The following excerpt is from the first chapter of Mind Capture: How You Can Stand Out in the Age of Advertising Deficit Disorder by Tony Rubleski. This is Tony’s second book on “Mind Capture” and it’s received a glowing endorsement from marketing guru Jeffrey Gitomer (who even agreed to write the book’s forward) writing “If you can capture their mind, you can capture their wallet. Capture this book, and both will be yours.” The excerpt below should give you a good idea of why Gitomer would say such a thing. It will give you a clear picture of what the book has to offer, and a straightforward explanation of what the book is not.

“The enemy of the entrepreneur is distraction”
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The three biggest challenges facing all marketers in the 21st century:
1. Attention 2. Time 3. Credibility
We’re going to focus heavily on point #1 in this book. Why? The amount of advertising messages and marketing options available is staggering. Millions of dollars are wasted every day by a combination of ignorance, bad advice, lack of marketing knowledge and far too many conflicting opinions on what works and what doesn’t.
The Mission
Marketing is the oxygen of every successful business. Don’t be fooled. The greatest product, service, widget, invention, idea is doomed if no one knows about it, and bottom line, people aren’t compelled to pay any attention because the marketing function is broken! Enthusiasm without a solid plan, knowledge of the customer and the use of proven marketing strategies to build Mind Capture is a prescription for struggle, little if any profit, or chance at long-term business success.
If someone came to me with a gun and said, “Tony, give me a quick, concise book that my team and I can use immediately containing key marketing skills and things you’d use to build a cash strapped, startup business from $0 to $100,000 or more in profits in one year or less,” this would be it. That’s my mission: cut to the chase, trim the fat, spare you theory and lay out several solid marketing ideas and specific techniques in a black and white, noncomplex way.
It’s absolutely true when motivational coach and author Tony Robbins says “Success leaves clues.” From the literal hundreds of sales, marketing and promotional tactics available these days, the goal of this book is to give you a clear, concise, proven and defined marketing map that you can use to build Mind Capture, and achieve quantum leaps to achieve business success.
Sadly, marketing is still for far too many businesses, organizations and sales professionals a complex, contradictory and expensive proposition. It doesn’t have to be that way. To give you some perspective on how this book was assembled and crafted for maximum impact and profits, I looked at three distinct areas:
1. A successful background in direct sales selling services in two intensely competitive industries where people were extremely skeptical to talk about or even meet with me to discuss something they used everyday in their business operations: advertising and
telephone service.
2. Research from over 14 years of real world trial and error application of these techniques and learning from successful clients and organizations up close and personal. In addition, since my first book Mind Capture: How To Stand Out In The Age of Advertising Overload was released I’ve received amazing feedback from readers
on what they’ve used and the results achieved.
3. Intense study and research from hundreds of books, newsletters, magazines, private seminars and up close questioning of successful businesses I’ve directly worked with ranging from casinos, banking, real estate to hundreds of small and mid-sized firms covering a wide range of industries, products, and services. The sorting process has been a daunting, but a necessary task to separate the gems from the massive amount of marketing strategies and information currently available.
I’m a big believer in what the great Albert Einstein said, “Make the complex simple” and here’s why:
Most People I Consult, Train And Teach Can Only Integrate And Implement Bite Sized Nuggets Of Marketing Knowledge In Stages To Achieve Long Term And Significant Positive Change
In the age of instant communication, MTV, the Internet and boundless amounts of media screaming at us with the latest, greatest deal, it’s very challenging for many organizations to stop, step back and focus on a logical plan which may take time to fully produce results. The “cut and run” mentality is a major problem with many marketing initiatives that sometimes take time to produce long term results. It’s very tempting for people to want the latest and greatest “magic marketing pill.” It’s also human nature to seek out the path of least resistance. With so many competing media options, information and no shortage of opinions, the temptation to drift off course in relation to marketing is very high.
Sprinkled within many chapters and at the back of the book, you’ll see mentions for additional resources to help you explore, clarify and provide even greater knowledge on certain sections within the book. Those selected are top notch, credible in my eyes and listed to save you time and provide a shortcut on your Mind Capture marketing journey. One book can’t do it all. I urge you to learn from multiple experts who have the track record and world class knowledge to assist you.
Time is precious and I’d much rather recommend to you other specific experts if you want to dive even deeper into a topic area than to try and recreate the wheel or write an 853 page book.
What This Book Is Not
Academic in nature. If you have a degree in marketing from a college, way to go, we’re in good company. I have one too and I bet that my daddy’s bigger than yours. Get over it. I sold my college textbooks when I was 21 and haven’t missed them since. No disrespect, but you’ll find this book to be loaded with strategies to improve your business quickly. Filler is not permitted. A confession: Far too many authors ramble on with 300-400 page books that most people will never finish reading. Here’s my philosophy to writing:
1. Similar to when I do live training, I’m interested in making the ideas presented easy to digest in chapter size nuggets, entertaining and most importantly something you’ll implement into your business.
2. Most people do not like to read (I do have an audio version of this book available by the way) or they don’t have as much time as they’d like.
3. I want to save you time and lay out a case as to why marketing is critically important to understand and use effectively within your organization.
I’ve always believed that a solid marketing foundation and the proper mindset is critical before attempting to build mastery in any subject and in particular marketing. Too many businesses and sales professionals foolishly ignore this advice and attempt to go from a skill level of two or three on a scale of one to ten, to a nine or ten without understanding the stages in between.
WARNING
These Mind Capture strategies if applied and added into your business will give you a huge advantage over the competition. The balance of proof must be weighed in your favor consistently for you to achieve any longterm staying power in the crowded, noisy, and ever changing competitive market place.
Many businesses are either unaware or treat the Mind Capture strategies we’ll cover together with little if any focused thought because they fall into the “we’re too busy mode to learn, create and implement these into our business” mentality. This thinking grinds and disturbs me because it’s laziness and a true lack of respect for the most important component of EVERY business–effective marketing!
Another goal and motive is to have you look at the strategies contained in the book as interconnected and important pieces to your current and future success. Much like a bullet proof vest is designed to protect and serve, you must be continually thinking, “which competitor in our industry or new startup is presently planning or attempting to put our product, service, business or organization in their crosshairs? Are they local, regional, national, web based or on the other side of the globe?”
Folks, this is the Information Age. The Internet is an amazing paradox. While creating new opportunities, it’s also bringing new and radically different competition from all corners of the earth. The paranoid never sleep!
Some Sobering Statistics To Serve As A Warning and Wake Up Call:
According to the most recent Small Business Administration (SBA) data, for the year ending 2005 approximately 671,000 new businesses were started in the U.S. During that same time for the year end approximately 544,800 new and existing businesses went out of business.
Why is this? Simple. Lack of new and repeat business! Sure, there were other factors that contributed, but remember the old adage the customer is king. It’s too bad how quickly this is forgotten by well intentioned businesses of all shapes and sizes. How and why did this happen in most cases? Marketing was either done poorly or not given much attention at all. The world is full of brilliant ideas, products and services that never see the light of day.
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Excerpted from Mind Capture
Copyright © 2008 by Tony Rubleski
Published by Morgan James Publishing, LLC
For more information and free bonuses, go to www.MindCaptureBook.com.

You’ll find below three short excerpts from How to Wow: Proven Strategies for Presenting Your ideas, Persuading Your Audience, and Perfecting Your Image by Frances Cole Jones. In the inroduction, Frances writes:

I present the information in How to Wow in a one or two page “search and destroy” format to make it easy for you to find the information needed in your situation–meeting, lunch, job interview, speech, PowerPoint presentation–so you can begin employing it, and enjoying the benefits of it, immediately.

Below, then, you’ll find three of these sections.

From Chapter Two: Make It More Than “Just Lunch”
“Hi, you’ve reached …”
These days, voice mail is ubiquitous. But like so many things in this category–mugs and baseball caps come immediately to my mind–it’s rare to come across a voice mail message that’s really appealing, much less knocks your socks off.
Why is this important? Because your voice mail message is often the first contact a new person has with you. Consequently, it’s an opportunity to impress someone right from the start. Despite this, however, I hear far, far too many voice mails that are less than memorable, and more than a few that do the person active disservice.
Here’s an example:
One day I got a call from a client who had just promoted a midlevel manager to a top spot. I asked her if there was anything in particular I should be aware of. Well, she said, he’s smart and enthusiastic–which is great–but we’re worried he doesn’t come across as “manager material.”
Next, I called his office to make an appointment. Here’s what his voice mail message sounded like:
“HI THIS IS JOE I’M NOT HERE LEAVE A MESSAGE OR CALL LEWIS AT 212 …”
Instead of sounding competent, calm, and in command, he sounded like he was trying to find his way out of a burning building. Was it Joe’s goal to come across this way? Of course not. It was simply that no one had ever told him how important this seemingly
small detail was to the overall impression he left behind. Although we worked on a lot in his session, we began by rerecording his voice mail message. Now, should you call, you’ll hear a message that’s authoritative, warm, and welcoming–manager material, which he is.
So how should you go about recording your voice mail message?

You want to make sure it is current. Updating it should be the first thing you do on returning from a business trip or vacation.
Among the many benefits of doing this is the fact that once it is done, you will always have that recording of you as your best self–even on days when you might, perhaps, not be.


From Chapter Three: Conspire to Inspire
Hands Up!
While I’ve discussed the importance of being aware of your posture at the table, I am giving hand placement its own section in order to emphasize its importance in signaling your intentions to others.
As we all know, “Hands up!” is among the first things a police officer says when he has a criminal in range. In that instance, the police officer’s goal is to ensure he or she doesn’t have a concealed weapon.
More happily, raising our hand is also the symbol of knowing the correct answer in grade school, or signaling our willingness to volunteer for activities as we get older.
When you are seated at a table, your hands perform much the same function. They allow others at the table to feel safe around you, and they signal to others that you are available and excited to answer their questions, or volunteer for their cause.
“But,” some clients object, “I tend to talk with my hands if they’re on the table. Isn’t that bad?”
Not at all if those motions are a natural outgrowth of what you are saying. They only become distracting when they are doing something to relieve you of nervous tension, such as tapping a pencil or fiddling with a wedding ring, etc.
So if your goal is to inspire trust in others, one of the easiest ways to do that is to keep your hands where people can see them. Once they’re on the table, my request is that they remain unclasped, as clasping your hands in front of you creates a barrier between you and those to whom you are speaking.
The same principle holds true if you are standing. When you want others to trust you, keep your hands out of your pockets. Leaving them in sight will signal your honorable, or favorable, intentions. Alternatively, putting your hands in your pockets will send a message of distrust or unavailability–not to mention ruin the line of your suit.

What’s Working?
This is a lesson I picked up in a terrific magazine article I read a few years ago. As I’m not a research/footnote type, I didn’t make a note of the magazine it was in, the name of the article, or the author of the piece. If you are that person, please let me know so you can get the credit you deserve.
What I do remember is that the thrust of the piece was how to solve problems more efficiently and effectively. The author recalled for readers the scene from Apollo 13 where the scientists have gathered to figure out how they are going to get Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton back from space alive–and notes that the first question they asked about the equipment on the ship was, “What’s working?”
Her point–now my point to you–is that when we have a situation that’s tricky our first instinct is often to focus on what’s not working as opposed to what is, and that this doesn’t do a lot to facilitate problem-solving.
“But,” you might be thinking, “if we don’t talk about what’s wrong how can we take steps to change it?” This is a valid question. In reply, however, please note that “What’s working?” was just the first question they asked; it was not the only question they asked.
Unfortunately, however, beginning with the problem, the missteps, the drama seems to be the norm. It takes a cool head to step back and realize that not only does this waste time, but it also tends to lower morale. That from here it’s generally just a few short steps to people feeling overwhelmed and consequently becoming belligerent, defensive, self-righteous, defeated, victimized–take your pick from a medley of distracting motions.
So the next time you find yourself gathered around a conference room table preparing to triage the latest equipment breakdown/drop in the market/wardrobe malfunction, see if you can take a moment before you focus on what’s not working to articulate what is. It might not make an enormous difference to the solution you discover, but it’s
more than likely it will help you arrive at that solution more quickly.

Excerpted from How to Wow
Copyright © 2008 by Frances Cole Jones
Published by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.