Getting toll free 1 800 numbers can be beneficial to your business. It can make a great difference depending on what kind of business you own. If you own a restaurant, or a coffee shop, you will not need a 1 800 number because local customers can call you toll free anyway. Not many people would call you from another state or another country. But if you own a business that does international shipping, or provides communication services, a 1 800 number is definitely essential.
There are many different companies that offer toll free 1 800 numbers to businesses. They are usually priced by the number of minutes per month they afford. If you are only going to be using the phone for 100 minutes or less each month, you can pay as little as ten dollars monthly, but if you own a large business with lots of phone lines, you’ll have to likely pay more in the range of $100 a month. It all depends on what kind of service you need.
If you want to be available internationally, you have to pay more. Fortunately, international 1 800 numbers are rarely needed by most businesses. It just isn’t practical. Even if you are a large shipping company, you will only have to talk to people in large companies a moderate amount, and they will gladly pay the cost to call you internationally as part of the cost of doing business. It is in the end much better to let them foot the bill than paying the high and often extreme rates for international toll free numbers.
As a consumer, be wary of 1 800 numbers. I remember when I was growing up, they were all free - that was what “1 800″ meant. And most of them are still free. Many people are still not warned of this, sometimes people will get a number that starts with those numbers, but charge a high toll to call it. They may even tell you somewhere that there is a toll usually - at least they are supposed to, but even if they do, they will try to hide it, in small print at the end of a commercial or something like that so it is hard for you to notice.
Before you know it, you may be paying as high as $2 per minute when you thought you were actually calling for free. This tricky scheme is especially common overseas where the telecommunication regulations controlling the phones and the phone companies are not as tight as they are in the US.
Joshua Poyoh is the creator of http://www.business.resources-to.com where you can find out more information on Where To Find Franchise Information
Interview questions come in many forms and serve many different purposes. Some are used to get to know you, while others are used to gather information. Technical interview questions are used to test your logic, reasoning, and problem-solving skills. The key to answering these types of questions is to relax and to not over-think. They are most commonly in interviews that involve getting a job that will require you to come to draw logical conclusions on a daily basis. Computers and sciences areas will have these types of technical questions.
Typically, technical interview questions don’t have a right or wrong answer. The interviewer is interested in your logic skills and the thought process that you go through on the way. Your communication and analytical skills are what this part of the interview is all about. The best way to approach technical interview questions is to engage in a dialogue with your interviewer. There is no way to know what sort of question may come your way, but the best way to prepare is to practice doing riddles and brainteasers to keep your skills sharp. Know the field you are entering well, so that the technical questions are not difficult to answer. Make sure your logic skills are fine tunned and you will do well with the job interview. Management positions, for example, require quick but complete thought processes and good interpersonal skills.
Technical interview questions are usually logic questions, which include probability questions. It is helpful to have the ability to do basic mental math with decent multiplication, estimation, and division skills for some of these questions. This is because sometimes they will require that you give an estimation that is at least near the actual answer so that the interviewer can see that you are capable of reaching this type of answer. Common starter jobs, for example, working a cash register, will have technical interview questions that pertain to customer service and how to handle an unhappy customer. You should also be able to make change without using the cash register’s answer just in case there is a malfunction with the equipment.
About.com features a section with links to technical interview questions on the web as well as tips to answering them. Practical problem solving techniques are a necessary skill to possess in order to ace the interview to get a good job. The more you put into preparation, the better your chances of being hired.
Keith Londrie II is a well known author. For more information on a Pay Per Click Search engines, please visit PPC Info for a wealth of information. You may also want to visit keith’s own web site at http://keithlondrie.com/
There are several different types of interpreting. Simultaneous interpreting is the one which most people are familiar with if they have seen interpreters in use at large conferences such as those held by the United Nations.
One person speaks and many listen through headphones. Simultaneous interpreters sit in a sound-proof booth and interpret in real-time.
Simultaneous interpreting is highly skilled work requiring many years of experience and subject matter expertise. To be successful, events requiring simultaneous interpreters need careful planning and specialist equipment.
If I had to give a single tip for success it would be the importance of using experienced simultaneous interpreters. As simultaneous interpreting is a real-time skill, there are no second chances once the moment is lost. If you do not have the budget to engage simultaneous interpreters, I’d urge you to consider whether a Consecutive Interpreter (see later) would suffice rather than attempt to cut corners and have your event ruined.
Hiring Simultaneous Interpreters, things to be aware of:
Of the three different categories of interpreting (the other two being Consecutive Interpreting and Facilitating Interpreting), Simultaneous Interpreting is by far the most demanding.
A minimum of 2 interpreters are required for continuous service of more than a couple of hours. This comes as a shock to most people.
Why do we need 2 people? Surely the interpreting company is just trying to sell us extra interpreters? The truth is, simultaneous interpreting demands so much concentration that any individual can only hope to be effective for periods of 20 minutes or so. After that time they will need to hand off to a fellow interpreter and rest. Whilst resting they will continue to follow the proceedings and prepare for their next slot.
For an event lasting more than a couple of hours, 2 interpreters are required to allow adequate rest periods. Many interpreters will refuse assignments unless they have a deputy, ideally, someone they have worked with before.
Specialist equipment is required. Simultaneous interpreters require a sound proof booth within view of the speaker. A clear audio feed from the speaker to the interpreters’ headphones is required.
Each interpreter must be equipped with a microphone to relay the interpreted audio to the audience via headphones. I strongly recommend you hire in professionals to set up your venue. Attempting to cut costs by doing it yourself and getting it wrong can lead to disaster, unintelligible audio, a dissatisfied audience and embarrassed interpreters.
Background information.
Having adequate and timely background information ahead of a simultaneous interpreting assignment is vital. As the interpreting is being carried out in real-time, there is no scope for going back and correcting mistakes. If at all possible I suggest you:
1. Provide drafts of speeches and explain any specialist vocabulary.
2. Schedule some time with the interpreter ahead of the day to brief them on any company politics they should be aware of.
3. Provide a breakdown of how the day will be structured so that the interpreters can begin to plan their work. It is very likely that one of them has specialist knowledge which would be best used during a particular part of a presentation.
Whilst I may have made it sound frightening, organizing a successful event is really a matter of forward planning, your interpreting company should be more than happy to help you.
Consecutive Interpreting.
Consecutive interpreting is best thought of as “Listen before talk” interpreting. One person speaks and then pauses; one or many people listen whilst the consecutive interpreter repeats what has been said in the target language.
Unlike Simultaneous Interpreting, Consecutive Interpreting does not happen in real time. Consecutive Interpreting is the most popular type of interpreting as it does not require any specialist equipment or complex planning. It is also considerably cheaper than Simultaneous Interpreting.
Less demanding than Simultaneous Interpreting, the speaker delivers a few sentences and then pauses whilst your interpreter repeats what has just been said in the target language. The interpreter may interpret for the whole group or, as is becoming increasingly common, sit next to an individual and whisper what has just been said.
The main differences between Consecutive Interpreting and Simultaneous Interpreting are that specialist equipment is not required and the interpreting is not real-time.
Money saving tip: Consider conducting your meeting via teleconference or video conference as opposed to face to face. Consecutive Interpreting lends itself very well to these formats and can result in dramatic savings in cost and executive downtime as fewer interpreters are required, no specialist equipment is needed and travel time is zero.
Examples of where consecutive interpreters are used.
1. After dinner speech by head of foreign affiliate addressing English target audience. The interpreter will listen to the speech and repeat what has just been said in English.
2. Visit by foreign delegation to a factory in the UK. English Manager explains how machines work to a small group of foreign executives. The interpreter accompanies the group and interprets what has just been said.
3. Presentation by UK marketing department to international sales team.
Hiring a Consecutive Interpreter, things to be aware of:
A good way to approach this is to think of an interpreter as someone who has just joined your company to start a new job. There will undoubtedly be acronyms, technical terms and politics which will be unfamiliar to them. Briefing him or her on such issues before the assignment will lead to a far more satisfactory day for all involved.
Background information.
As with simultaneous interpreting, always try to provide some background information about the company and its products well ahead of the assignment. Provide drafts of speeches and explain any specialist vocabulary.
Phone interpreting.
Phone interpreting is simply Consecutive Interpreting over the phone instead of face to face. It is the ideal solution when geographically dispersed people need to talk but do not share a common language.
How does phone interpreting work?
Your interpreting company will issue you with a telephone number and personal identification number (PIN). At the prearranged time, all participants dial into this number and enter the PIN code to enter the teleconference. Once dialled in, all participants are able to hear each other. Your interpreter will also be on call and will interpret as directed by whoever you have nominated as the chairperson of the call.
Facilitating Interpreting.
Facilitating Interpreting covers a range of activities. Typically many people talk and many people listen alternately. Facilitating Interpreting is the term used to describe work which is less structured than Consecutive Interpreting or Simultaneous Interpreting assignments.
Sometimes you just need someone bilingual on hand who can help out with ad-hoc requirements during an event. Facilitating Interpreters are often hired to attend international corporate hospitality events and team building sessions. They are a great help in making your clients and staff feel comfortable and can help avoid misunderstandings and consequent embarrassment.
Facilitating Interpreters are often used when some group members have a smattering of both (or all) the languages involved and require someone bilingual to clarify points of confusion by saying it ‘in other words’. Other times, the various group members can only speak their native language, in which case we can help by switching between Consecutive Interpreting to the group and providing one-to-one help to group members who are struggling.
Facilitator interpreters, examples of use:
1. Marketing department running a ‘focus group’ exercise as part of a new product initiative.
2. Information systems department involved in a global software development project running a workshop to decide on roles and responsibilities.
3. A colleague from a foreign affiliate needs help understanding what is being discussed in meetings or over dinner.
Hiring a facilitator interpreter, things to be aware of.
1. If you need someone to facilitate at meetings where the subject matter is very specialized, please provide as much background as possible to help your interpreting company select the most appropriate individual to help you.
2. It is difficult for a single interpreter to facilitate in very large meetings/workshops. If you intend to have more than (approximately) 8 people present, consider splitting the group and running two meetings either simultaneously (you will need to hire another facilitator) or consecutively.
3. If you know in advance, or even suspect, that you will want the facilitator to accompany your team to dinner in the evening, please mention this at the time of booking so he/she can make personal and travel arrangements.
Peter Bennett is founder and CEO of London translations Limited, one of London’s fastest growing business translation and interpreting agencies.
Download his free report, Interpreting without tears, from:
http://www.london-translations.co.uk
As the use of VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is rapidly increasing all over the globe so to are the internet criminals abusing this situation. The numbers of people and businesses starting to use this new internet technology has reached a level where malicious hackers can start to make a profit.
The problems start when the packet of voice information moves from the high security environment of the traditional phone lines to the largely unregulated internet domain. Traditional phone systems involve trust with both the caller and the receiver’s equipment. Phone switches at the callers end should not lie about their number with other switches, the receiving switch not revealing the callers number if it has been specifically asked. Additionally the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tightly regulates how calls should be made.
Outside the barriers imposed by the FCC, the rules are firmly in the hands of the ordinary internet users.
An increase in the use of VoIP is likely to encourage:
- call hi-jacking which re-directs callers to criminals/ conmen
- voice phishing where people are conned into providing confidential information
- caller-ID spoofing which enables criminal conmen appear as if they are calling from a different and legitimate number, e.g. the bank of the victim
- audio spam may increase, subsequently blocking voicemail boxes with audio adverts
A past hacking method known as ‘war-dialing’ could resurface now that VoIP is around. Originally this hacking involved huge numbers of phone calls being made in order to find addresses that had data tones as a response.
Groups of hackers have been seen to investigate large lists of VoIP numbers to see what lies at the opposing end. The exploitation of loosely protected servers was also achieved in this same fashion.
Criminal gangs have re-coded computer viruses, worms and Trojans so that when they are unwittingly installed on a computer remote criminal servers are contacted, new damaging software downloaded to the infected computer and potentially every other networked computer.
Large numbers of computers that are manipulated by high-tech criminals, known as ‘bot-herds’ are often used as hubs for the launch of other computer attacks. One well known example is the Denial of Service (DoS) attack which targets computers with such a high level of data that they become overrun and cease to function properly.
With these facts in mind, at the moment whilst the technology is new and the security is poor, businesses and home users alike may well be more restrained in using VoIP as the increase in crime escalates.
To help secure traffic with VoIP people can try:
- segmenting data and voice traffic via a virtual Local Area Network (LAN). This can lessen the threat posed by specialized hacker software that picks up data packages. If an attack is made on you VoIP system the disruption will at least be minimized.
- using proxy servers ahead of business firewalls so that ingoing or outgoing voice data is processed.
- encrypting traffic from VoIP, then running it over a virtual private network (VPN).
- ensuring your firewalls are adequately set up. Can your security and networking companies support Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and the H.323 voice protocol of the International Telecommunication Union?
- ensuring the lockdown of server-based IP PBX’s. Denial of service attacks and viruses should be countered on a regular basis.
VoIP security is a huge challenge that has only really surfaced in the last couple of years. Securing VoIP systems in reality doesn’t involve a great deal extra effort than the lengths companies have taken to secure their data in the past.
If your VoIP stability is fundamental to current communications set-up visit http://www.voipinternetphonecenter.com/Why-VoIP-Is-Not-Going-To-Fail.php for more information.
Imagine the scene… You have been looking forward to this great get together for a long time and are keen to impress everyone there. You arrive on time and then…to your horror you become tongue-tied!
Not being able to speak or start a conversation is the worst thing that could happen to you. The greatest joy of going to a dinner party is not the prospect of a good dinner, but the anticipation of a good converstaion.
What To Talk About
Next time you are going to a much-anticipated party, just be yourself. Put a warm smile on your face, walk up to a group that looks interesting and listen to what they are saying. Put in your contribution when there is a pause in the conversation and soon you will find yourself submerged in the discussion.
I always start my conversation with a compliment! Trust me, it always works. People feel appreciated and develop a warmth for you. They immediately consider you as a friend and a conversation begins. You can always strike up a conversation with your new neighbor or colleague by making small talk on something that they would be interested in. Don`t worry about your viewpoints. There will be ample opportunity to express them!
Hobbies, sports and games are well nigh indispensable as backgrounds for general conversation. Talking about your recent visit to the exotic Bahamas, your recent golf game or your hobby of playing the piano can be a very good conversation starter.
Current events are also good ways to start most conversations. One must therefore keep abreast of them by reading a newspaper for local news and a newsmagazine or the equivalent for national and international events.
How To Talk
Don`t talk fast. You may be nervous but to keep it from showing. Have control and consciously try not to be too nervous.
The same rules apply if you speak so slowly that people have to lean towards you, waiting for you to finish what you are saying. It is very uncomfortable for the listener and is never a good way to contribute to a conversation.
Be humorous. A smile, a light-hearted manner and a friendly tone is loved by the entire human race. Be interesting. Don`t bore others. Talk about what the others may be interested in. Don`t make it a monologue. People avoid those who only speak and don`t listen.
Don`t interrupt others. It is all very well that you want to be a part of the group, but interrupting others is an insult to them. Suppose the speaker is saying that he has trouble keeping the leaves off the lawn when you pipe up with an observation, such as, “Say, have you noticed how car prices are coming down?” A person who often does that sort of thing is not ready for polite company. If you have ever done this, I trust it was the last time. It is unpardonable.
Do avoid expletives in your conversation. Imagine what it would be like if your friend keeps saying, `I go to the `hell` gym `hell` every two `hell` days `hell“! After listening to `hell` ten times in a sentence, you will beg him to go to hell.
If you follow the above-mentioned tips in your next get together, you are sure to be thought of as a great conversationalist. People will call you outgoing and friendly. Many life long friendships have begun on this note and, who knows, it may happen to you too. Do remember to drop me a note when it happens!
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Before the emergence of television and radio, print media dominated the majority of known societies. However, the technological innovations that were introduced during from the 19th till the 21st Century have created a new global marketplace, transcending national borders and culture barriers. This proliferation of news and their homogenous nature is evident in almost all media mediums used and it is far more forceful and dynamic than the print press news initiators could have ever imagined. Nevertheless, although the technological changes that have occurred have increased the speed and the amount of the exchanged information, especially though the use of the Internet, it has been almost impossible for scholars to accept a universal definition of what constitutes today the news, or how this vast increase in outlets and media will influence news production, distribution, or consumption in the future.
Regardless of how well-designed and targeted a message may be, or what it may desire to transmit, it will not succeed its original purpose unless it is disseminated to the selected targets through the most appropriate medium. What is the appropriate medium? One that complements the message, one that addresses individuals consistently, and most importantly, one that delivers the message at the right time, when the target is most receptive. By selecting the most appropriate medium, the message can generate a positive reaction from the target, transform it to a prospective audience, and finally mature it to a friendly receiver.
According to media scholars, one valuable lesson from the early ages of news release has been the effective selection and combination of the appropriate media vehicles, known in contemporary marketing studies as the media mix. This process has proven to be complex, while it required careful identification of the target segment. Vested upon this fact, lies another important realization. The media environment has been changing almost cyclically in reaction to technological, economic, market, cultural, and political forces. Contemporary media scholars, if they wish to acquire an important lesson from the past communication practices, have to take under consideration that the latest forms of news gathering, have turned their current focus on entertainment and “soft news.” This shift is not a recent outcome. It has happened in the past and it’s based on the notion of complying with the existing consumer beliefs, the social norms that prevail, the economic models that emerge, and of course the competitive trends in the media industry.
This news quest resulted in an important shift in the contemporary journalists’ work. Today, in comparison to the past, the desired audiences tend to have an active and not passive role during the news consumption process. This shift is strengthened by the fact that citizens globally are aware the news hidden purpose. News nowadays are not disseminated, as indented originally, to educate, unite and inform the societies they penetrate, but rather to entertain, mislead and hide the important essence of the messages from public attention. News has ceased to be news compared with its past definition. Media scholars, along with today’s consumers, must research and understand the underlying principles of this noticeable change before attempting to alter the scenery and claim back the news’ utility. It’s not only another public interest topic. It’s a practice that will alter consumers’ present role and the future course of media practices.
Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Business, Finance, and Gemstones
The power of a personal Internet presence was the subject of a conversation I had with a colleague the other day. He was trying to understand what the value of a personal Internet presence was to a non-executive.
I asked him if he saw value in other industry colleagues, peers, co-workers, subordinates, superiors, existing or prospective customers, media or trade-show personal, fellow industry association members, et al. being able to learn more about who he is as a person, a professional and/or his subject matter expertise and abilities. Notice I didn’t even mention - recruiters.
I then suggested if he believed there to be tangible value in the above, then having the ability to simply say, “If you’d like to know a little more about me, just Google me” is an extremely powerful statement. I also told him he’d really know how powerful this is when after saying this to someone they respond with, “I already Googled you; that’s why I contacted you.”
In the business world, we are all pressed for time, and most of us have far too many people asking for our time. Not only does having visible information on-line anyone can find by doing a simple “Google me” search help you when deciding whether or not to consent to a meeting with someone else, it can also help those who want to meet with you have a more aligned and productive conversation with you. This says nothing about the increased exposure it gives you in the business world to opportunities to share your subject matter expertise through speaking engagements, publications, forums, etc. Notice I didn’t even mention - career opportunities.
The key concept many people fail to understand is the following:
It is one thing to have content floating around the Internet pertaining to you. It is an entirely different thing to have content visible on the first page of hits when someone does Google you.
So how do you go about proactively not only building a personal Internet presence, but also building a visible Internet presence by driving content in your control to the first page of Google? Start writing. It’s that simple.
What do you write about? Write about the problems you solve everyday. Write about the systemic problems and/or issues you address everyday and how you address them based on your unique perspective and subject matter expertise. You don’t have to give away the farm. Simply speak about situations and solutions in more general terms.
This also begs the question: Where do I publish what I write? There are all kinds of places to publish content, but the media you’ll most likely want to publish in are blogs and articles. This content will typically become more visible (i.e., rank higher) in search engines faster than general personal or corporate website content you might publish. That said, all blogs and article sites are not created equal. There are many, many, places to publish content, but you want to publish content in places which will result in high ranking content that will ultimately show up on the first page of Google.
So how do you identify the “right” places to publish your content? Look for sites that have a lot of traffic combined with also having a lot of changing or new content. Sites that have these two elements going for them will typically result in content that ranks higher faster in the search engines. Sites combining a lot of traffic with blogging or article content are typically the best. On-line networking sites such as Ecademy combine a lot of traffic with constantly changing new blogging content. There are even some ezine “article sites” such as EzineArticles that combine a lot of traffic with constantly changing new article content. You can also create even more exposure for the content you create by leveraging sites like ArticleMarketer that broadcast your article content to even more article, blog, newsletter, etc. publishing sites.
Here is the key: the power of leveraging sites such as Ecademy, EzineArticles, et al. comes from using them to point to other web content you’ve created and/or already exists that you want to drive higher in ranking in the search engines. You benefit from “guilt by association” as a result of hyperlinking to other content. When search engines like Google scan your content on sites like Ecademy and EzineArticles and find hyperlinks to other content, they give preferential ranking to the hyperlinked content.
With a little effort, and by leveraging the power of sites like I’ve mentioned above, you can build a visible personal Internet presence in as little as a couple of months. You will then be able to benefit from the power of being able to say, “If you’d like to know a little more about me, just Google me.”
Ron Bates is an expert in mission critical retained executive search. As recognized expert in building an on-line personal Internet presence, Ron has been referred to as “the most connected man on Earth” with +27,000 direct contacts on on-line professional networking platforms. Find Ron’s blog “Internet Presence - Do you exist?” at http://www.search-advantage.com
A popular trend taking hold of many different companies is the practice of call center outsourcing. There are numerous well known businesses that use outsourcing for their call centers for various reasons. Although the term may be used often when referring to company customer service, many still do not know what the act actually consists of.
Let’s take a look at the word outsourcing. In basically refers to the act of sourcing your work to others outside of your company. In the larger scheme of things, it can also serve as a reference to the subcontracting to another. This could include giving another business or firm, a specific set of duties or purpose that will help with the workload of another company. Sometimes, a group of individuals are given a crack at the responsibilities. These tasks are often completed at another location, which is not positioned within the head company.
When call center outsourcing occurs, companies use this practice to save money on the way they provide customer service to their clients. It is a business strategy that has efficiently boosted not only cost saving measures, but also the productivity of consumer call center support. An advantage to outsourcing call center business is that it allows a company to provide assistance based on the specific needs of a client. This is good for the client. Now for the company, call center outsourcing helps them to decrease operating costs by hiring workers that can be retained for a significantly lower cost. These new members of the staff are trained and situated at an offsite location to handle the calls. This also allows a company to focus on their onsite operations without using space for their call center support services.
A shifting of jobs and they way things are handled within the company have been known to occur in regards to call center outsourcing. The way that this area of business is handled differs from the way the telemarketing or software testing areas of a company is ran. Some employees have voiced concerns about their place of employment turning to call center outsourcing. They fear that this will interfere with the jobs they are responsible for. In actuality, some dislocation will occur, but there are a very low amount of professional positions that have been lost when a company turns to call center outsourcing.
One of the most appealing features to working with a call center outsourcing approach to business is the cutting of costs that is enjoyed. These call centers are able to handle the high volume of calls associated with a particular company. Their areas of assistance are not limited to providing only customer support. These call centers also take on technical support issues, as well as handle sales inquiries and marketing assignments. Telemarketing is also an area that outsourced call centers will take care of. There are many other specific business tasks included as well. Examples of call center duties include airline and hotel reservation services, as well as fundraising.
Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as business call centers at http://www.businesscommunicationsolution.com
PT Barnum (born Phineas Taylor Barnum) is best known for being a great showman who staged elaborate extravaganzas through his world-famous Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, a top attraction during the latter-1800s. For many of today’s PR professionals, he is also the first great PR man.
Barnum first made it to the public eye in 1835 when he staged exhibits showcasing a blind and near-paralyzed African-American woman named Joice Heth whom he claimed was the nurse of George Washington and was over 160 years old. Heth died in 1836 and was declared to be 70 years old. Barnum’s hoax was revealed, but this hardly deterred him from a lifetime of similar initiatives.
Starting in 1841, Barnum staged elaborate spectacles in New York that no one had ever seen before, featuring the likes of celebrated midget General Tom Thumb, a Fiji mermaid, the original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker and a Native American dancer named Do-Hum-Me. In 1871, Barnum took his show on the road, first in America and later around the world with the Barnum & Bailey Circus, whose main attraction was Jumbo, an African elephant. At that point, many considered him the greatest showman of all time.
Barnum’s exploits illustrate a fine example of what has become a fundamental belief in today’s public relations: “perception” is the key. “It’s not what they know, it’s what they believe,” is how the owner of one New York firm put it recently. Make them believe they are listening to the greatest proposal of all time, and you will have them signing on the dotted line. Make them believe that your product will give them exactly what it is they want and they will scamper to clear out your shelves.
But there is a big difference between PT Barnum and today’s professional executives engaged in the PR business: a sense of responsibility in the exercise of his craft. Barnum was the absolute showman, but many of his attractions were mere hoax. Today, no legitimate businessman will have any use for a PR man without credibility, because who would believe someone like that? The savvy PR man knows you can stretch the truth a little and bend it a bit, but you cannot afford to lie.
Public Relations employs several communications tools to make clients perceived a certain way. They issue press releases announcing the client’s newest products, latest awards and never-before-seen innovations. They court esteemed members of the press to consider their client in a positive light and to say so in their newspaper columns, TV shows or talk radio programs. On behalf of their clients, they create and support events that portray a carefully-studied image, much like PT Barnum during his heyday. And like Barnum, the try to go about their business with flair.
And although they may admire PT Barnum for his showmanship, they know that you can only go so far in the PR business if showmanship is all you have to offer.
Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Business, Society, and Investing
I’ve often thought that what I need is not a cell phone, but a two-way pager. Why? A two-way pager allows me to be able to engage in short conversations without having to fully engage in a conversation, stopping other things I’m doing, I could use a full keyboard function without a full-size keyboard, and I could read my e-mail without having to be at a full-size computer or plug into any other network.
Because I don’t necessarily have the time or the concentration needed to devote to a full-blown conversation, I just need to be able to have a simple communication method or modality, and this seems to fit the bill. I can send out multiple messages quickly without having to worry about getting message machines and not being able to track communication, and I can be sure that I can look back at what I said.
For example, let’s say I’m waiting in the airport for my flight. Many times it is impossible to carry on a conversation on a telephone due to the ambient noise, with all of the loudspeakers ushering passengers and letting you know who is the next group to board. If I want to be able to communicate effectively, without interruption, using a two-way pager is the ultimate tool.
Many people dispute needing a full keyboard, saying they can use abbreviated versions, but I can tell you that I need a full keyboard, for sure, as I am unable to type using any other method, don’t want to have to learn how to use yet another piece of equipment, and I don’t need a full-size keyboard to carry with me. A pager with a mini keyboard, or QWERTY keyboard should do just fine. I’m able to type full words and sentences, and don’t have to abbreviate, which in business communications can be less than effective.
When people use their instant messaging system, they often use abbreviations, such as LOL for laughing out loud, BRB for be right back, and so on, but if I had to make use of an abbreviated keyboard, I would most likely end up sounding like a fifteen year old for the rest of my life. I would rather have a means to express myself rather than to have to resort to truncating my speech or written communication.
What I value the two-way pager for the most, however, is for just plain reading. Reading my e-mail, to be exact. There is nothing more maddening than having to wait to get to somewhere with a WI-FI service, or to be able to get to another type of high speed connection area. Particularly as a frequent flyer, you could be waiting for hours upon hours for an opportunity to read your e-mail.
Perhaps my e-mail isn’t important in the grand scheme of things, in terms of national security, or losing or making millions of dollars, but to me, it’s the most important thing to be able to read my e-mail. It keeps me in touch with the outside world, to find out what’s going on, and to be sure that I have to stay on my flight schedule because I haven’t yet done what I really want to do - finish my conversation over my two-way pager.
This article published by the editorial staff of the National Tollfree Directory. For more information about Two Way Pagers, National Pagers and Local Number Pagers, visit AllPage at http://www.allpage.com/. Please direct any feedback on this article to editorial@strbusinessmedia.com.