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Thanks and enjoy!
5 Ways to Bolster Your Business During the Holidays
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
1. Make connections from one warm hand to another.
Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki, author of *Zen Mind, Beginner's
Mind,* who founded the first Buddhist monastery in the
Western hemisphere, said Buddhism is always best passed on
*from warm hand to warm hand.* The same is true of expanding
your network. I ask every person who works with me to make a
list of all the people who might be willing to help them in
their publicity and marketing campaign. This includes
friends, neighbors, relatives, colleagues, competitors,
work-out buddies, classmates, alumni, people whose services
you use (doctors, printers etc.), corporations,
organizations, clubs, charities, writers, journalists,
authors, and, people who know influential people, and image
makers (people who influence others).
2. Have your friends introduce you to acquaintances at
holiday gatherings.
This season filled with Christmas and New Year's parties, is
the perfect time to ask friends to introduce you to anyone
who might help you further your career and vice versa. Ask
them to start with the phrase: *I thought you two would like
to meet each other because you have ______ in common.* This
sets up an immediate rapport between the two unknown people
and they don't have to search for a mutual interest. Then
have your friends tell them something extraordinary about
you before they depart.
3. Ask a family member to throw you a party.
To help sell her first book, *Living Happily Ever After,*
Laurie Wagner's Aunt Marlene invited all of her friends to a
gala celebration at her house in Los Angeles. She knew that
the hundreds of people she invited would be interested in
finding out about the secrets of staying together from
couples married thirty years or more. She helped Laurie sell
over 160 books! A number of people bought more than one to
give as gifts. Well-connected Aunt Marlene also invited a
reporter from the Los Angeles Times who wrote a glowing
piece about the event. In her elegant invitations Aunt
Marlene also did some savvy marketing. She gave people who
couldn't attend the party the opportunity to pre-purchase
books and have them sent. Sixty books were pre-sold to those
supporters of Laurie and her project. Laurie said, *My aunt
would host a party for any book I had, even it was on
rodents.* *Living Happily,* which promised ever-lasting
love, probably had more of draw.
4. Give your friends and business associates carte-blanche
to help you.
Many of your friends and colleagues are waiting for the
chance to help you. Allow them to. You might start with the
phrase. *I'm looking to expand my business. Is there any way
you can think of to help?* This phrase gives them the
opportunity to use their imagination fully. Can your printer
post a flyer on their bulletin board? Can friends email an
announcement to their personal distribution list? Who loves
to throw parties? My friend Colleen Newlin is a master
networker. I've already asked her to help me get the word
out about my book, *Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® - secrets to building your business, presence, product or
cause with integrity and spirit,* (HarperCollins). She is an
excellent cook, sells diamonds and is an NLP therapist. Who
knows, perhaps we'll have a dining and diamonds event.
5. Extend hand-holding from the holidays to the whole year
round.
Allow all your friends to take you by the hand and join your
hands to others. Find other warm hands by holding them, or
holding them through the hands of others, and your circle of
prosperity will continue grow.
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® is the gift to
give the shy, the blossoming or the outrageously outgoing to
help them boost their business to the next level. Go to
http://prsecrets.com to get your complimentary excerpts
today.
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Susan Harrow, CEO of
http://prsecrets.com, is
a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® (HarperCollins),
The
Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah, and
Get a 6-
Figure Book Advance. Clients include Fortune 500 CEOs, bestselling authors and entrepreneurs who have appeared on
Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today, Parade,
People, O, NY Times, WSJ, and Inc. |
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