The Colors of Your Contacts
For the purposes of this post, there are three types of people in the world: Grays; Browns; and Purples.
Gray people are those who look up to you. For whatever reason, they hold you in high regard and view you as being a higher-up on the socio-economic totem pole. Don’t get cocky about your standing with them. You’re always a misstep away from losing your credibility. Be kind and supportive to them. You never know when one of your fledglings will evolve into a mover and shaker that you’ll have to answer to one day. Hey, stranger things have happened.
Brown people are your peers. I was told that the color brown represents humility and you certainly have to be humble around your peers. They know you in a “Clint Eastwood Kinda Way” — they know the good, the bad, and the ugly about you. You have a similar background to them be it your political views, religion, income level, neighborhood, and/or artistic tastes. You can generally gauge the character of a person by seeing whom he/she hangs out with. You know the old saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Your success or failure is heavily influenced by with whom you associate.
Purple people are those that you look up to. Purple is the color of royalty. This is an appropriate color being that these ladies and gentlemen are king makers and queen makers. We tend to look up to them because of the wealth they have accumulated, the fame they have, the power/influence they exert, or the special skills they possess. They tend to be centers of influence and they are true connectors. A recommendation from a purple can truly put the wind beneath your wings and send you soaring to new heights.
What I’ve learned over the years is that all of your success and failures will be dependent on your relationships with other people. Be kind to all those you come into contact with be they gray, brown, or purple. If you do or say the wrong thing, you can end up black and blue.
All the best.
What type of athlete are you?
The diagram to the left is called the Diamond of Dispositions. This information was discussed in my book entitled THE WHOLE 9 YARDS.
To be successful in business, you must learn to speak the language of those you encounter while being true to yourself. Don’t label yourself as one type of personality or another, and don’t label others either. This is to be used a a guide to get a quick read on people. Most people do not fit 100% into one category, but their dominant personality type is usually dominant.
Goalies have an open, indirect disposition. Generally their strengths are that they are approachable, affable, patient, easy to talk to, and are very good listeners. They tend to be your better counselors, teachers, and caregivers. They are the best team players and their motto is, “Got to take one for the team.” Their main challenge is that they tend to take too much poop from others as their fuse is very, very long. They are not cowards but are adverse to conflict.
Street Ballers have an open, direct disposition. Generally their strengths are that they are very friendly, funny, daring, and sociable. They tend to be your better promoters and comedians. They are always the life of the party and their motto is, “I like to get my party on!” Their main challenge is that they miss details and they miss information because they talk a lot and are easily distracted.
Golfers have a guarded, indirect disposition. Generally their strengths are that they are very analytical and knowledgeable in the area of specialization. They are experts. They are very detail oriented and methodical. They tend to be your stereotypical accountants and engineers. Their motto is, “Haste makes waste.” Their main challenge is that they tend to be over analytical and slow to make decisions. They may also come off as cold and unemotional at times because they are always thinking.
Cage Fighters have a guarded, direct disposition. Generally their strengths are that they are very mentally tough. They are aggressive and extremely competitive. They tend to be leaders of most organizations and are your stereotypical drill sergeants. There motto is, “Move out of the way so I can get this done!” Their main challenge is that they can be impatient, insensitive, and abrasive.
I hope that you found this information useful.
Give them your business card, and THEIR business card
This is a simple tool to help you follow-up with folks that you meet or bump into.
Ever been out networking and you meet someone that you want to keep in touch with but they don’t have a business card?
Well, here is are prospect follow-up cards that you can use to hand them to fill out.
You’ll need Avery labels #8376 for this (business cards).
Here is the link to the template: CLICK HERE.
Go get ‘em, tigers and tigresses!
You Become Your Thoughts
My last post on the lotus code inspired me to write this poem. Please take note of the unique style of this poem. There are 13 verses in the poem and each verse is in haiku style; three lines where the first has five syllables, the second has seven syllables, and the third line has seven syllables. As is my custom, the last line of the poem will contain the title of the poem. I hope that you like this poem.
“You Become Your Thoughts
It starts in your mind.
That million dollar idea
YOU can change the world.
Get a check-up from
the neck up is Zig’s advice.
No stinkin’ thinkin’!
Kind words are sweet song.
Honey attracts more bees than
Bitter vinegar.
Sticks and stones break bones.
Harsh words scar minds forever.
Please holster your tongue.
The very first step starts
the journey of a thousand
miles. Get moving now!
There is a law called
intertia. Things at rest tend
to remain at rest.
Healthy habits bring
success in uncommon hours.
Master the mundane.
Bad habits enslave.
They waste money, energy,
and rob you of time.
When adversity
shows his ugly face, kick him hard.
Never, ever quit.
Most people will fail
because they believe the hype.
Do they fear success?
Plan your work then work
your plan. That is the best way
to know where you’ll be.
If you do not know
where you want to go, any
road will get you there.
Thoughts are seeds planted
in our minds. Be careful, friends.
You become your thoughts.
Use the Lotus Code to Achieve Your Goals
The Lotus Code is a 2,500 philosophy that lays out a blueprint to achieve success. It has six parts that build upon and support each other.
Here is an overview:
- Thoughts: Thoughts are things – well at least they can become things. Everything begins with a thought. Books that have really helped me get my head right and attract the people and situations that I want are The Secret, The Power of Positive Thinking, and Think and Grow Rich.
- Words: Words are powerful. They can make or break people. This is the power of prayer and affirmations. T. Harv Eker’s, The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind talks about making declarations and Anthony Robbins’ books like Awaken the Giant Within are heavily influenced by neurolinguistic programming.
- Actions: Nike’s timeless slogan is “Just do it,” and that is what is necessary. You have to do something. Books like The Science of Getting Rich tell us step by step what to do to achieve desired results. Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is also an excellent read on things to do to achieve success.
- Habits: Stephen Covey reminds us in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the right actions to make habitual so that we can achieve success in uncommon hours.
- Persistence: Persistence, particularly in the face of adversity, is what helps of earn our desired outcome. The universe must be paid in full, and this debt must be paid in advance. Feeling pain and fear and doing it anyway is what turns us mere mortals into the champions that we aspire to become.
- Result: Everything that we do or don’t do will lead us to this outcome.
Remember, the universe is neutral so this roadmap can lead us to our goal or to a very sad and desperate state of affairs. As it has been said, “We become what we think about.” Truer words have not been spoken. I hope that you found this information helpful.
Kind regards,
Don’t close sales, open them
When I started my corporate sales career in the late 90s, I remember my sales manager saying that to be successful you must close” the deal.” I disagree with that phrase – “closing the deal.” When you meet with a prospect that becomes your customer, you must open the door to new opportunities.
You see folks, this person has given you their hard earned money and in a world of endless choices, they decided to do business with YOU. You should feel honored and treat this new relationship with reverence. When you treat your customers right, they will be your best advertisements. You will be in a great position to receive loads of referrals.
My advise is stay away from the old-school, hard selling ways of the past as shown on this video by Alec Baldwin the the movie Glengarry Glen Ross
Selling is simple – not easy, but simple.
Here is the simple formula to success:
- Sell a product or service you believe in
- Ask your ‘suspects’ what they need and what they want – they may become prospects
- Once the suspect becomes a prospect, give them a simple overview of how your product or service can help them save, time, energy, or money, or just make them happier
It is kind of like being a waiter. Just make sure not to bring the customer pork chops they asked for chicken marsala.
All the best to you in your endeavors.
The Baker’s Dozen (3 of 3)
#10
Pay rewards for the results you want
Overview:
Online customers waste time in search of buyers and sellers for their time-sensitive transactions. ReferQuest increases e-commerce’s efficiency by providing incentives for referrers to match buyers & sellers. Clients post referral fees on ReferQuest to provide incentive for uncovering the connections they seek. Visitors refer the requests on to their own contacts. ReferQuest brokers the messages and tracks the dealings between the parties. ReferQuest updates and publishes star ratings of participants, supporting mutual accountability. When transactions close, ReferQuest collects the commission the client had posted, disbursing it to the person who provided the successful referral, and taking its own commission.
Using ReferQuest as a client:
ReferQuest allows you to post notices regarding what you’re looking for, and how much you’re willing to pay when someone (a “connector”) helps you find it. The referral fee you post will attract connectors to assist you as you seek or sell a service or item.
ReferQuest doesn’t take any payment upfront; when you’re satisfied that you’ve found what you’re looking for, the site trusts you to pay the referral fee you set. You can indicate that the transaction is closed by clicking on the status update button that appears next to the record of your posting in your Dashboard.
Paying the referral fee when you’ve finished a transaction will help you gain and maintain your standing as a highly-starred requester. A high rating will help ensure that highly-starred participants will want to work with you. It’s up to you to decide how much you’ll pay as a reward to find what you’re looking for.
ReferQuest does not charge fees to post. It does charge by taking a 20% commission of the commission you post. For example, if you post a $20 reward, ReferQuest will take $4, leaving $16 for the connector. If you want the net fee you offer a referrer to be $20, you would commit to pay $24.
Working with ReferQuest as a connector:
Anyone can make referrals on ReferQuest. Connectors (people who make referrals) don’t have to be professionals. If you see a posting and know someone who could fulfill the request, you can send them a message through the ReferQuest system. Your friend will then have a chance to contact the requester via ReferQuest. If the requester chooses your friend, they will be expected to report the transaction as closed, at which point they will be prompted to pay you the reward they promised.
All members of ReferQuest are on the honor system, and honest participation helps members gain, and maintain, higher star ratings. When the requester closes the transaction (that you helped to set up), you are due the referral reward that they offered . It’s easy for the requester to pay the reward through the site. If you’re the connector and want to make sure you get paid, or if you were referred, and want to make sure the friend who connected you got paid, then you can send a note to the requester through the site, prompting them to pay. Keep in mind that ultimately, however, ReferQuest can’t force the requester to pay… so, when choosing among requesters whose requests you can serve, check to see that they have a good rating.
Getting paid as a connector:
Payments on ReferQuest are made through PayPal.
To learn more about ReferQuest, visit their website @ www.ReferQuest.com.
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#11
Store your files in your own “cloud”
As per the Justin James’s review on Tech Republic’s website, with a huge feature set and a number of different ways to access files, FilesAnywhere has something for everyone that needs offsite file storage.
FilesAnywhere combines online file backup and online file storage into one convenient package. With a huge feature set and a number of different ways to access the files, FilesAnywhere has something for everyone that has a need for offsite file storage.
Who’s it for?
Highly mobile users who are frequently using computers that are not theirs will appreciate being able to access their files from a single location and not worry about synchronization issues.
People who are looking to backup documents (but not entire file systems) will also appreciate FilesAnywhere, especially since they will not need to worry about hardware. In addition, anyone who is looking for a way of storing important documents offsite will want to take a look at FilesAnywhere.
What problems does it solve?
Most users do not backup their local systems. FilesAnywhere makes it easy to perform backups (both scheduled and real-time synchronization) to a location that is not dependent upon a particular piece of hardware. In addition, with FilesAnywhere, you do not need to worry about whether or not you remembered to put the right files on a Flash drive, since you can download them from just about any client imaginable.
Set up a free account today.
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#13
Type now, post later
From one single interface, you can schedule future-dated posts on all your blogs, as well as your microblogging accounts.
If you run more than one blog, you know what a chore it is to log on to each one and schedule your posts. With Hoot Suite, you can schedule entries to be posted on Twitter and any microblogging site that is based on the Laconi.ca software, such as Identi.ca.
With our support of Ping.fm, you can schedule entries for all the microblogging and status update services that they support.
Recurring scheduling is optional, but it’s extremely easy with Post Later. You select the start date, how frequently the entry should be posted, the number of times that the entry posting should recur, and Post Later does the rest for you while you spend your time on more important things.
To learn more about this wonderful service, go to the following site:
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#13
All-in-One Messaging
Being true to being a baker’s dozen — 13 instead of 12, I just had to share this tool with you all.
Increase response rates, brand awareness, and return on investment using a single web-based software that integrates every popular messaging channel. For the same price others charge for just email or mobile marketing alone, you can upgrade to a service that integrates it ALL.
You see Mobile Keywords all over TV, radio, magazines, and Fortune 500 websites. People text your Keyword to 69302 to join your mobile list. You can then send direct response campaigns for promotions, coupons, sales alerts, and important news!
To start your 15-day free trial, visit the Trumpia website today to get started.
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Fellow Entrepreneur, I hope that you found this whitepaper helpful.
If you haven’t already please take a few moments to complete the questionnaire @ www.TyroneTurnerWantsToHelp.com.
When I have a better understanding of what it is that you’re looking to do, I may be able to put you in touch with people and resources to help you reach your goals and help you save time, energy, and money.
Please give me some feedback on this report. You know, things that you liked, you didn’t like, and things that you picked up along your journey. I am certainly open to new ways of doing things.
If you know someone else that may be interested in this information, please feel free to forward this report to them.
Thank you so much for your time, and may the universe shower its infinite abundance upon you.
The Baker’s Dozen (2 of 3)
It has been a while but I’m back. Here is the second installment of the 3 part series.
Let’s get right to it…
#6
Send Video Email
mailVU provides the ability to record a video email at any time, and send it to recipients where they can open it at any time. There is no need for the sender and the recipient to be online at the same time.
mailVU video mail is private. Video emails are sent directly to recipients, with the sender having read notification and self-destruct options.
The sender can decide at any point in time to immediately delete the video email, even if they didn’t put a self-destruct setting on the original message.
It’s easy to get started. There’s no download, so all you need to get started is an internet connection and a webcam. mailVU works with a Mac or a PC and in any browser. Video is even viewable on smart phones!
How cool is that!
Go to their website to set up your free account today. However, you don’t even have to set up an account to use this service.
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#7
Video Chatting
Paltalk gives you the best multi-person video chat experience on the web! With voice, video and text chat, Paltalk can make sure you are seen and heard. You can conference with up to 9 other people – yes, 10 people on a video conference.
Just go on ahead to their site and download the free software and get started today.
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#8
Broadcast your announcements
to 25 people simultaneously
Trust me when I tell you that this is a service that you absolutely must have. It is free and it will certainly help you get the word out about what you’re doing. The service is called PhoneVite.
When should you use this service?
ORGANIZATIONS
* Send Important School Updates * Send Absence notifications * Remind colleagues of Conference Calls or Sales Meetings* Announce Company News * Broadcast Emergency Alerts * Provide Appointment Reminders * Confirm Orders and Product Delivery Statuses * Recruit Volunteers / Substitutes
EVENTS
* Send Phone Reminders of Events * Broadcast Weather-Related Cancellations * Inform New Venue or Time Changes * Provide Last-Minute Directions * Recruit Substitute Fill-ins
* Replace Calling Trees * Obtain Quick RSVP Counts * Find out Who Can Bring What * Make Quick, Instant Thank You Calls * Call for Lost & Found Notifications * Announce
Event Follow-ups
PERSONAL
* Provide Hospital / Health Updates* ‘New Baby’ Announcements * Update Family while on Overseas Duty * Plan Parties and Family Get-Togethers * Send Prayer Requests * Provide Encouraging Words * Recommend New Product / Service to friends * Broadcast Urgent Notifications * Tell people New Contact Details
This is a great service that you can leverage to get the word out to your contacts be they business or personal.
So click on the link below to set up your free account today:
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#9
Automate your Email Follow-up
Autoresponders can make your life a lot easier, folks.
The following information is an excerpt taken from www.AllAboutAutoresponders.info:
*** Excerpt Begins ***
Building An Opt-in Mail List
Just as a brick-and-mortar business loves to build a happy clientele that keeps coming back to buy again and again, so online business want to build relationships with visitors as well as customers so they will keep coming back. Physical stores may ask their customers to provide their name for a store mailing list which alerts them to special sales, etc. The online mailing list is even more important than the physical counterpart, because there isn’t an online equivalent to driving down the street and noticing a “Sale” sign in the window of your favorite store. For an online business to compete and survive, it is virtually necessary for the owner to build an email list of people who have willingly given their names, with the expectation that they will be advised about things they are interested in. Building this list can be done several ways, but an autoresponder or email list program with autoresponder functions is usually the tool of choice. You need to be careful, of course, in selecting the autoresponder for this purpose. Some are much better suited to do it than others.
Following Up With Visitors
So you have an opt-in email list started. What do you do with it? A list of names isn’t much good unless you follow up with them about your product offerings. Obviously the basic autoresponder function of responding to e-mail messages isn’t of much value here. You need a function that can send follow-up messages to addresses you already have. And that is one of the additional functions of a good autoresponder or an e-mail list program. It is often called the ‘broadcast’ function for obvious reasons – a message is broadcast to all the addresses in the list at once. Again, not all autoresponders allow this function, and some do it better than others.
Multi-part Courses
Offering multi-part courses is one of several methods to attract visitors to your site. The course establishes you as an expert in some field – even if you aren’t! Any good information source can be broken down into several parts and placed in autoresponder follow-up messages, to be sent at whatever interval you choose. This approach is often used as a sales tool. When the student gains confidence in you through the information you have provided, you can then present your product (hopefully related to the course material) and hopefully gain a sale. You can advertise your free course anywhere on the Internet. Included in your instant or follow-up message would be an invitation to join your opt-in list. Do you get the idea of the power of offering a free course?
Basic Sales
Studies have shown that you need to present your product before a potential customer several times to increase the likelihood of making a sale. To do that, you want to give the potential customer a good reason to send his/her e-mail address. Since he/she may not have enough interest simply to ask for more information about your product, you will want to offer some incentive, like a free gift or service. Whatever the method, you want to get the potential customer into your autoresponder message sequence, then, in those messages, send your customer to your web site to make the sale.
Customer Support
This is a large topic. If you are selling information products, you may want to use autoresponders as the product delivery method. You can provide after-sale support information such as FAQs (frequently asked questions), thank-you messages, request for testimonials, etc. There is really no limit, other than your imagination, to the uses that autoresponders can provide in supporting your customer.
*** Excerpt Ends ***
There are some pretty darn good autoresponder services out there, but personally, I like GetResponse. Check out their site:
www.GetResponse.com
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Okay, see you guys with tips 10 through 13 very soon.
The Baker’s Dozen (1 of 3)
The Baker’s Dozen to Making More Dough
13 Tools That Will Help You Increase Sales and Make More Money and How Sweet That Is!
By Tyrone Turner
Copyright 2011. All Rights Reserved.
This is part 1 of 3
Let’s get right into it. I’m going to give you some ideas of some tools you can use to grow your business in any economic climate.
#1
Send a Handwritten Note/Greeting Card
In today’s world, everyone is busy and time is a most cherished commodity. Because we’re all so busy these days, it is sometimes a little difficult to reach out to people and let them know that we appreciate them.
One thing that works very well is sending people a handwritten greeting card in the mail (i.e., US Postal Service). We are in the electronic age and a handwritten greeting card can really get you noticed. World-renowned experts in sales, marketing, and networking like Ivan
Misner, Bob Burg, Harvey Mackay, Tom Hopkins, Danielle Kennedy, and the world record holder for being The Guinness Book of World Records Top Salesman in the world, Joe Girard, all agree the handwritten note is a powerful tool to have in your arsenal.
Let’s talk about Joe Girard for a minute.
This man sold more cars by himself than most dealerships with all of their sales people combined sold. He did this for twelve years in a row (yes, 12).
His secret weapon was that he sent all of his customers and other contacts handwritten greeting cards every month.
They weren’t sales pitches. He just wanted to say “Hi”.
Now sending out handwritten greeting cards to all of your contacts every month may be a little daunting, as it would normally take a lot of time, energy, and money to make it happen.
However, there is now a way that it can be done while saving you a ton of time, energy, and money.
Here is how it works…
You create your card online…This system prints out the physical card that you can create in your own handwriting without even touching the card…They then stuff the card in an envelope, put a stamp on it, then mail it to the intended recipients for about $1 per card.
Hey, if sending cards to contacts helped Joe Girard become The Guinness Book of World Records Top Salesman in the World for twelve consecutive years, perhaps such a strategy can help us grow our businesses as well.
To learn more about this service and to get a free trial, go to the site below:
www.TyTheCardGuy.biz
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#2
Add quick, personal video blurbs to your website
Using the Bubble Comment platform is a great, cost effective way, for you to easily communicate with all of your online visitors.
Why use Bubble Comment?
• Increase conversions and sales — Research shows that adding a virtual sales assistant, like a Bubble Comment assistant, can significantly increase your conversions and sales.
• Ensure your message is both seen and heard.
• Using Bubble Comment enables you to deliver your messaging in a personal manner, which reinforces your key messaging and helps establish trust.
• Engage visitors and direct them to take action.
• Bubble Comment’s ability to easily get a personalized spokesperson on your site can turn passive site visitors into active participants.
• Increase the time that visitors spend on your site – Bubble Comment’s ability to capture attention and generate interest can increase the time that visitors spend on your website.
• Increase your website traffic — Bubble Comment enables you to create a lasting impression that will drive traffic and help increase the likelihood of return visits.
To see a sample of how this works, go to this site:
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#3
Take the online conversations offline
We human beings need to interact with other human beings.
No person is an island, right?
I like Meetup.com’s (“Meetup”) slogan: “Isn’t it time to take the conversation offline?”
Meetup is one of the barrels of my double-barrel approach to networking. I’ll discuss the other one in the next section of this special report.
Meetup is the world’s largest network of local groups. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.
Meetup’s mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world,
by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.
Find a Meetup group that will help you grow your network – for business and personal interests – by going to their website. Below is the address:
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#4
Ever did speed networking over the phone?
Whoa! This is hot!
You can have real conversations, make more connections, and grow your business without having to leave your home or office!
As you know, your business success has a lot to do with how effectively you network. New referrals, ideas, and opportunities all come from the people you know. But to increase the power of your network it needs to constantly be growing.
Unfortunately, traditional approaches to networking can waste time and money without delivering results to your business or new contacts to your network.
Has this ever happened to you at an In-person Networking Event?
Have you ever gone to a networking event where you made no new connections, or you couldn’t break into a conversation with someone you really wanted to meet, or you couldn’t
break away from a conversation that went on and on and on?
Even worse, have you ever paid an annual membership fee so you could then pay for gas and parking, or driving to an event where you then paid to enter and met nobody new?
But what about Online “Social Networking” sites?
With the explosion of social networking sites over the last few years, we found it a bit ironic that none of these sites are really “Social” (i.e., instead of interacting – you type something, hours later I type a response, you respond, etc., etc., etc…)…nor were these sites really helping us meet new people in any meaningful way to build our network.
Sure we were making hundreds of new contacts on these sites – but how many of these “connections” did we ever actually talk to?
After having more than 100+ conversations myself, I’ve already gotten a feel for how powerful speed networking over the phone can be, and can recommend it to other business
owners and sales people without hesitation.
Imagine what it would be like to meet 1,240, 12,400, or more new contacts. What new opportunities would that lead to? How would that impact your business?
Make sure to click on the link below and take the interactive demo NOW.
www.SpeedNetworkingOverThePhone.com
I’ll give you ides 5 to 9 in the next edition.
Talk to you soon.
What are people saying about YOU on the Internet?
Reputation.com allows you to take control of your online reputation in 4 simple steps:
- Protect your personal info — They find and remove your personal data from sites that sell it.
- Define your image — They help you promote a truthful online image that you control.
- Defend your reputation — They defend you against attacks, rumors and distortions online.
- Monitor your image — They provide ongoing, deep Internet monitoring.
I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Sam Weller on Thursday, March 3rd, 2011.
Mr. Weller manages business development and strategic relationships for Reputation.com, working with corporate, business, and government partners to develop online reputation management solutions for high-profile individuals and brands. Prior to joining Reputation.com, Sam was a Vice President at Tremont Capital Markets specializing in interest rate and currency risk management. Sam is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) and holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
Sam says, the best thing to do to protect your online conversation is to own the conversation. What he explained is that if you regularly reach out to your customers via digital newsletters, tweets and such, they will know who you really are and dismiss the haters out there.
He also gave us a free tip – you can monitor your online reputation for free by setting up a Google Alert. That way you can know what’s being said and you can then take control of the conversation.
Check out the recording of the podcast by clicking on the link below:
Remember, protect your reputation at all times and take control of conversations about you.
Regards,
