly dominant technology.

• No company has the luxury of sitting on its rear end, and counting on its cash hoard to keep it in business forever.

• Theodore Levitt of Harvard always talked about “What business are you in?” You’d better make sure that you are constantly thinking about how to obsolete your own business, because your competitors are thinking about it all the time.

• Every company should have an internal team that is separate and apart from the company. The sole function of this team would be to come up with ways to destroy the company by developing better products, or better yet technologies that would obsolete the company’s current technology. Xerox decades ago created Xerox PARC (the PARC stands for Palo Alto Research Center) in 1970. They intentionally put it in Palo Alto, California because they didn’t want to have their thinking contaminated by the atmosphere in Rochester, NY, a dead town. The same town as Kodak’s corporate headquarters by the way.

You want to talk about accomplishments; Xerox PARC came up with the mouse that we use on personal computers. They also created the graphical user interface that you use on your PC, and the basic design of the personal computer was taken from Xerox PARC by Steve Jobs. Xerox completely failed to cash in on any of these creations. The guys in Rochester were just as asleep at the switch as the guys at Kodak. There must be something about the air they breathe in Rochester that lulls them into a sense of complacency.

• Companies need to buy smaller companies who are creating the innovating technologies that will put them out of business. If they wait until the technology enters an actionable phase, it is too expensive to purchase. Examples are Yahoo and Microsoft, both of whom had an opportunity to buy Google for millions of bucks. Google now has a market cap of $150 billion, and is virtually untouchable.

Is it too late for Kodak to save itself? The answer is probably yes. Very rarely can a company in such a downward spiral find the managerial talent, and more importantly COURAGE to transform itself internally. The current management team is too interested in continuing its own benefit package and retirement benefits, to make the hard, tough, and necessary decisions to be transformative. Hopefully, other American companies, and investors can learn from the bitter story that Kodak has to teach us. Good luck.

Richard Stoyeck
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/stock-research-eastman-kodak-and-the-power-of-disruptive-technologies-80161.html

Dr. Cooper’s Term Paper Advisor Site has the below paper and
over 150 other term papers on and about Beowulf. His site is
located at www.TermPaperAdvisor.com.

Beowulf Man Or Myth – Sample Term Paper Many of Old English
poems glorified a real or imaginery hero and tried to teach the
values of bravery. Beowulf was written during the Anglo-Saxon
period of English Literature. The Anglo-Saxon period was a time
of fierce battles in which human strength was measured by the
ability to control the reaction to fate through evil and
courage. Beowulf was written in Old English as an epic poem. Old
English described a real or imaginery hero and tried to teach
the values of bravery. Folk would be used as an example in epic
of Beowulf. Beowulf was passed on from person to person. Epic
can be a general hero, in this case Beowulf, who usually
involved in a series of actions. Author exaggerates on the
character of Beowulf, the story is a fantasy, because it is hard
to believe that the character of Beowulf would be able to kill a
monster like Grendel with his bare hands. Beowulf possesses the
superhuman abilities, the amazing power to hold his breath under
water for an umlimited period of time. Some readers as myself
feel that this characteristic seperates from the realistic
nature of the story and gives the impression that Beowulf is
more like a myth than a man. So with all this in mind, in the
epic Beowulf he’s portrayed as almost inhumane, so was he indeed
a man or merely a myth? ….

www.TermPaperAdvisor.com.

Dr. Mike Cooper
http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/beowulf-english-literature-term-paper-3348.html

Home schooling is sweeping the United States and abroad. According to the National Center for Education Statistics for 2004, 2 million children are being home schooled in the United States alone! You are maybe asking yourself what is home schooling? Or more importantly what does it take to be a home school parent?
Home schooling is simply educating your child or children at home with you, the parent, as the educator. You do not receive federal funds and your child or children are not enrolled in a public or private school.
A home school parent by definition is a parent that has taken on the task of educating their child or children at home and I want to discuss the three most important things any parent should know and the ten things any parent should consider before taking on the task of home schooling their children.
I have been a home school parent for four years and with each year our home school has had its ups and downs and I have learned a lot about myself and my children.
The most important thing that I have learned is to trust God in this awesome task of educating and raising my children to be all that God wants them to be!
The second most important thing for a home school parent to learn is that God created our children to be a one of a kind creation, with distinct personalities and traits. I am so thankful that everyone is different with different interests. What a boring world this would be if everyone was the same! Your children are no different, learn to appreciate their uniqueness. What works for one does not always work for another, be flexible. The sooner you learn that the easier your home schooling experience will be.
The third most important thing I have learned is to teach my children to respect and appreciate their siblings and other people’s interests and talents. For example, my middle daughter loves to write and has many wonderful stories she loves to tell and write about, but my oldest daughter, who has a passion for math and science, does not even like to write much less think of a topic or a story to write about, so she will ask her 6 ½ year old sister for some ideas to get her started and likewise if my middle daughter has a problem with her math she will ask my oldest daughter for help, so they are learning to appreciate each other. Believe me, when you and your children learn this important principle your home school experience will go smoother.
I hope that these three important principles have not scared you from trying home schooling with your own children. It is truly a wonderful experience in being a parent. If you are considering home schooling here are some things for you to consider:
1. It takes time to teach, prepare lessons, field trips, park days, soccer league, etc.

2.Every home school parent needs to take time out. If you don’t you will be with your child 24/7 and that will lead to burnout.

3.You can home school rather inexpensively, but some curriculums or extra curricular activities can add up.

4.You, the parent, are responsible for seeing that your child socializes with friends at different events that your local home school support group set up or finding different socialization opportunities in your community.

5.The regular cleaning and laundry still have to be done and you might find yourself rearranging your cleaning schedule around school time.

6.Home schooling works better if both parents are in agreement.

7. Do your children respect you? Only you can answer that. If they don’t respect you they will not listen to you.

8. Home school for one year at a time. Don’t look to far ahead, you will get overwhelmed.

9.Are you intimidated about teaching?-Many curriculums offer teacher’s guides and DVD’s to assist you and you will find that other parents will help you if they have been through the subject before.

10.Make sure you get involved in a local home school support group. Some areas have more than one. It is encouraging to know that you are not alone and your support group will help and encourage you when you are experiencing a hard time.

Making the decision to home school can be a very difficult one and should not be taken lightly. It is a personal decision and no one can make it for you, but I hope that you will take into consideration some of the things that I have mentioned.

Home schooling takes courage and it can be a long journey but there is joy in the journey! Happy Home schooling!!!

Hope Smith
http://www.articlesbase.com/homeschooling-articles/being-a-home-schooling-parent-an-insiders-look-57360.html