Building Brand Awareness: 7 Ways To Educate Customers In The Classroom & Simultaneously Build Brand
The business world has long recognized the value of creating a recognizable and clearly defined brand. From top business executives to entrepreneurs striving everyday in their communities, and from traditional corporations to the Internet, building brand awareness is the most significant marketing practice today. I it always will be as consumers continue to seek out their favorite brands.Your customers are navigating a bewildering range of channels and feverishly marketed products before making a purchase decision. We are so bombarded by product brands that we are barely conscious of them much of the time.In order to compete in today’s cluttered marketing environment, businesses need access to America’s future customers. They need to start building brand awareness in the classroom before buying and brand loyalty

Retaining Wall: How To Keep Your Best
Now that the economy and job market have rebounded, how can you retain your best people?That’s the challenge, according to many recent studies. At the very least, retention requires a competitive salary and great benefits. Employee involvement, recognition, advancement, development and pay, based on performance, are just the beginning of your quest to retain your best.As The Market Improves, Many Are Ready To Jump ShipTwo years of steady, if not spectacular job growth in direct marketing—and business in general—has emboldened more people to look around. Retention is the top priority at growing direct marketing organizations that are facing stiff competition for certain talent. I’m speaking specifically of seasoned merchandise, finance, IT, marketing, and general management professionals.A

Personal Chef Services
In today’s constantly on the go society, people want to eat healthy. They don’t want to go out, have take out or stop at a local grocery store, however. A personal chef can help these busy people answer the “what’s for dinner?” question.Personal chefs plan and prepare a set number of meals for a number of clients based on their likes and needs. Some personal chefs prepare food in the client's home while others cook in their own kitchens and bring the food to their clients. The meals can then be refrigerated or frozen to be used later whenever the client wants.Private chef services on the other hand prepare meals on a daily basis for an individual family. The number of personal chef services in America has grown in recent years. The personal chef industry has seen significant growth since its inception in 1988. first impressions, the best description of “social gifts” was written in a book called First Impressions by Dr. Ann Demaris and Dr. Valerie White. I’d like to look at their theory of the four types of social gifts, but take it a step further with some specific examples you can use tomorrow to make flawless first impressions.

Social Gift #1: Show Appreciation and Respect
Every person has some handle by which he can be lifted. As such, the two most effective ways to grab hold are with compliments and thank you’s. Since we’ve already covered the former, let’s talk about thank you’s. Whenever you want to show your gratitude for something or someone, always tell people what you’re thanking them for. Remember, it’s the part of the blanket that hangs over the bed that keeps us warm. You will be amazed at how effective a specific thank you is:

“Thanks for your honesty; it means a lot to me.”

“Thanks for the interesting conversation, Randy. I really learned a lot.”

“Thanks for bringing me that bottle of water. I thought I was going to choke on that piece of broccoli.”

Social Gift #2: Discover How You’re Alike
Anyone who grew up in the city of St. Louis will tell you St. Louisans are obsessed with one question when they meet someone for the first time:

“Where did you go to high school?”

I don’t know why we’re obsessed with this question. But the answer always discovers the CPI (Common Point of Interest) – whether it’s a person you both know, an old football game or just a memorable teen moment. It’s amazing how easy it is to give a social gift to someone simply by asking this question (And if you’re reading this book and you grew up in St. Louis, my answer to “The Question” is Parkway North).

But that’s a St. Louis thing. Still, the list of open ended questions you can use to find out how you and your conversation partner are alike is endless!

Social Gift #3: Satisfy Curiosity
On a daily basis, anywhere from four to six people ask me, “Scott, I just have to ask – why are you wearing a nametag?”

You may be wondering if, after more than four years, this question ever gets old.

Not at all.

I’ve always enjoyed answering this question not only because it allow

er, let’s talk about thank you’s. Whenever you want to show your gratitude for something or someone, always tell people what you’re thanking them for. Remember, it’s the part of the blanket that hangs over the bed that keeps us warm. You will be amazed at how effective a specific thank you is:

“Thanks for your honesty; it means a lot to me.”

“Thanks for the interesting conversation, Randy. I really learned a lot.”

“Thanks for bringing me that bottle of water. I thought I was going to choke on that piece of broccoli.”

Social Gift #2: Discover How You’re Alike
Anyone who grew up in the city of St. Louis will tell you St. Louisans are obsessed with one question when they meet someone for the first time:

“Where did you go to high school?”

I don’t know why we’re obsessed with this question. But the answer always discovers the CPI (Common Point of Interest) – whether it’s a person you both know, an old football game or just a memorable teen moment. It’s amazing how easy it is to give a social gift to someone simply by asking this question (And if you’re reading this book and you grew up in St. Louis, my answer to “The Question” is Parkway North).

But that’s a St. Louis thing. Still, the list of open ended questions you can use to find out how you and your conversation partner are alike is endless!

Social Gift #3: Satisfy Curiosity
On a daily basis, anywhere from four to six people ask me, “Scott, I just have to ask – why are you wearing a nametag?”

You may be wondering if, after more than four years, this question ever gets old.

Not at all.

I’ve always enjoyed answering this question not only because it allow

cover How You’re Alike
Anyone who grew up in the city of St. Louis will tell you St. Louisans are obsessed with one question when they meet someone for the first time:

“Where did you go to high school?”

I don’t know why we’re obsessed with this question. But the answer always discovers the CPI (Common Point of Interest) – whether it’s a person you both know, an old football game or just a memorable teen moment. It’s amazing how easy it is to give a social gift to someone simply by asking this question (And if you’re reading this book and you grew up in St. Louis, my answer to “The Question” is Parkway North).

But that’s a St. Louis thing. Still, the list of open ended questions you can use to find out how you and your conversation partner are alike is endless!

Social Gift #3: Satisfy Curiosity
On a daily basis, anywhere from four to six people ask me, “Scott, I just have to ask – why are you wearing a nametag?”

You may be wondering if, after more than four years, this question ever gets old.

Not at all.

I’ve always enjoyed answering this question not only because it allow

p in St. Louis, my answer to “The Question” is Parkway North).

But that’s a St. Louis thing. Still, the list of open ended questions you can use to find out how you and your conversation partner are alike is endless!

Social Gift #3: Satisfy Curiosity
On a daily basis, anywhere from four to six people ask me, “Scott, I just have to ask – why are you wearing a nametag?”

You may be wondering if, after more than four years, this question ever gets old.

Not at all.

I’ve always enjoyed answering this question not only because it allows me to talk about my passion, my business and the validation for my existence, but also because it empowers me to give a social gift as a result of being approachable. After all, seeing a nametag worn by a person who’s NOT in a meeting or at work is awfully strange. And people just have to ask. People just have to satisfy their curiosity!

But there are many other ways to give social gifts for the sake of someone else’s curiosity. My favorite is through trivia. You know those useless trivia facts found on daily calendars, candy wrappers and emails? They’re not so useless after all.

In the summer of 2004 I read a sidebar in USA Today that said the following:

“Every year on the Fourth of July, Americans consume 150 million hotdogs. If you lined up that amount of hotdogs from end to end, they would stretch from the moon AND BACK seven times.”

When I read this I was amazed. Maybe I was nauseous – I don’t recall. Either way, I learned a piece of trivia that was both relevant AND interesting. So for the next few weeks before, during, and after the Fourth of July, I made it a point to use it at the beginning of every conversation I had.

And as it turned out; people were more interested in wieners than I thought.

We started discussions about holidays, hotdogs, fireworks, baseball games – you name it! And it was all because of a simple piece of trivia.

Another great benefit of trivia is it will positively affect someone’s demeanor. Offer some trivia to someone and watch as she raises her eyebrows, nods her head, smiles, alters her body language and leans forward. Trivia expedites the entire communication process! And it’s all because your not-so-useless social gift will make people comfortable and more willing to communicate. Satisfying curiosity will almost always produce this result.

Social Gift #4: Uplift Them
Do you know someone who is contagious? (Not the flu.) Perhaps their smile, laughter, positive nature or love just spreads to everyone in their presence? Think about Henry the Bellman, Cherise the Waitress and Jeffrey the Salesman from Chapter 3 – all contagious people.

GOOD NEWS: You can be contagious too!

Here’s how: use fun, laughter, jokes and interesting stories in your daily r