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In this issue:
• Marketing Article: Call-Killing Phrases
• Marketing Article: Article Writing & Submission: Are You Writing & Submitting Articles the Right Way or the Wrong Way?

Call-Killing Phrases
by Wendy Weiss © 2007

How often have you started a call to a friend, family member or business associate with the phrase, "How are you?" I'm willing to bet the answer is a lot. I know I say it frequently. It's commonly used as a greeting, as a "hello."

Because "How are you?" is so commonly used, how often have you started your introductory calls with this phrase? If you do use this phrase as an opening for your introductory call, please stop immediately. It's an introductory call-killer, and this is why:

1. If you ask this question, you must be prepared for the answer. What if your prospect answers, "I'm having a lousy day. My back hurts, I have a cold, I hate my job and my wife left me yesterday"? Do you really care? Is this the reason for your pho.ne call?

2. You lose control of the call. (This is probably the most important reason.) If your prospect does respond, "I'm having a lousy day. My back hurts, I have a cold, I hate my job and my wife left me yesterday," how are you going to get the call back on track?

3. It's a set up, a tip off to your prospect that you are making a s.ales call. It gives your prospect the opportunity to say, "I'm busy. What do you want?" (See number 2 above.)

Similar issues apply with the introductory call-killing phrases, "May I have a moment of your time?" and/or "Is this a good time to talk?"

With both of these phrases, you lose control of the call right at the beginning, before you've had a chance to say anything at all. If the prospect answers, "no," the call is over. These are also both tip off phrases. Friends, family and important business colleagues would probably not say, "May I have a moment of your time?" or "Is this a good time to talk?" Only someone making a sales call would use this language, and it's all too easy for your prospect to respond negatively.

I know that many of you reading this will argue, "Wendy, it's polite. It's polite to say, 'How are you?' as a greeting and it's polite to ask permission to speak." There are, however, many ways to greet a prospect - saying "hello" works just fine. It is also equally polite to simply introduce yourself and get to the point. This is not only polite, it's respectful of your prospect's time, it's more effective and it allows you to retain control of the conversation.

In order to be truly effective prospecting or selling by phone, it is imperative to control the conversations you have with prospects. You want to set yourself up to have the best possible conversation that you can have with any given prospect. While it is true that not all prospects will respond badly to the above phrases, why take the chance? Why risk blowing a lead at the beginning of the call if something as simple as not starting out with, "How are you?" can totally eliminate that possibility?

Say hello. Introduce yourself. Get to the point and say what you have to say. Then ask for what you want. This is the formula for a successful introductory call. Save the "How are you?" question for those whose answers really interest you.

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Wendy Weiss, "The Queen of Cold Calling," is a sales trainer, author and sales coach. Her recently released program, Cold Calling College, and/or her book, Cold Calling for Women, can be ordered by visiting http://www.wendyweiss.com . Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com . Get Wendy's free e-zine at http://www.wendyweiss.com .

Article Writing & Submission: Are You Writing & Submitting Articles the Right Way or the Wrong Way?
by Eric Gruber © 2007

There are two ways to write and submit your articles. But, only one of those ways will build targeted website traffic, increase your own hyper-responsive list of prospects, provide you with instant credibility and help you sell more books, products and services. The only things you will get from the other way are links and frustration from a lack of sales and traffic.

What do you want?

Here's How Most People Write & Submit Articles the Wrong Way

1. They write and submit the same old regurgitated content that's all over the web.

This doesn't this differentiate you from your competitors?

If you want your articles to be a success you must research your competitors and know exactly what they offer and what they don't. You must read forums, blogs, social networking sites and major online publications to see exactly what people are talking about now. If you don't you won't be able to differentiate yourself. You won't pick a popular topic. Most importantly, you won't be able to spark a controversy that sells.

2. They only submit articles to article directories.

When most people submit articles they hire a cheap article submission service like Virtual Article Assistants that submits articles to just the top article directories.

However, this will not build your list of targeted prospects and will not help you sell more books, products and services to a niche audience. And, this definitely, will not boost your credibility. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to send an email blast letting everyone know I'm on EzineArticle.com. No offense, but anyone can have their articles published on article directories as long as you follow their guidelines.

How to Write and Submit Your Articles the Right Way

1. Write an article that sells your unique selling proposition.

Through extensive research I discovered that my competitors use a scattershot approach instead of a targeted article submission campaign that reaches specific audiences. They do not perform effective search engine optimization and keyword analysis. They don't even offer general consulting to answer all of your questions.

I also discovered that my competitors don't complete bio box and call to action reviews to improve click through rates. They don't verify websites to assure you of quality traffic. They don't proofread and copy edit so you don't look like a fool. They also don't write cover letters to improve your chances of publication or follow up with website and ezine publishers to maintain relationships.

So Dan Janal, Founder of PR LEADS Article Marketing Experts wrote an article entitled: “Choosing an Article Submission Service: Top 10 Questions You Should Ask Before Spending Your Hard Earned Dollars.” And can you guess what the questions were based on?

You're right.

Every question was based on the benefits that businesses, authors and experts receive when using our service. This helped us set PR LEADS Article Marketing Experts apart from our competition

2. Complete a well-balanced article submission campaign.

You want to select the best websites, ezines, article directories and article announcement lists your audience reads for your article submission campaign. Dan's “Choosing an Article Submission Service” article can be found on top websites and online publications like MediaPost.com, SalesandMarketing.com and About.com.

These websites get thousands of unique, targeted website visitors per day. That means we're not driving just anyone to our website. We're getting actual visitors who want to buy our products and services.

3. Use the article placement to pre-sell your prospects.

After Dan's article was published on top sites like MediaPost.com and About.com, we promoted the article on our blog, in our newsletter. We even did an email blast to our client and subscriber list.

And, when prospects call me or email me, I always give them the link to Dan's article. This article pre-sells our service. In fact when people read the article, they don't just buy one article. They buy our 6 or 12 article publicity programs.

By writing and submitting articles the right way, we made over $10,000 with just 1 article! Of course, there are many other elements to a successful article campaign. But if I gave them all away, I'd be ignoring one of my biggest secrets: Peak curiosity and leave your prospects wanting more.

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With premium article placements on websites like About.com, Entrepreneur.com and Disney's Family.com, Article Marketing Expert Eric Gruber can help you generate a massive, targeted Internet publicity campaign no one else can match! Before you submit your next article, make sure you download Eric's FREE REPORTS “How to Choose an Article Submission Service” and “150+ Campaign Killing Mistakes You Want to Avoid” at www.IwantMoreProspects.com/10questions