PRODUCER SUCCESS LESSON 3:

Nothing happens until somebody sells something. To make sales happen, IMMS.com Key Sales Consultant Randy Schwantz has created a comprehensive series of 43 Producer Success Lessons. Used singly or in combination, these powerful tools can help your producers build their skills - and grow their sales.

In the 19th century, businesses had three communication options: The Pony Express, Western Union, and (rarely) the telephone. With the Pony Express, at best you had to wait days or weeks for a response — a lot like a producer trying to cold-call senior executives today.

With Western Union, telegrams had to convey their message in a limited number of words. Today a marketing letter might get through, but the executive has little time to read it and it doesn’t display your verbal communication skills.

PROJECT-DRIVEN BENCHMARKING by Al Diamond Objectives define the annual goals of a company, but over the course of a year the process can become routine and t...

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND SELLING: HOW TO BE A MODEST SELF-PROMOTER by Rob Keane 'Articles, not advertisements.' This is the first rule I learned in journalism school. Eight years later, I made t...

On my desk is a calendar from a wire service that distributes press releases and articles to media outlets...

It's popular to hate the press these days. Between visions of Princess Diana's mangled black sedan and MSNBC's apparent broadcasting credo of 'all Monica, all the time,' it's easy to see why. Many who don't go so far as to hate the press still distrust it, thinking that a broadcaster's emotional ties begin and end with the Nielsen ratings. Again, given today's programming, this isn't difficult to understand.

PULLING NEW CLIENTS TO THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FIRM by John Graham It's taken long enough, but the professional services field has discovered marketing or, perhaps more ...

Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersma's book, The Discipline of Market Leaders, presents a compelling explanation of why some companies continually outperform their competitors. Their thesis rests on this premise: If a company is going to achieve and sustain dominance, it must first decide where it will stake its claim in the marketplace and what kind of value it offers customers.

QUICK RENEWAL CHECKLIST The FAX Of Life According To Your Insurance Agent To: From: Date: 'I'm Mad As Hell And I'm Not Gonna Take It Anymore!' That line from the popular mov...

RECRUIT THE RIGHT PRODUCERS At seminars and conventions, business spokespersons stress the need for high-caliber personnel and lament the difficulty of finding them. It could be said that recruiting ...