I rarely pass along requests like this, but because I respect both Paul and Bob, I’m making an exception…

Start passalong message:

This is a cut-and-paste email I just got from Bob Serling, with a request to pass it along. I do not usually do this, but you’ll see why I’ve made an exception for this one…

—- Begin request —-

Subject: Donate to Haiti relief – and get this free gift

Hi,

I don’t have to tell you that the earthquake in Haiti is
one of the worst disasters we’ve ever seen.

CNN reports that more than 100,000 people are
reported dead, there are bodies littering the streets,
and countless people are trapped in the rubble
in urgent need of being rescued. The situation is dire.
The people of Haiti need our help and they need
it NOW.

So here’s what I’d like to do to help. First, I’m
making a sizable donation myself to one of the
relief funds listed below.

Second, I’d like to ask you to make a donation too,
of any amount. When you do, my friend and marketing
expert, Bob Serling, will give you a free copy of one of
his most popular and valuable reports ever, “The
Marketing Repair Manual”.

I am NOT collecting your name or email address
and will not benefit monetarily from this in any
way. My only objective is to get as many people
as possible to help in the relief effort.

Here’s how this works…

====================================
Step 1: Make your donation to any of these charities
====================================

The following charities have been recommended as
exceptional sources of helping in the relief effort.
Please click one of these links and make a donation
of any amount. And remember, every dollar helps,
regardless of how small or how large your contribution
is.

Here are the links to connect directly to these charities
and make your donation:

Care
https://my.care.org/site/Donation2?5…rm1&df_id=5000

Habitat for Humanity
https://www.habitat.org/cd/giving/do…spx?link=1&r=r

World Concern
Major Earthquake Rocks Haiti – World Concern

AmeriCares
https://secure.americares.org/site/D…&linkid=topnav

IMPORTANT: If clicking any of these links doe not
work, please cut and paste them into your browser
and they will open up.

====================================
Step 2: Download your free copy of “The Marketing
Repair Manual”
====================================

When Bob first sold this manual for $97, he received the
following unsolicited testimonial, which essentially says
it all:

So, as you can see, it’s my feeling that this report
will become one of the most valuable pieces in
your marketing library. And it’s yours free if you’ll
make a contribution of any amount to help out
in this relief effort.

Once you’ve made your donation, just click the
following link to download your free copy. The
only information you’ll be asked to enter is the
amount you donated so we can track how much
we’ve raised for the relief effort.

Power8 Marketing

You will NOT be asked for your name or email
address and you will not be sold anything or
contacted ever based on this. Our only intention
is to help relieve the suffering as much as we
can.

Thanks for your help!

—- End request —-

Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might help. Pass it along to your lists, Tweet the link to this post. Whatever.

Note that the donations are going directly to the charities that are doing the work… No middlemen.

Paul

Popularity: 35% [?]

I’m not much on email chains, and I seldom forward them as requested. I didn’t forward this one, either. Since I don’t forward emails much, I don’t have much of a list to forward to…

So I’m posting it here instead. Feel free to spread the message any way you like – email it, tweet it to your friends, whatever.

—– Original Message —–
From: [Removed]
To: [Removed]
Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 10:57 AM
Subject: Fw: Bagged lunch

I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat.

It was going to be a long flight.

‘I’m glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,’ I thought.

Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me.

I decided to start a conversation.

‘Where are you headed?’ I asked the soldier seated nearest to me.

‘Petawawa’.

We’ll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we’re being deployed to Afghanistan.

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that bagged lunches were available for five dollars.

It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time.

As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch.

‘No, that seems like a lot of money for just a bagged lunch. Probably wouldn’t be worth five bucks. I’ll wait till we get to the base’

His friend agreed.

I looked around at the other soldiers.

None were buying lunch.

I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill.

‘Take a lunch to all those soldiers.’

She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly.

Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me.

‘My son was a soldier in Iraq; it’s almost like you are doing it for him.’

Picking up ten bags, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated.

She stopped at my seat and asked,

‘Which do you like  best – beef or chicken?’

‘Chicken,’ I replied, wondering why she asked.

She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class.

‘This is your thanks.’

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room.

A man stopped me.  ‘I saw what you did.  I want to be part of it.  Here, take this.’

He handed me twenty-five  dollars.

Soon after I returned to my  seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane.

When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand, and said, ‘I want to shake your hand.’

Quickly unfastening my seat belt I stood and took the Captain’s hand.

With a booming voice he said, ‘I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.’

I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs.   A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine.

He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.

When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane.  Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word.

Another twenty-five dollars!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them the seventy-five dollars.

‘It will take you some time to reach the base.  It will be about time for a sandwich.  God Bless You.’

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers.

As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return.

These soldiers were giving their all for our country.

I could only give them a couple of meals.

It seemed so little…

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to the US of A for an amount of ‘up to and including their life.’

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.

May God give you the strength and courage to pass this along to everyone on your email buddy list….

I JUST DID

A nice little reminder of the people who give up so much for OUR freedom….

“WHEN LIFE GETS TOO HARD TO STAND, TRY KNEELING”

Popularity: 46% [?]

When is a gift NOT a gift?

When there are strings attached.

Over the years, my wife has enrolled me in several business’ “birthday clubs”, to get free offers linked to one’s birthday.

I’ve noticed two distinct flavors of these offers, and that I react to them quite differently.

Pure Gifts

The first kind of offer is a pure gift. Print the offer, visit the business, and get something for free. These offers range from free appetizers or desserts to free entrees. One was a gift card that covered the entrees for two.

The thinking behind these offers is to bring you into the business to celebrate a special occasion. Nobody goes out for a birthday dinner alone, right? So even if the gift covers one or two entrees, the business still makes money on drinks, appetizers, dessert and sometimes multiple extra people.

I’ve noticed that even on the occasions we’ve redeemed the free offer only, it’s usually honored graciously.

We tend to go back to those places more often. The gift has accomplished it mission. we feel good about returning to the restaurant and about recommending them to others.

Disguised Coupons

Most of the time the only difference between these offers and the coupons published in the newspaper are the addition of the words “happy birthday.” Almost universally, the offer is a free appetizer or dessert, with the purchase of one or more entrees. They often specify which section of the menu the entrees must come from. “Dine in only” is another frequent condition.

The thinking behind these offers is that the suckers, I mean customers, will be so greedy for the freebie that they’ll come in and buy whatever you tell them to rather than lose a couple of bucks worth of chips or cake.

I’ve noticed that when we do use those offers, the checks are smaller than they are when we don’t have the freebie. We order cheaper entrees, tend to skip the drinks, and forgo the course that isn’t free (either starter or dessert).

Usually the offer is honored without incident, but often must be approved by a manager who acts like the value of the ‘gift’ is coming straight out of his paycheck.

We seldom visit these places unless we have a coupon or freebie of some sort, and rarely refer others.

Over the long haul, I’m guessing that the folks that offer true gifts make out better.

Which would you rather have?

Customers who return, whether they have a freebie or not, and tell their friends? Or customers who have been trained to question motives, maximize value for dollar spent and only return when there’s a special offer, never referring their friends?

Of course, I could be wrong. It has happened a couple of times before…

Popularity: 100% [?]

I was cruising one of the forums I frequent this morning, and one of the members asked for some tips on speaking in public.

It seems he had a chance to do a 25 minute presentation to a local business group on his area of expertise.

Here are the tips I gave him…

1. Most people, when they first start speaking, talk way too fast. You should feel like you’re talking just a bit slower than normal. Of course, if you catch the spirit, let it move you.

2. Use the same hand gestures as you would when talking to someone one-on-one, but just a little bigger.

3. Practice in front of a video camera, then watch the recording. You’ll notice the points and words you stumble over, and you can either practice them or rewrite that bit to flow easier.

4. Do NOT try to memorize your talk word for word. If you get distracted (think loud cough or sneeze in the audience, catering people moving around, questions or comments from the audience, etc.) and lose your place, or forget your lines, you’re screwed.

5. Don’t be afraid to use memory aids. An index card with your outline is cool. No one will fault you for a quick glance to make sure you are on track. Even pros use cue cards.

6. Have fun with it. As the Toastmasters people say, you can’t get rid of the butterflies, but you can sure teach them to fly in formation…

Many local business owners could benefit from such an opportunity. It gives you a chance to strut your stuff, positioning yourself as the go-to guy (or gal) in your field. Other than the occasional evil dictator, no one has ever died from from giving a speech.

Keep in mind, though, this is Show and Tell, not Show and Sell. Use your time to provide real value to your audience, then at the end you can mention your business and offer to answer questions.

And I can tell you from experience, when you put it all together and the applause rolls, the rush is fantastic.

Popularity: 62% [?]

One of the basics of doing business is to make doing business with you as easy as possible. The more obstacles you put in front of a possible buyer, the more likely they are to simply give up and go somewhere else.

Here’s one good example of how to make things difficult…

My wife likes to print coupons she can take to the store, and one of the places she likes to get them is SmartSource.com.

On the surface, it looks easy. You set up an account, choose which coupons you want to print, and go. IF you use the bug-ridden and vulnerable Internet Explorer, it might work that way.

If you use Firefox, you get a page telling you you need a plugin. Okay, I can buy that.

Install the plug-in, click to start printing…

And you get a page telling you that you need a plug-in.

Jump through the hoops again. Same result. Finally notice a small text link with instructions.

What, the big graphics with clear instructions were NOT the real instructions?

Click the link…

I saw the same four steps as before…along with a FIFTH step not mentioned on the prior page.

Click that button, restart Firefox again. Now we’re back to the original table asking us to select which offers we want to take. Page through all seven pages of choices, and make the selections. Click to print the coupons and get…a page telling us we need a plug-in.

Close the browser. Take a few deep breaths. Open a new browser and start over. Make the selections. Click “Print” and…FINALLY, the promised land! “Printing coupon 1 of 8…2 of 8…” Printer noise! YES!

If my wife was less motivated to save us money at the store, or I was less stubborn about making that darn thing work, SmartSource would have lost us – forever. Imagine someone a little less than tech-savvy running into these obstacles. How many opportunities is SmartSource missing by not making things easy?

There are several points at which this whole mess could be avoided…

First, browser detection is pretty easy these days. All they had to do was read which browser my wife was using and redirect her to a page with complete Firefox-specific directions.

Second, they could have put the complete set of instructions on the original page – including the final step that was buried on the alternate instruction page.

Third, they could have made the link to browser-specific instructions more obvious. A small, six-word text link is lost on a page full of colorful graphics.

Fourth, they could have said that the browser needed to be closed and a new session started before the new plug-in could work. An apology for making us do our selections over would have been nice.

Here’s the big takeaway from this. If you sell anything online… If you collect contact information in return for a premium or gift… If you do anything interactive with web visitors who might not be real tech-savvy…

Make it as simple and obvious as you possibly can.

Remove the bottlenecks that keep people from completing their objective. Especially if that objective is giving you money.

Test your process by going through it yourself. Ask someone without a high level of tech skill to go through it. Look for the sticking points and smooth them out.

You want your whole order, sign-up or fulfillment process to be more like a waterslide at a fun park than the obstacle course in boot camp.

Popularity: 44% [?]

Phishing filters for email programs are getting better at detecting different schemes to steal your private information. At least one phisher is going old school to avoid the filters.

Instead of asking you to click a link, the phishing email simply asks you to reply to the email and fill in two blanks – your email username and password. It warns that if you fail to provide the requested information, your email account will “expire”.

1. As long as you pay your bills and follow the rules, no legitimate company is going to “expire” your email account.

2. If the message were legitimately from your email provider, they already have your username and password. You gave it to them when you set up the account.

3. If you think an email like this might be legit, type the URL for your email provider directly into your browser bar and log in manually. From there, contact support and ask if the warning is legitimate.

Here’s the text of the email I got this morning…

Subject: Your Email Account Will Expire!

The Helpdesk Program that periodically checks the size of your e-mail space is sending you this information. The program runs weekly to ensure your inbox does not grow too large, thus preventing you from receiving or sending new e-mail. As this message is being sent, you have 18 megabytes (MB) or more stored in your inbox. To help us reset your space in our database, please enter your current user name
(_________________) and password (_______________).

You will receive a periodic alert if your inbox size is between 18 and 20 MB. If your inbox size is 20 MB, a program on your Webmail will move your oldest e-mails to a folder in your home directory to ensure you can continue receiving incoming e-mail. You will be notified this has taken place.

If your inbox grows to 25 MB, you will be unable to receive new e-mail and it will be returned to sender. All this is programmed to ensure your e-mail continues to function well.

Thank you for your cooperation.
Help Desk

Remember, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t out to get you…

As the old TV show used to say, “Be careful out there.”

Popularity: 48% [?]

The Sun Herald newspaper recently took a stand I’d like to applaud…

If one reads the letters to the editor, a common theme starts to emerge each fall when the weather up North starts to cool down. Our seasonal residents, nicknamed “snowbirds”, start to arrive. These folks come down every year to spend part of their year with us as they seek to avoid the snow and cold back home.

One side effect of their migration is a marked increase in traffic on local roads.  Another side effect is increased crowding and wait times at local restaurants.

Local folks, used to the light traffic and slow pace of summer, take to writing letters to the editor complaining about the traffic, the crowding in the stores, and more.

In response, the editor of the Sun declared a moratorium on complaints like these. He wrote, quite accurately, that the seasonal residents and tourists bring an influx of cash each year. Cash which is sorely needed, given the current economy.

Rather than bashing these folks, we should be welcoming them (and their wallets) with open arms.

To the editor of the Sun: Well done!

Popularity: 54% [?]