Tip #1:  Do not ignore the negative feedback. Potential customers will read both positive and negative reviews. If they see a customer complaint, they want to see that the company actively attempts to satisfy unhappy patrons.

Tip #2:  Remain positive and sincere. Defensiveness in a response is unprofessional, and angry, biting comments from the management of a business will reflect poorly upon the character and business ethics of the company.

Tip #3:  Respond promptly, and with the aim of rectifying the situation. A business with customer reviews on its website should read the reviews on a daily basis, so that the response can repair a damaged customer relationship before the client takes his business elsewhere. The response should also be from someone in the company who has the authority to make immediate decisions that can remedy the problem.

Tip #4:  Make a visible effort to resolve the issues raised. Resolving the complaint privately will perhaps bring a client back, but if there is a negative peer review online for all to see, it is also vital to let other potential customers see how far the company will go to satisfy their needs.

Tip #5:  Ask for a follow-up review. If a company responds positively and respectfully to a negative review, and is able to satisfy the disgruntled customer, it is prudent to try to get the now-happy client to submit a follow-up review. If other potential clients can see that the reviewer's needs have been met and he or she will continue to do business there, the initial negativity can actually act as a boost to business.

Tip #6:  Customers will happily share positive experiences; but they are not as likely to leave a positive review as a negative one without some prompting. A company with a comprehensive review strategy will send out customer surveys and regularly request follow-up comments from satisfied customers via email or website comment areas. With these reminders and requests for positive feedback, a company's good reviews will outweigh negative ones with potential customers.

Check out HelpaReporter.com (HARO).  They offer daily requests for relevant article opportunities.  HARO delivers value to reporters by delivering quality responses based on their specific requests.  Respond only to inquiries where your company can contribute genuine value, and respond if you can truly deliver what they are requesting in the designated timeline. Following the protocol helps the reporter stay organized, positions you as a business that's easy to work with, and enables services like HARO to continue growing their business.

When responding to an inquiry, Keep It Short, Sweet, and to the Point:  HARO requests are typically pretty straightforward in terms of what the reporter is seeking. To that end, make sure that your response email is succinct, clear, and specific in terms of what you can deliver and by what timing. For ease of use, also include your website, phone number, and full contact information to make it as easy as possible for the reporter to contact you to learn more or follow up as needed.

2) Don’t Wait for the Media to Tell a Compelling Story

Regardless of whether you post on your company blog or a guest blog , leverage your company’s inbound marketing assets to share the trends, observations, and ideas that are top of mind for your industry. In addition to showing reporters that people care about these issues, it also presents a clear picture of your viewpoints so reporters can easily approach you for more information or context.

3) Don’t Just Tell, Show

It used to be that public relations was heavily dependent on the wording of your press releases or emails because you were limited to text to tell your story, but that’s no longer the case. Leverage infographics, videos, photos, and customer success stories to make your outreach stand out from the pack. As more and more news is consumed on blogs and social media, reporters  are focusing more and more time and effort on making content more creative and highly shareable. To that end, arming reporters with compelling visuals to make your story stand out from the pack can increase the success of your media relations.

The more you can insert your brand into fun, relevant conversations with highly visual content, the better. Reporters will thank you for making their jobs easier, and potential customers will welcome your highly shareable and engaging content by promoting it on their social networks, as well.

4) Deliver Assets Up Front

Think about what your inbox looks like on a daily basis. Now imagine being a reporter for a national news outlet or a prominent industry blog, and consider how many emails you're getting pitching stories, products, executives, and trends. Weeding through that clutter would be virtually impossible. As a result, going the extra mile to assemble the assets a reporter would need to file the story goes a long way to improving your pitch. Options include:

• If you’re referencing supporting video or photos, include them in a Dropbox link in the email so that they can look at them or reference them down the line if needed.

• If you have third party references to support the story or trend you're pitching, including their names, titles, and links to their biographies in the email so the reporter has context for the value they can deliver as part of the overall pitch.

• For product launches, include screenshots and descriptions of the product so they can take a look at the visuals on their own time and use a relevant one in their story, if helpful.

5) Personalize Your Outreach

Nobody likes receiving mass marketing messages that start with "Dear Sir" or have no greeting or personalization whatsoever, and reporters are no exception. Regardless of medium, journalists are storytellers by trade, so understanding their perspective is critical to the success of your PR efforts. Below we’ve outlined a checklist of what you should know prior to hitting "send" on your reporter emails:

• What he or she has written on the subject you’re pitching them on, in the last week or so

• What he or she has posted related to the subject on social media outlets

• Past feedback he or she has provided on pitches you’ve provided (Note: if he or she didn’t respond, don’t use the exact same tactic again; mix up your approach)

• Any updated editorial guidelines for his or her publication that have been published or noted (e.g. if he or she just changed beats and has a different focus or if their editor just declared a singular focus on one portion of your industry, make sure you’re aware and focus your pitch accordingly)

6) Make It Easy for Journalists to Find Your Experts

You optimize your site to help consumers find you, but have you optimized your digital assets to make it easy for journalists to contact your internal experts? Typically when a reporter needs a source for a story, he or she has less than a day to find, contact, interview, and quote those experts, so making it as easy and painless as possible to contact your team is critical.

So ask yourself: If news broke about a key thought leadership issue in your field and you were looking through search engines to find an industry expert in your space, would one of your executives come up? If so, is there an easy mechanism to contact the executive or to contact you to set up time with that individual? If not, here are some potential fixes to consider that will make "getting found" as simple as possible for your internal experts:

• Include each expert’s title, headshot, and key areas of expertise on a page on your site.

• Ensure that each of your internal experts has blogged about their areas of desired thought leadership and that you optimize those blog entries for key industry buzzwords.

• Confirm that your media pages have a strong call-to-action to reach you and learn more, and that it goes to an inbox that is checked and responded to regularly.

• Make sure your company page and social channels track and promote thought leadership pieces created by those executives, such as guest blogs, executive profiles, and internal whitepapers on related topics.

7) Beware the Boring Press Release

If you’re bored writing a press release, imagine a reporter who knows very little about your business reading it. Can he or she easily extract the information they need from it? Have you sent four similar releases to the same group of reporters in the last two weeks? If so, consider the following options as alternatives:

A New Format: HubSpot’s acquisition of company oneforty was announced with a press release comprised entirely of tweets, which resulted in pick-up in MediaBistro and the Wall Street Journal, among other outlets. If you’re not getting the traction you’d hoped for with traditionally formatted releases, consider mixing it up — add more visual content, make the format more social media-friendly, or release it on YouTube instead. Fundamentally, you want to make the newsworthy information easy to find, read, and write about, so anything you can do to make it more likely reporters will read or consume it will improve your results.

Know Your Numbers: What makes your release newsworthy is likely its impact on a larger trend, so including great data a reporter can reference and leverage to share the story is critical to your success. When crafting your announcements, try to include as much relevant, unbiased data as possible. Doing so will prove to a reporter that what you’re doing is important to your industry, your city, your marketplace, your employees, and the world.

Consider Co-Marketing: Launching a new product or service line? Consider including your beta partners' opinions on the product in the release to drive coverage. Opening a new office? Talk to your local Chamber of Commerce or development authority about supplying a quote for your forthcoming release. Fundamentally, you want to show that your company’s news is important, and joining forces with other local businesses or industry partners can be an exceptional way of achieving this goal.

When it comes to growing your business, public relations can play an integral role in developing your executive team’s thought leadership and attracting new prospects and customers to your brand. But 21st century PR isn’t about pitching stories on a quarterly basis when you do a big product launch; it’s about building and maintaining mechanisms to share your company’s news on a daily basis, then making the absolute most of your direct outreach to reporters with releases and pitches that are efficient, effective, and informed.

By adopting a more comprehensive, inbound approach to public relations, you’re creating ownable assets that make it easier for reporters to find and speak to your team, outlining industry positions and insights that help set the tone for the story you want to share.

I thought this was a great article from HUBSPOT:  http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34281/How-to-Modernize-a-Public-Relations-Strategy-That-s-Stuck-in-the-Dark-Ages.aspx

Data from Nielsen's Global Online Consumer Survey found that the availability of peer reviews on a website will positively affect online businesses even when some customer comments are unenthusiastic. This is because consumers place a great deal of confidence in peer reviews, and see them as an important source of information on which to base their purchasing decisions.

How a business responds to an unfavorable customer comment or bad review online can make the difference between damage to the company's reputation or an opportunity to demonstrate that company's commitment to its customers.

Negative feedback can be the best way for a business to discover perceived deficiencies in its customer service.

Online reviews, good and bad, offer a kind of market research and client feedback that has not previously been available. The manner in which a business publicly responds to negative customer reviews can often turn the negative into a positive in the eyes of others reading the comments.

With the knowledge that providing online peer reviews drives business, service providers and retailers must adopt a comprehensive review strategy.  Here are some tips:

1.  Do not ignore the negative feedback.

Potential customers will read both positive and negative reviews. If they see a customer complaint, they want to see that the company actively attempts to satisfy unhappy patrons.

2.  Remain positive and sincere.

Never take it personally.  Keep to the facts and LISTEN.

3. Respond promptly to rectify the situation.

Set up a system (google alerts or social mention) where you can daily monitor what is being said about you and your company. The response should be from someone of authority who make immediate decisions to remedy the problem.

4.  Make a visible effort to resolve the issues raised.

Resolving the complaint privately will perhaps bring a client back, but if there is a negative peer review online for all to see, it is also vital to let other potential customers see how far the company will go to satisfy their needs.  Take the discussion OFF line, but state the solution and resolution On line.

5.  Ask for a follow-up review.

If a company responds positively and respectfully to a negative review, and is able to satisfy the disgruntled customer, it is prudent to try to get the now-happy client to submit a follow-up review.

IMPACT! has strategies on how you can get legitimate and effective positive testimonials to include on your website.

Some people might think that the proactive management of public relations is relatively recent; perhaps related to the emergence of TV, radio and newspapers.  But it is well documented that Julius Caesar used concerted public relations campaigns throughout his career to maximize both his reputation and chances of becoming the next Roman Emperor. These public relations campaigns, he believed, were a very significant element in finally becoming the Roman Empire's leader.

In truth public relations has been practiced for as long as one person or group has desired to influence the perception that other people or groups hold of them. Public relations became easier to orchestrate over wide audiences with the emergence first of newspapers, then radio and television.

The job of the public relations officer became largely one of finding ways to persuade or convince journalists, editors and program producers to feature news, stories, features and interviews about their company, their product or one of their key people. This had to be done in a clever "non-advertising" way, that nonetheless enhanced the reputation in the minds of massive national and sometimes international publics.

In more recent times, the reputation of public relations itself has suffered badly due to politicians trying to "spin" stories to the media. Spin is a very bad public relations technique, which ultimately backfires because the media and the public can nearly always tell when they are being lied to. And the end result is a worse reputation than before the deceit was attempted.

For public relations to work successfully in the long term it has to be based on fact and truth. Of course the public relations expert will present these in the best possible light. But in the long term both the person, company or organization or business profiling itself through public relations – and the people or businesses on the receiving end of the public relations activity – must both perceive themselves to be benefiting from the exchange of public relations information.

Some individuals are extremely good at conducting their own public relations. Most blue chip companies and celebrities hire the services of professional public relations agencies or public relations consultants that have the expertise and the available time to orchestrate public relations campaigns for them freeing up the chief executives to concentrate on running their businesses.  Some smaller companies and individuals also use public relations companies while others – particularly in their early years where available cash is limited – learn the basics of public relations themselves and become their own highly effective public relations officer.
 

In recent years, new 'Media' for informing and conversing with publics have become very significant in public relations terms. Often collectively called 'social media' these involve high profile interactive media like Twitter and Facebook for personal business, LinkedIn for business and a plethora of smaller and special interest web communities. All of them enable two-way broadcasting of messages.

Creating a strong positive public image through public relations not only helps to differentiate a company or business from its competitors; without effective public relations in place, many a company has been completely wiped out by a relatively small disaster or negative event. Those with a strong public image and with the media on-side as a result of long-term accurate and truthful public relations activity are far more likely to be able to overcome the effects of a negative event.

As with all disciplines there are good public relations practitioners and bad public relations practitioners. Sadly, according to many media editors, journalists and program producers the number of bad and not so good public relations consultants and agencies seem to outnumber the very good public relations companies.

I found this on the web and thought it was a great article.  Unfortunately,  I mistakenly deleted its author and source — so I apologize to the author.  So if this is your article, please leave a comment reply so that I can give you credit . . . . and kudos for a great article!

The key to remaining successful and ensuring that your reputation remains unblemished both online and off is to be as professional as possible at all times.

Tip #1. Make sure that every piece of writing you produce has the proper spelling and punctuation.

Whether your writing is for your sales page or merely a brief email message does not matter. Spelling and punctuating properly matter very much. The last thing you need is for a prospective buyer to find something you've written and see that it is riddled with mistakes. It demonstrates that you are not detail oriented or worse… that you carelessly rush through your work.

Tip # 2. Always respond to your online messages and calls.

Keep your conversations and replies cordial, positive and polite. Try not to let an email message sit in your box for more than a day without responding to it. Do not leave voicemail messages unreturned. Always answer your phone by the third ring. These little things speak greatly about your commitment to your job.

Tip # 3. Accept negative feedback politely and positively.

There are always going to be trolls who want you to feel awful about yourself. All the same, there will be people who have valid complaints about your project and how it is presented. Take negative feedback or suggestion to heart and ask if you could truly make the improvements the person wants to see without it harming your business. Then, contact the person with the problem and inform him that you intend to fix it (if, indeed, you will actually fix it. If you won't, let him know that too). This proves that you value your prospective buyers, not just those who give you positive feedback.

Tip # 4. Pay attention to your social media!

And with every post, remember that you are representing your business. Your friends might be fine with an informal tweet or Facebook message. If a prospect happens to come across those messages, he might believe that you are too casual or not professional enough to take on his project. Let the person you are shine as much as possible. There is no rule that says you need to conceal everything about who you are. The real fact is that possibly the best way to set yourself apart from the competition is to let your personality shine through. All the same, you're still trying to run a business so see to it that you keep your best face forward.

Copyright (c) 2013 LanaMc.H Kilnmar

By now you know that when I offer tips about "growing" your business, it's because I want you to have solid, applicable information that will help ensure that your company's growth is steady, strong, and productive. It's probably no accident that a company is sometimes called a "plant". And it's no accident that Nature can be our teacher in terms of how to "grow" our business.

If we look at growing your business like growing a tree for instance, the process might look something like this:

* Seed: Idea

* Soil: Foundation

* Water: Investment

* Roots: System

* Trunk: Structure

* Branches: Sales Team

* Leaves: Customers

Interesting, isn't it that customers – the very thing we generally focus on first, are actually the result of everything that comes before? Maybe it's time to change your focus, for a moment, from customers to processes.

Returning to the plant analogy, if the seed is rotten to begin with, it won't root. If the soil is sandy and porous, it won't hold water, if the water is scarce, the plant can't grow, if the trunk is weak, the structure will collapse, if the branches break, leaves can't grow, and if there are no leaves – there are no customers.

With that in mind, let's turn now to business and look at warning signs that indicate that something or someone needs attention. Einstein stated that a problem cannot be fixed by the same process that created it, yet often business owners follow the same processes that got them in trouble in the first place, thinking that things will somehow change. Well, they won't, except perhaps for getting worse. So, here are some quick fixes to consider if your "plant" is wilting.

 The Process

Let's assume you're past the "seed" phase of coming up with a great product or service to sell, that you've developed your business plan, created a strong vision statement to get everyone working toward the same goal, have streamlined a mission statement that you have posted in clear view of everyone (staff and customers!), and your culture statement adequately states your company's ethics and values.  This, of course, implies that you have a place of business. If my assumptions are false, then you need to backtrack and strengthen those areas that are weak before moving forward.

The System

Where most business owners fall short dates back to their roots, and I'm not talking family history here; I'm talking about the "systems" they have in place to make sure that their "plant" or company is healthy and growing.

A strongly rooted system will ensure that you:

* Get more out of your business in less time, with less effort

* Increase efficiency and save money

* Stop running your business and start growing it

Now, it will take more than one article for me to give you ALL the tools you need to develop strong roots for your business, but I can certainly give you some key elements to consider. Do you know, for instance, how to identify areas in your business that you need to systemize? Let's backtrack to that first "sprout" of root and make sure each system is in place.

Here are 4 key areas to systemize in your business, including their purposes and their functions:

1. People and Education–Goal: To have a happy, healthy functioning, productive, knowledgeable team.

A. Does your company have a functioning "Organizational" chart that clearly identifies who reports to whom?

B. Does your company have individual flowcharts for EACH INDIVIDUAL in the company, outlining their key duties?

C. Have you clearly outlined your role to your team and your vision for the company to get everyone working toward the same goal?

D. Do you have a system in place to track and measure employee performance through Key Performance Indicators?

E. Do you have a training program in place for your team?

2. Delivery and Distribution–Goal: To have an automated systemization in place to free resources for use in other more productive and profitable areas?

A. Is your delivery and distribution system paperless?

B. Is your delivery and distribution system consistent, familiar, and predictable?

C. Is your packaging designed for safe delivery?

D. Are your "fast-moving items" easy to access, and are you putting slower-moving items high up or low down on the shelf?

E. Have you developed a system for forecasting what to order?

F. Have you systemized and completed a purchasing and stock-receiving system?

3. Testing and Measuring–Goal: To monitor activity in all areas, modify systems that need adjustments, and analyze results.

A. Do you have systemized tracking set up for monthly and yearly budgets?

B. Do you track and measure conversion rates FOR EACH SALESPERSON?

C. Do you have systems in place for: tracking petty cash, recording profit margins, measuring the number and origin of all leads, measuring your average dollar sale, recording customer transactions, and a system for payroll and superannuation?

4. Systems and Technology–Goal: To keep up to date with ever-changing technological developments.

A. Do you regularly maintain all equipment?

B. Do you use computerized invoicing and credit monitoring?

C. Do you have a systems and training and induction program in place?

D. Do you update your programs, software, and spyware to keep your computers current?

E. Do you run a regular computer backup system?

 Of course, there are other factors to add to each category, but this basic checklist will at least get you started.

This analogy, while simplistic in nature, will show that customers don't just "float" in and attach themselves to your business. They grow out of nurturing. And when customers see that a "plant" is strong, flexible, and can weather economic turmoil and other "storms", it makes them more confident about doing business with that company.

Growing one's company is something that has to happen every day. If you don't make sure that each part of the process is healthy and productive, your company will suffer. Sadly, some businesses will die.

Start growing your company today.

And remember that seeking help is not a sign of failure.     It's a sign of growth.

I loved this analogy — they don't call a manufacturing facility a "plant" for no reason, do they?   SJM

Timing is Everything!

Best days:  Saturday & Sunday!  Then comes Monday and Friday.  I always thought that Mondays were too busy and Fridays, people took off early.  And I never sent things to press on the weekend!  WIth everyone on the Internet 24/7 — I guess people are checking things more often.

The best days to get the media to review your release:  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

Worst day:  Wednesday!

What's important:

 Build links.

Free internet pressrooms don’t allow for links inside the story.  But you can put your website and email address in the Contact area.  They help journalists check information.  All information you want journalists to know about your company is in one place.. attach external documents, including presentations and research documents.

Links to videos and embed pictures in the press releases increase engagement by about 18% for photos and 55% for videos.   These additions are free in the internet pressrooms, but if you are doing a big product or service launch — the $60 is by far an inexpensive price to pay for the exposure.

Woo the Media

Build relationships with specific media instead of sending out hundreds of emails with press releases to journalists you may not even know.  You might get better results then simply posting onto the wire.

 Press releases alone don't help your SEO.

Because press releases are syndicated for a certain amount of time, and taken down at some point, their temporary status online does not generally increases SEO  . . . Which is why they should “live forever on your own website.

Press releases don't improve your communication with consumers.

Consumers like to read information in a way that is easy to digest, i.e. blog posts. The press release format takes longer to read,  readers want to be able to quickly understand the story by reading it through a blog post or another form of writing.

 Tip:

Instead of promoting your press release through social channels or email, promote your blog post to achieve the same effect of the press release and get your audience the information in the announcement.

Anyone considering hiring or doing business with you — not just today but for the rest of your life — will Google you and check out your social media presence. Which means lots and lots of you are doing some serious damage to your careers, your business, and yes, to your personal brands.

How you can ruin your reputation in six easy steps:

TMI – too much personal information!

Nobody cares and you lose all credibility by putting it in your profile.   

Look at me — I’ve got a degree.

Stop listing academic degrees and obscure certification initials next to your name on profiles.

There’s a place for your education information…. Keep it there.

I’ve got privacy settings on Facebook so it’s safe and confidential.

Oh, really?  Those pictures of you and your comments that your friends shared?  What are THEIR privacy settings?  Trust me, if it’s on the internet, we can find it!

Bragging about projects and clients.

Don’t you know your competitors can read this stuff? Why are you giving away your strategies to a competitor?

It’s like talking to the media and having these statements on the front page of the New York Times, or worse, in a courtroom.

Talking to strangers.

Would you walk up to a complete stranger on the street and ask them to marry you?

Then stop sending email  requests to people you don’t even know to endorse their skills on LinkedIn, buy your products/services, or work with you.

I’m a cartoon character.

Or worse – use a picture that’s more than 5 years old as your profile photograph..

It’s all about honesty, people. And building credibility.  Use a professional photograph . .  and use a professional message on your phone system (I hate those cute-sy ones!)

Hear of some of the reasons I have heard from prospects and what I think they mean:

They simply may not be your ideal client. Admit it.

you knew it deep down inside, but you decided to take them on anyway just because you needed the money.

When you try to convince someone who isn't right for you in the first place to continue working with you, that is only going to create problems later.  It comes back to haunt you because a client who isn't your ideal client is just not going to get the right results. They won't refer others, and they'll just be an energy drain for you. So, Let that person lovingly go.

They just don't get the value.

You're probably talking too much about processes, rather than about the results that they'll get from working with you.

People don't buy processes. They buy results.

They claim that money is an issue.

This is usually an excuse hiding the real reason– and it's probably because they aren't convinced of the value that you'll bring.

A prospect who “doesn't have the money” but really, wants to work with you —  will try to find a way to find the money.

But, if the prospect who just backed out isn't scrambling to find a way to afford your services or your products, usually doesn’t see the value.  To get them back in the fold, you have to talk about the results that they really want.

They can’t make a decision to move forward.

This prospect might say, "I really want to work with you. Let's do it," and then goes back to the office and begins questioning their decision or asking one (or more) people if they made the right decision.

Always have all the decision makers in the room, when talking about the value you bring.  But I’ve found that “wishy-washy” people are NOT my ideal clients.

What reasons have your prospects (or clients) given you as a reason to “back out of the contract”?

How did you respond?

Sometimes people simply want the bare bones 10 seconds version.

Other times they have questions and want to know in detail about other parts of your story.

Tell your story on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest —  That's the ONLY reason those famous sites exist — to encourage people to tell their stories.

Tips to make your story a powerful marketing tool:

Develop a one line version of your story.

Sometimes called your elevator speech. Tell it in 30 seconds and 30 words.

Watch for part of your elevator speech to catch the attention of your listener.

They will latch on to one thing you said and want to know more. That is YOUR opportunity to go into detail. Tell your listener as much as they want to know. Give them your business card!

Develop a one paragraph version of your story.

This version has more detail and is the one you will tell when a reporter calls or emails to interview you.

What’s your story?  Write it the 3 versions, then practice — never be shy about telling your story. People love them!

Strong, trusting relationships will help your business make it through the tough times – ensuring that regardless of the market conditions or  tight deadlines, they will still be around to support you.  Business relationships need  time, effort, attention, and care to sustain them.

Tips to strengthen ties with your business relationships.

Encourage Honest Feedback

When you encourage an atmosphere of honest feedback exchange, you will know where you need to improve and how to make your services/products more attune to your clients’ requirements

• Ask clients about your product and customer service.

• Ask them how else they think you can improve, and what factors need sprucing up.

Don't be offended, especially if the criticism is constructive.

Remember, it also took courage for the other party to tell you what you are doing wrong.

 Listen More; Talk Less

As business owners, sometimes, we feel a need to keep on talking about how great our products are, how they can help solve a problem or fill in a need of a customer, how reasonable our prices are, how excellent the quality, etc.

We get so caught up on an endless litany of sales talk that we forget one important factor – when selling, sometimes, it is better to listen first to what your client has to say. When you talk less and listen, you actually avoid making the impression that "it's all about you" – and not about the needs of the customer.

• Imagine yourself in the shoes of the person you're selling to. If you don't like hearing your own sales pitch, then it's time to talk less, and listen more.

Devise A Routine of Following up

Especially when you have so many customers and other business relations (lucky you!), it is easy to focus on a few, and then leave the majority hanging – hoping to hear from you.

This is a huge mistake, because "out of sight, out of mind".

When it comes to business relationships, you may easily get a cold shoulder treatment if you drop them a call only when you need their help. Even with friendships, this is not advisable.

• Put a premium on your relationships with people – the key is to be always present, whether it be through a simple text message, email, phone call, or a physical visit.

• Keep it regular – devise a plan of getting in touch on a regular basis with people – this is the best way they won't forget you, your business, and your friendship.

 Be Honest

It is expected that you know everything pertinent to your business, but if you truly don't know some things, be honest to people – rather than give them misleading or wrongful information.

Everyone has shortcomings – no person, let alone business owner, can possibly know everything.

• When you give the impression that you are not a know-it-all, you come off as humble and likeable. People are actually more drawn to a trustworthy person than to a bookish expert who has little or no time to establish good relationships with people who help him and his business alive and kicking.

Remember:  Relationships are keys to surviving in the world of business.

You cannot guess the way to success.

IMPACT! provides strategic processes for:  

Business Marketing Assessments

Understand your target market and your competition to get measurable results from your PR and Community Involvement campaigns.  

Audits

Obtain the knowledge to make informed decisions before spending money on PR campaigns.  

• Learn how to better IMPACT! your clients.  

• Monitor outcomes in a pro-active, continuous systematic process to more effectively plan future PR tactics.  

• Execute and enjoy successful stress-free meetings, retreats, groundbreakings, career/job fairs, parties, and other gatherings.    

• Increase employee morale and your Public Repuation with a proactive, effective Community Involvementt Plan.

Download IMPACT!'s free e-book on Strategic Planning Basics

“Susan Mertz of IMPACT! has assisted SCS Engineers with strategic planning strategies that enhanced our marketing, presentation, and communications approach to existing and potential clients. Her tactics allowed us to successfully target, cultivate, and obtain business from major manufacturers, opening our services to a new industry and expanding our client base in existing markets.

We have also used Susan to write communication pieces sent to clients, colleagues, and prospects. Her chemistry background allows her to understand and effectively summarize and write technical and other documents pertinent to our industry.

Her ideas work. I recommend IMPACT! strategy sessions and public relations services to any company who desires to increase their client base and to enhance their image and reputation.”                                                                      Nina Marshtein, SCS Engineers

We all know that we have to be organized by creating a outlined plan with written measurable SMART (specific, measurable, realistic, timely) goals.

But first, It is time to reflect on the old year’s triumphs and successes and the not-so-good decisions by conducting a year-end audit of your:

• customers/clients

• products/services

• employees/vendors/independent contractors

• networking events attended

• fees/budget/finances

IMPACT! organizes its findings on a spreadsheet and in documents to outline thoughts and findings in answer to the following questions:

I.  Your customers and clients

a.  Which ones did you like working with most? Why? (go beyond “They paid on time” or were “fun”
More importantly:  Which ones appreciated and understood the value of your work?

Questions you might consider:

• How many employees do they have?

• What is their gross income?

• Who do they serve?

• What is their philosophy on employee morale?  On community support? 

• Do they share the values that YOU value

b.  Which ones didn’t “get it”? 

Why was that?  Is there a way that you can “Educate them on the importance of your services/products”?   (If they haven’t discovered your value after working with them a year – they might not ever….. so do you end the relationship?  Pass them on to someone else?)

c.  Which ones were ”hell on wheels” – you had to drag them along… they never adhered to your deadlines, never made a real decision, kept changing their minds and never seemed to progress forward.  (You are permitted to “fire” clients.)

II. Products and Services

• How long did it take you to complete each project? 

• Include ALL Time – thinking at the computer, thinking while sleeping, thinking while driving, thinking while talking to others; Talking to the client on the phone – that you didn’t bill.

• How much did you bill for each project?

• What was the true income/hour of each project?

• Did you have to sub part of it out?  How much did you pay your vendor? 

• Which products/services brought in the most money?  Which products/services brought in the most money/hour?  (Not always the same.)

• Are your products/services still relevant?  Are people still “buying them”  – the old standbys?  Or are they seeking out new services/products that you have to sub out?

• Should you train to complete those projects yourself?  (Learn new skills?)

• How much time and money will it take for you to learn how to offer a new product/service?  Is this feasible?

• Who is the market for your products and services?

III. Outside vendors

Audit ALL outside, 3rd party vendors that you paid in 2012.

Remember, if the client is paying through you and you are paying that 3rd party – YOUR gross income includes their money. I know that you can expense it for some tax purposes, but some entities base your fee/tax/license fee on your gross income – and that includes the money that you pay others.  You must make their money work for you… don’t consider yourself a “pass through” – or just tag on a few dollars to their bill.

• How much did you pay them? 

• How much income did you bill for their work?

• How much REAL income did you realize from each of these associations?  (Did you add fees for your time on top of their fee?) 

• Did they meet your deadlines?

• Did they offer value to your clients?

• If they left tomorrow, would you be able to pick up and handle it all on your own?

IV. Every Networking Event you attended

• How many people did you meet at each one? 

• How did you follow-up?

• Were your prospects there?  (People who will pay you and who are your ideal clients)

• How much did each venue cost you – in REAL money. Add up all dollars spent and ALL TIME including the time prepping, attending and following up with everyone…. You can use your dollar/hr figure here, if you want.

• So how much did each venture “cost you” – or how much “income did it bring in”. Don’t include your “hope” of future income because it didn’t come in this year – you can place it in the year you received it.

It’s important to conduct these audits to identify where you should spend your time in “income producing” activities.

IMPACT! offers consulting services that will assist you with your audits and help you to identify your ideal clients and prep you for your meetings with them.

$100,000.00?  This is a good target for a small, dedicated business who is savvy on how to run a solo business.

Let’s do the math…..$100,000/year =  $2,000/week = $400/day…. Doesn’t seem hard, does it?

If you work a 40-hour week and bill $100/hour, you should bring in $4,000/week, right??? WRONG!!!

Unless you are working at least 20-25 hours a week ON your business: 

• Marketing—writing your blogs, Social media content, e-news letters,

• Calling for appointments,

• Attending networking events,

• Meeting with prospects,

• Being seen where your prospects ARE – your business will FAIL in a couple of years.

So even on a good week – you only have 15-20 hours to work and produce billable work!

How many times do networking events, lunches, after work drinks and other social engagements get in the way of getting up at 7:00 pm and getting ready for an 8-hour workday?

Do you group all your outside–of-office-activities on the same day and leave at least 2 full uninterrupted days in the office so that you can complete 16 hours of billable hours?  Every week?

But you are in business for yourself and can make your own hours, right?  Yes, but make sure that you get in at least 25 hours of marketing and 16 hours of billable work EVERY WEEK.

Back to the math – if you only work 16 billable hours a week, and you bill $100/hr,  you are bringing in $1,600/week or $80,000.00/year

Let’s look at your prospects:

OK – so you want to bill $100/hour and you need to bill $2,000/week (but right now you can only bill $1,600 (IF you have the work).

What kind of work do you want?

If your products and services cost $1,000 – you need 100 projects a year to make $100,000: that’s completing 2 projects a week. 

I don’t know about you, but it takes me a little “process time” to understand the needs and values of my client and I can’t produce $1,000 project in 10 hours the first week.

Since I come from a fund raising background, I look at prospects and their potential value to me a little differently.

If you told me that you wanted to raise $1,000,000 but weren’t going to ask anyone for more than $1,000.  How many people would you need?   1,000 people!!!!!!  I don’t know 1,000 people who would hire me, or (100 people sustained for 10 years!) who will pay me for my services.

If I was fund raising for $1,000,000: ideally I want one person to give me $500,000 and 2 people give me $250,000 (that doesn’t always happen, but you target bigger donors first to get the bulk of your funds.)

So in business, if I want to make $100,000, then I want to identify clients how can pay me $50,000, $40,000, 30,000, and 20,000/year!!  And not have to work my butt off!

How do you identify these prospects?  Research, educations, meeting them and having them see the value that you have offered their colleagues and competitors.

Find out what they want and how much they are willing to pay for it.  Stop thinking a certain dollar per hour and start thinking about VALUE and REVENUE for your client – what value do you bring and what it is worth to them.

IMPACT! offers consulting services that will assist you with your audits and help you to identify your ideal clients and prep you for your meetings with them.

Are you an Employee or an Entrepreneur? 

Is there a difference between being a small business OWNER or an employee in your own company?

You better believe it – what does it take to be an entrepreneur?

If you want to be successful, you have to stop thinking like an employee working IN a business, and start acting like an entrepreneur and work ON your business.    

The word "entrepreneur" is derived from the Old French verb entreprendre, which means "to undertake." Every year, nearly one million Americans undertake one of the biggest transitions of life: from employee to entrepreneur.

Do you have what it takes?

Trait #1  Vision/Leadership

Successful entrepreneurs usually see what other don't and tend to think outside the box. 

Being a Leader implies that you do what others won't.  Leaders go outside their comfort zones.

Trait #2: The Need to Achieve

The need to achieve is an internal force that demands that you accomplish things in your life.

Trait #3: Perseverance

Perseverance is the ability to "hang in there" and not give up. This includes the ability to follow through on commitments.

Trait #4  Self Motivation

Of course 100% motivation is unsustainable all of the time, when you have an off day or feel a little de-motivated, then always take time out and do something different.

Trait #5  Self-Discipline

The ability to take consistent and persistent action even when we don't feel like it.  This means not allowing yourself to get distracted by a myriad of activities that are "non-productive".

Trait #6  Learn to take responsibility

You are the key to your destiny. You control your future — take responsibility for it. 

You don't have to be good at everything. You will decide which jobs you want to do yourself delegate to great people

Remember to take full responsibility for the outcome of every situation and improve at every opportunity. If somebody makes a mistake, look for ways to prevent it from happening again.

Trait #7: Positive Mental Attitude

Optimistic attitudes create positive outcomes. 

Trait #8: Objectivity

The ability to accurately assess risks with decisions to be made and also not allowing your ego to dictate your course of action

Trait #9: Foresight

The ability to anticipate changes needed before the problem arises

Trait #10  Flexibility

Constantly looking for ways to do things better.  . .  to recognize when perseverance devolves in just plain "stubbornness", and will make adjustments as necessary.

Trait #11: Good interpersonal skills

Business owners are politicians, and the best business owners get along well with other people.

Trait #12: Strong communications skills

Although you can "hire" written communication (as in copy writing).  You must possess the ability to write well and speak well to be able to communicate well to employees, suppliers, customers, and the media.

Trait 13  Know where you excel and focus on One idea at a time!

Don’t spread yourself too thinly.  You will also find that because your business is new, customers will be cautious about using your service or buying your product. Therefore it is essential that you put time and effort into every area of your business so that it runs smoothly and without too many glitches.

Trait 14: Resourcefulness

Resourcefulness is the ability to solve unique problems in creative ways in which you have no experience. 

Trait #15: Technical knowledge

You have to know what you are doing, or at least be able to learn.  Most entrepreneurs are information sponges.

Trait #16: A respectful attitude towards money

Money can't be seen as an end in itself, but as a means for making things happen and accomplishing goals.

Trait #17:    Mental Toughness

Don’t’ take negative comments completely to heart.  Only consider taking peoples' advice if it is constructive.

Many hard decisions have to be made.  The successful entrepreneur has to be able to withstand criticism.

Trait #18   Treat Failure as an opportunity!

The key to every successful entrepreneur is their ability to deal with failure, and how you handle adversity

It is not what happens to us that is key; but  how we react is the determining factor in permanent failure or simply temporary defeat.  Within every failure or mistake there is an opportunity. You just need to learn how to identify the opportunity and turn it to your advantage. 

Making mistakes, and learning from them, adapt your thinking and mentality to turn negative situations into positive ones.

IMPACT! begins each client relationship by performing a modified SWOT Analysis.  For this analysis clients answer a variety questions, which IMPACT!  compiles and uses to assist its clients in prioritizing and focusing marketing/ public relations efforts where they will be most effective.

SWOT is short for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Strengths and Weaknesses (or better put — Limitations) are internal attributes.  Opportunities and Threats are determined by external forces:  competitors, and the effect of market, industry and economy factors.

Strengths:  A company’s positive aspects…what it does best, and answers questions as:

• What advantages does this company have?  How does this compare to others in its industry?
• What does this company do particularly well?
• What resources do they have (people, money, systems, technology, etc.)?
• What does the public see as their strengths?

Weaknesses: This is a list of concerns about a business – what needs to be improved – e.g. culture, financing, employee demeanor, communication, and the like.   Here a company’s “undiscussables” are often surfaced, allowing them to create and implement constructive fixes. Here we look for answers to questions such as:

• Are there things this company should “erase” right now?
• What should they avoid?
• What do they do poorly?
• What needs improvement?

Opportunities:  These are external openings that allow a company to be even more successful.  (Often we refer back to a business’ strengths to see if they can serve as the catalyst for new opportunities). The following are the types of questions we try to answer:

• What opportunities are staring this company in the face?
• Are there interesting trends that they can take advantage of?
• What marketplace changes can enhance the way they do business?
• Are there new technologies available that can save them time and money?

Threats:  These are normally associated with a business’ external environment – competitors, the economy, current events, trends, etc. (However, we also look inside a business because their own weaknesses can become their worst threats). They include factors that may have a negative impact on a business – the things that cause anxiety. The following are the types of questions we try to answer:

• What roadblocks does this company face with customers, time, money, employees, etc.?
• What are their competitors doing better?
• Are they facing significant changes in requirements for conducting their business?  If so, what are they?
• Are they under-financed? Do they have a great deal of bad debt?
• Are their weaknesses serious threats to growing and maintaining their business?

By supplying IMPACT! with answers to specific set of questions, IMPACT! compiles your data and uses the information as a foundation for your personalized Marketing and Public Relations Plan.

Strategic Alliances can maximize a company’s or a solo entrepreneur’s position in the marketplace by:

∗ Connecting with new customers and prospects that they could not normally serve alone.

∗ Enhancing brand identity. Most small businesses benefit from partnerships that add value, prestige, and greater credibility to their own endeavors.

∗ Attracting top-notch employees.

Strategic Alliances enable businesses to be more efficient and able to concentrate on their core strengths, while offering additional services/products that appeal to a wider range of clients.

Strategic Alliances are formed between two businesses or individuals who pool their expertise and resources so that they can both enter new markets, share financial risks, get products and services to market faster, and gain additional business.

Find the Right Partners

Partner with a competitor. Look for allies not enemies. By understanding the capacity and capabilities of your competitor, tap into their unique strengths for your own advantages. Partner for cross marketing.

Pool your resources and collectively market to a target customer base. The Strategic Alliance will provide additional leverage for your product offerings and generate greater marketing impact.

Partner with a brand leader. Benefit from alliances that add value and prestige, not just money. Associating with a well-known business can give your company instant credibility and exposure. It’s not always about the bottom line.

Partner with a key customer. Make it nearly impossible for them to consider going elsewhere.

Partner with the Nonprofit Community Increase your circle of influence and your visibility in the community. These partnerships may offer great opportunities for your marketing efforts in targeting a very specific, and important, consumer audience. And it’s the right thing to do …. Support the community that supports you.

Partner with former employer. Never bourn bridges, build bridges. These former employers already know your work ethic. Capitalize on it.

*  Is your goal to stimulate trial purchases by new customers or to stimulate more frequent purchases by current customers?

*  Are you aiming to increase your average transaction, enhance your image, boost employee productivity or morale, stimulate community awareness, or a combination of these?

*  You must prioritize your goals to determine which one you want to achieve first, second, and so on; and which are most easily and effectively executed.

Be specific.

*  If your objective is to get new customers, what is a reasonable goal–an increase in new customers of 5%, 10%, or 15%?

*  Would it be reasonable to shoot for an increase in customer frequency from three purchases a month to four?

*  If your objective is to increase your average sale, what is reasonable increase based on your current pricing?

*  If your objective is employee morale, how much can you reduce unwanted employee turnover by running this promotion?

Be realistic in your goals.

Success is rarely achieved in one fell swoop. Remember, each incremental improvement builds on the last. If you get too ambitious, you and your staff will quickly become frustrated and disappointed, and you will be less enthusiastic next time. Set your goals high enough to make a difference and low enough to have the best chance of success.

Create your plan.

Once you’ve established your objectives and selected some tactics, you must decide how to make those tactics successful.

What can you afford, and how can you maximize your results?

Consider timing; frequency; capitalizing on local events; season population variation; competitive challenges that call for extra effort and provide a reward; variable costs of materials, labor, and real estate; and other factors that are unique to your situation.

Create a carefully thought-out plan for each promotion, and make sure that each promotion is slotted into its proper place in your long-term objectives.

Zero in on your target.

What type of customer does your business attract–upscale, blue-collar, families, singles, ethnic groups? Once you’ve zeroed in on your target audience, review your tactical options and pick those that would most appeal to that audience and would be the most appropriate.

Calculate your payout.

Almost every promotional tactic that is intended to increase sales should have a measurable result and produce a profit. You should know how many new customers you need in order to cover the costs of your promotion. How many of those new customers must you convert to regular customers to consider the promotion a success? If you do your homework ahead of time, you’ll be able to tell how realistic your objectives are and what, if any, adjustments are necessary for next time.

Improving employee morale or improving the image of your business is more difficult, but not impossible to measure.

Ask yourself or your bookkeeper or accountant, “What does it cost us to hire and train a new employee?” or “How much traffic will an improved image generate?” In most cases, you can find a way to track the results of a promotion.

Remember, if you can measure it, you can manage it. Or, as Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up someplace else!”

Check the calendar.

Be aware of special holidays or events that could help or hurt your promotion. Allow enough time: don’t mail announcements today for a promotion that starts tomorrow. You don’t need New Year’s noisemakers delivered in January. Leave extra time to make sure that each element of your promotion is in place in time. Leave time for creating, producing, and implementing each element.

Make a promotion calendar or schedule showing each phase, and pad the time a little to allow for the inevitable changes and delays that will occur.

Refine you products and services.

Be sure that the service or product you offer is right for your target customers–that you’re offering the right varieties, with the most customer appeal, the right pricing, and the right presentation. Keep track of what is most popular, what’s producing the most sales, and what’s producing the largest profit margin.

 Compare what you know with what you competitors are offering. Survey your customers by questionnaire or on-on-one conversations. Take the temperature of your marketing, and be a good listener by leaving your ego and your preconceived ideas out of it.

Polish the brass.

Go a step beyond your regular maintenance procedures. Make sure that your selling, operating, and customer areas are attractive; that your physical space is clean and tidy; that any background music appeals to your audience; that unpleasant sounds or odors are neutralized; that fading paint, broken door handles, and any other flaws are corrected. It all sells, even sparkling bathrooms. You may not see the grimy windows or the litter because you pass them every day and they’ve become invisible, but your customers will.

Check the logistics.

You can execute your tactics with minimum difficulty by making sure that you have the technical know-how, the space, and the resources to handle the promotion without disrupting customer service or staff efficiency. Plenty of otherwise successful promotions have been ruined by insufficient or poorly trained staff, poor product quality, or equipment failure.

Cheerlead.

Hold a team meeting of all your employees and explain the objectives, the rationale, the implementation and the fun of your upcoming promotion. Let employees know what is expected of them, what is in it for them personally, and how much you care about their job satisfaction and feedback. They are your customers too, and you should work just as hard to earn their loyalty.  It’s the right thing to do, and it pays!

Plan your analysis.

Successful promotional activity is a learning process. You take lessons away from each effort, and you build on them. Setting specific objectives allows you to measure the success of your promotion.  Prepare brief customer and employee questionnaires that you can use afterward to solicit reactions. Review every aspect of your promotion, and gather the information you need to make your next promotion even more effective.

Great promotions do not occur by luck or happenstance.

They are well planned, well executed, measured and improved upon for the future. By taking these steps, you’ll dramatically increase the odds that the time, effort, and money you put into your promotions will payoff for you and your bottom line.

MAKE AN IMPACT!

People like companies with personalities. Without a personality, companies become generic, boring, and blend into the background.

Storytelling can become a powerful tool in creating a company’s personality.

Given a choice, do you gravitate toward entertaining people or dull people?   The same holds true for companies; so embrace storytelling.

Every Company has a Story

Even with the best marketing strategies, weekly staff meetings, and written vision and mission statements; Don’t assume your customers or even your staff understand your company story.

Vision and mission statements are often meaningless to employees and customers. They can be viewed as just words, often too many and too obtuse, and without any context or meaning.

They don’t explain what the company is really all about, why someone would want to work there, or why someone would want to be a customer.

Background stories:

Answer the question:  Why did I start this company?  Why do I want to lead this company?

Speak from the heart, add emotion, and positive actions.

Example:

My Mother always told me, “Never put anything in writing you don’t want to show up on the front page of the NY Times the next day.” 

Mother was right.  Too often people act in haste without thinking of the consequences.  It takes months; if not years to build a credible reputation.  Do not lose yours over a mistake made in haste.

IMPACT! says, “Before you are front page news for the wrong reason, let us get you there for the right reasons.”  Your reputation is your most valuable asset.

We teach you how to proactively create a aura of goodwill and credibility around you and your company; and how to deal with a crisis or negative situation with grace and aplomb; and how to turn that situation in a positive experience.  

Customer based stories

Create your company’s benefits story around these questions:

• What situation are your customers facing?
• What impact is the situation having on their business?
• What’s your solution?

Example:

(Situation) A manufacturing company is upgrading its plant and wants community support.

(Impact) Otherwise, community citizens could question the effects the construction will have on their quality of life.

(Solution)  IMPACT! develops a proactive community public relations plan to educate the community and to address their concerns.

You can also use this formula when briefing your boss:

Briefly describe the situation and its impact

Then summarize with your recommendations.

MAKE AN IMPACT!

Stories can change the way we think, act, and feel.

Leaders, especially, can use the power of a good story to influence and motivate their teams. Stories can inspire everything from understanding to action. They capture our imaginations and make things real in a way that cold, hard facts can’t.

Types of Stories for the workplace

“Who I Am” Stories –

When you first become a team leader, you can give a powerful insight into what really motivates you. This can break down walls and help your team realize that you’re a person just like them.

Tip:  Reveal a small flaw about yourself or mistake that you’ve made that you turned into a positive.  By revealing a flaw, you show your team that you trust them with this information. It also demonstrates that you’re not perfect.

“Why I’m Here” Stories –

Build trust, and help your team realize that you don’t have any hidden agendas.

You want to work together with them to achieve a common goal.

“Teaching” Stories –

Remember Aesop’s fables. “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”?   Incorporate well-know myth, legends, and fable s into your stories.

Make a lesson clear and to help people remember why they’re doing something in the first place.

“Vision” Stories –

Inspire hope, get back on track – why we are doing this; stimulate action and raise morale.

Tip:  Remind everyone what the ultimate goal is, and why it’s important that everyone reaches that goal.  . . told from your heart, with emotion.

“Values in Action” Stories –

Define your values and what they mean to you.

Tip:   If you want your team to demonstrate a high level of customer service, then tell a story that reveals exactly what customer service means to you.

“I Know What You’re Thinking” Stories –

Recognize another person’s objections, and then show why those objections aren’t applicable in this situation.  Show respect for the other point of view while convincing the person that you’ve done your homework and can address their concerns.

Stories help people cope with change

Change is an inevitable part of work life. Change brings some level of discomfort to the workplace

Create your story around:  

“What will make people understand the change?“

“How did change affect the character in the story?“

“How can I illustrate that the change wasn’t the end of the world?”

Stories get rid of the FUDs

Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUDs) controls the average person’s thoughts and actions. 

Create a story presenting a character who overcomes their fear without suffering a great loss and are far better off after facing down their fear.

Stories help make the complex simple

Don’t drone on about data. No one cares about your facts and figures.

Craft a simple, memorable universal truth story about a person who solves a problem by taking a certain course of action.

Stories persuade where facts can’t

The best storytellers get what they want. Stories allow your audience to come to the desired conclusion on their own.

Stories produce mental images

Engage the five senses in every story: taste, touch, sight, hearing, and smell. They’ll make your story come alive.

Use Storytelling to Create More Engaging Business Communications

Would your customers prefer “death by PowerPoint” or an interesting story of how you helped an online retailer double their revenues?

Your job is to communicate how your company solves ordinary, everyday business problems.

1. Engage the audience.

Storytelling is not theater. The energy and comments from your audience should be incorporated into your presentation. Listen to your audience. Make them a part of your storytelling.

2. Keep your personal stories short.

In business speaking, you’ll want to keep these stories very succinct and to the point. Most audiences want your stories crisp and focused on the purpose of your presentation. Is your personal story moving your presentation toward your goal? If not, then edit and shorten the story.

A Good Story, Told at the Right Time, in the Right Way, Can Have a Lasting Effect

People don’t simply hear stories. It triggers things – pictures, thoughts, and associations – in their minds.

In order for your story to have the impact that you want it to have, it has got to ring true with your audience. If your audience doubts even one part of your story, then they will spend the rest of the time looking for other holes in your tale.

MAKE AN IMPACT!