December 2009 Entries
Dear Santa,
I haven’t written to you for years, so let me catch you up on what I have been doing. First, let me thank you for the great train set you brought me in 1953. It was just what I wanted and I had loads of fun with it for many years.
Since that time, I have been working in the foodservice industry. I’m sure you probably know what you need to know about my career, so I won’t bore you with the details. I was prompted to write to you today on behalf of my sales and marketing friends in the foodservice manufacturing channel. It’s...
George from the iconic Seinfeld show was always one of my favorite characters. He was afflicted with an epic lack of personal awareness (like Ricky Gervais in the original BBC Office, and Larry David in his current HBO show). Socially inept, more often than not finding himself in jaw-grindingly embarrassing situations.
“My father was a quitter, my grandfather was a quitter, I was raised to give up. It’s one of the few things I do well.”
But there are some terrific life lessons to be learned from George…and not just what NOT to do (though there are plenty of examples of that...
When you’re using email to reach out to a new prospect, nothing is more irritating than to find yourself shuttled into a SPAM filter before they are read.
As a follow-up to our continuing series of tips and tricks for reaching difficult executives, here are five rules designed to ensure that your message actually gets through:
RULE #1: Personalize the Subject Line. Always place a personalized message in the “subject” line of your email, including something unique like your name, a networking contact’s name, or a key phrase with which the client will be familiar.
RULE #2: Avoid generic or “SPAM-like” Subject Words....
After the overwhelming popularity of my recent blog entitled The Perfect Voicemail from a few weeks ago, when I ran across this interactive listing of How to reach the toughest exec in ten steps on the BNET blog yesterday, I knew it would be a natural extension of that concept.
Although the first few steps outlined are fairly elementary (do your research, write out your key points, etc), the balance of the blog has some really clever and insightful tips outlining how you can get through to even the toughest potential contacts.
Even if you personally don’t do much cold calling...