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... all types and sizes have benefited from these "best practices" for hiring: ALTERNATIVE HIRING PROCEDURES With today's low unemployment rate, newspaper ads generally don't attract the best applicants. Consider alternative recruiting sources, such as trade and vocational schools, community colleges, and local universities for recent graduates who are highly motivated and willing to learn. Also look into these options: Employees with excellent performance records often have friends and relatives with similar traits. Laid-off workers are often experienced, hard working, and grateful for a new opportunity. A ... help protect your business against the "growth industry" of employment-related litigation. Today, every business faces not only the traditional challenges of competition and rapidly changing technology, but a relatively new category of potential adversary — workers hitting them with employment-related claims. Not-for-profit corporations, public entities, and private businesses alike are experiencing an explosion of litigation alleging: Discrimination Sexual Harassment Wrongful discharge Wage and hour disputes Negligent hiring, retention, and supervision Failure to provide benefits Violations of federal and state leave-of-absence laws Whether companies win or lose such suits, ... divert time, money, and energy from growing sales and earnings. In one Southern California lawsuit, an openly gay grocery store night manager claimed he was wrongfully terminated because of upper management's discriminatory anti-gay practices. The store denied the allegations and said the manager was fired because he violated the store's zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment. He was suspended after a stock clerk accused him of trying to fondle him; other employees provided signed statements accusing the manager of conduct ranging from mild sexual innuendo to fondling and propositioning employees. Even if the ...

...e. It was a public relations event that took years of preparation and millions of dollars. The Harl...urns attention away from the tasks at hand. As the time ...

... , what they do, and the payroll. If you write both lines, however, your competitor can work only with whatever the client gives them. You may think that working on Health insurance today is a total waste of time because of the prospect of a universal health plan. But it's very doubtful that the Clinton Administration's health plan will pass in its current form. The private sector is likely to remain heavily involved. If you accept that, it makes sense to get in on the ground floor of the solution to ... 6. Send topical information to the client. Insurance companies are always publishing newsletters, handbooks, pamphlets about legislation, risk management, and safety, and other informational materials. The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) alone impelled carriers to put out a flood of publications. Most of these are free. Order a supply from a carrier and distribute them to your clients in person or by mail. At the same time, discuss any exposures they might have or schedule an engineering audit by the carrier, to save the client ... anxious moments regarding compliance. Who knows, you might even write some new coverage as a result of the visit! 7. Let clients know about new developments that may affect their operations. Many current events affect the insurance industry. To name just one, the prospect of universal government health care has a huge impact on the financial well-being of a business. Insurance trade papers and magazines, carrier communications, and various journals are writing about it. Send copies of some of this material to your clients. You might even consider ...

... each installment of this compendium appears in print, I hear comments such as, I never knew I had such a big menu of letter openings to choose from. Careful now-not because that statement ends with a preposition, a position I endorse, but because these openings aren't universally interchangeable. The purpose of listing 100 ways to begin an effective sales letter isn't to enable the writer to pick blindly, like pinning a tail on a donkey; it's to enable you to choose the one opening that best fits what you're writing and to whom ... have to tell you this. This one is a favorite of fund raisers, and you can see why: The touch of martyrdom reaches out to the best prospects. This opening is underused by commercial mailers, many of whom feel they're taking off their pants in public. In that objection is the nucleus of why #54 can work when no other opening can grab and shake your target. If you seem to be firing blanks, that's the time to strip for action. A fund-raising letter is an archetype of It's late ... superior, then this is the preferred opening: If God walks among mankind, He's less Godlike - which would be the impression #17 or #18 would transmit in this circumstance. A subscription letter begins: Each year we invite selected candidates to join the largest private non-profit scientific and educational organization in the world. Your name has been selected as a candidate for membership in the National Geographic Society. Notice that word candidate. It's in key with the posture the writer takes. Let's hoist a few danger signals. As each installment ...

...they're taking off their pants in public. In that objection is the nucleus of ...e writer... who came up with a dynamic and readable opening. Not only is the...