The results of last week’s PR LEADS-Ophrah challenge are in!

And the winner is…

No one!

You’ll remember that I challanged readers to let me know if they appeared on Oprah and sold $10,000 worth of books — and could prove it. I was testing the theory that if you appear on Oprah, then your fame and fortune are assured.

Let me assure you that I didn’t believe that being on Oprah would have the life-changing transformation that many authors think. Here are three stories that I received.

The first was from a virtual assitant for a fairly famous author who appeared on Oprah in the midst of a long book tour sponsored by his publisher (ever dream of getting one of those?) and his book was already on the New York Times Best Seller List.

It is hard to say what impact Oprah has on his success. Chances are he helped increase Oprah’s ratings that day.

I received another email from a PR person who was grateful that I offered this challenge, since she too was sick and tired of hearing her clients say, “So, when are you going to get me on Oprah?”

Finally, I received one letter that put everything into perpsective and I thank the author Pat Wiklund for allowing me to reprint it for your benefit:

Hi Dan,
I have been on Oprah. Twice as a matter of fact, and the second time they called me!

Even though the first time I was on, we did get a nice spike in sales, I can’t remember how much money it was. (It was over 10 years ago.) The appearance and the money didn’t catapult me into the fame and fortune most folks want/expect or believe automatically happens because they “have been on Oprah!”

Here’s how it did “help” and I am using the quotes intentionally.

I don’t lead with the fact that I’ve been on Oprah, with most of my marketing materials. The book I was promoting is not what I am doing today, and is totally inappropriate with my corporate clients.

When people do find out, typically from someone else telling them, they are real impressed. Then the conversation turns to one of two questions:

I wrote a book, would you please tell Oprah I’d be perfect for her show?

Or, my best friend/cousin/member of my networking/leads group needs to be on Oprah because she has the perfect product and if she were on the show her business would soar.

When I tell them I won’t call Oprah for them, inevitably they respond with some version of “but you should, that’s what networking is all about!”

I am not their agent, don’t know them, their product, their book, how good they would be on tv, much less what Oprah is doing this season. (shall I go on here??????) My referrals reflect on my judgment and integrity with a high valence resource.

Networking is not about blanket referrals for someone I’ve just met and don’t know to one of my prime contacts. When I refer someone it is because I have benefited from their products or services, have carefully screened them for applicability and appropriateness, and stand behind them with the people I care about most… my clients, prospects, and colleagues.

One last point: did I make money on my books? You bet. But not from being on TV… but giving presentations and selling the books back of the room, by repositioning the information into multiple info products that I continue to sell (10 years later) from the web and as bonuses, add on products, and “do it for yourself” coaching and learning programs.

So, write the book, learn how to do teleseminars, learn how to sell on teleseminars, learn how to sell at the back of the room, and stop looking for the golden ring that will magically propel your success. Success for most of us is 99.9999% perspiration and self promotion, not a single appearance on a national tv show.

Sorry about the rant, but you hit one of my hot spots!!!

Keep up the good work, you are one of the anchors for all of us.

pw

#############################################

Patricia Wiklund Ph.D.
Wiklund & Associates
236 West Portal Ave #349
San Francisco, CA 94127
(415) 641-5997
pat@patwiklund.com http://www.patwiklund.com

Leveraging the Strategic Power of Soft Skills tm

############################################

Thanks, Pat, for reinforcing the idea that success is achieved in baby steps. People who try for the one “Magic Bullet” are often left holding a cliche.

I conducted about 30 teleseminars last year teaching people how to market their books. I’m making the audios files (MP3s) and digital transcripts available to authors for just $199. Click here to learn more about this offer.

For one low price, you’ll get a ton of terrific information.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS
www.prleads.com

Our next Coaching Wizard who will help you “Build Your Own Six Figure Coaching Business” is Dianna Booher, CSP, CPAE, prolific author and winner of many writing awards!

As author of more than 40 books, Dianna has published with Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, Warner, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, HarperCollins and Thomas Nelson. Her latest books include Speak with Confidence!, Powerful Presentations That Inform, Inspire, and Persuade; E-WRITING: 21st-Century Tools for Effective Communication; Communicate with Confidence®!; and Get a Life Without Sacrificing Your Career. Several have been major book club selections. Her work has been published in 16 foreign editions and is also widely available on audio, video, and online courseware.

You can listen for free on our Telephone Replay Line:

218-936-1055
Conference ID: 77125#

The call is available 24×7.

You can get your own free replay line and free conference line at:
http://www.myfreeteleconference.com/promo/

For more about Dianna, see:
http://www.prleads.com/coach-booher.htm

Can’t attend? Order the CD for $29.95
http://snipurl.com/cdbooher

Want to read the transcript for $9.95? Click here:
http://snipurl.com/transcript

Dianna is hosting a 3-days workshop entitled “Get Yourself Published”
http://www.GetYourBookPublished2006.com
Mention code: dj707 and get $100 off.

I am so sick of hearing authors say, “If only I can get on Oprah, then my book will really take off.”

I think most of the people saying this:
(a) haven’t watched Oprah
(b) don’t know who watches Oprah
(c) don’t have a clue as to what Oprah talks about on her show
(d) have extremely unrealistic definitions of marketing
(e) have completely unfounded goals for publicity
(f) think Oprah is in the business of selling books (which she is not!)

Mind you, I don’t think ill of anyone with these thoughts, just that their thinking is misguided.

I don’t know ANYONE who went on Oprah and sold 10,000 books to catapult themselves to best-sellers status on a truly legitimate Best-Seller List, with the exception of the authors Oprah selected for her Book Club.

But I could be wrong.

So I’m issuing the Oprah-PR LEADS challenge in the spirit of honest journalism:

If you have sold $10,000 of books from one appearance on Oprah, send me your proof and I’ll give you a year of PR LEADS for free and I’ll tell your story in glowing tones to my blog. If I’m really off target, I’ll limit this offer to the first five people who respond with proof.

I don’t want to hear about a friend of yours, or a person who is a client of your agent’s niece, or anyone else you might have heard bragging at the bar at a writer’s convention. It must be Y-O-U. I want to hear from people who have really accomplished this.

By the way, in case you didn’t notice, I’ve lowered the limit to win. You don’t have to sell 10,000 copies of a book, but $10,000 worth of books. At $25 per copy, that’s only 400 copies, an amount that many speakers can sell from the back of the room at a nice-sized event.

The deadline is this Friday, February 10, 2006 so I can post the results next week.

Just send your proof and your story to me at dan@prleads.com. You can fax me your royalty statements or other proof to me at: (952)-400-8883. You also must be willing to do a 5-minute interview with me via the phone that I will post on my website so people can learn how you accomplished this miraculously feat and how you capitalized on it for future sales.

I really hope I am wrong on this. But if I am not, then we’ve gone a long way toward adjusting your PR and marketing goals to something that will truly make sense for you.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS Expert Resource Network
www.prleads.com/index.htm

Northwest Airlines sent me a nice letter yesterday saying they were entering the electronic age and now would be sending me my mileage statement by email instead of by paper.

In other words, they don’t want to spend the money on printing, paper and postage.

But it also means I won’t see their special offers and coupons for their affiliate partners either.

In other words, BAD MOVE.

Susan Friedmann, the Trade Show Coach, was on my teleseminar recently talking about how she built her own six figure coaching business by following the premise, “If everyone else is zigging, then I should be zagging.” She gave other great tips about growing a business as well during the seminar, which is now available as a transcript or CD at this site.

Isn’t it funny that by the time Northwest finally woke up to the paperless office, they might have done so for the wrong reason?

As for me — I’m going to zag. I’m going to start doing more direct mail simply because everyone else is doing email — and fewer people are reading any advertising!

I’ve signed up for Dan Kennedy’s copy writing seminars in March. I’ll let you know what I think of them.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS EXPERT RESOURCE NETWORK
www.prleads.com/coach-friedmann.htm

Pop quiz:

Question: What do Oprah and Martha Stewart have in common?

Answer: Nothing.

When faced with the attention of the nation, one chose to tell the truth and admit her faults; the other chose to lie and hide the facts.

One faced months in prison, millions of dollars in legal fees and millions of dollars of lost value to her company.

The other faces public adoration and an even more deserved reputation as the most admired person is America (at least in my book).

I’m sure you have no trouble telling which is which.

I have nothing against Martha. She just made a bad decision and now must face years of rebuilding to reclaim trust. She was thrown in jail not for insider trading, but for lying about it! Oprah followed the Golden Rule of Crisis Communications: tell the truth.

It is pretty easy to see which option is the best.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS Expert Resource Network
www.prleads.com

Bad Publicity By Association

Whoever said “Any publicity is good publicity,” probably had anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan as a willing pupil.

If you missed today’s newspapers, you would have missed Cindy posing with Venezuela’s president, as she pledged to continue her protests in Bush’s backyard.

Say what you will about your position about the war, but posing with a dictator is not a good PR move, in my opinion.

Cindy runs the extreme risk of being painted as the next Jane Fonda, whose protests against the Viet Nam war by posing with North Viet Namese have hounded her for decades.

One fact of publicity is that the people you associate with can come back to help you or haunt you. That’s why speakers so frequently say they share the stage with President Ford, or Joe Namath or Zig Ziglar. They want the positive associations to rub off on them.

That’s why I interview celebrities in the publishing and speaking world for my teleseminars. I want the good will of a Vickie Sullivan or Linda Hollander or Dan Poynter or Sam Horn to rub off on me.

The implication (in a good way) is that if I know these people who stand on high ground, then I must be an insider as well.

The strategy works.

Just be sure you pick the good guys and not the bad guys, Cindy.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS Expert Resource Network
www.prleads.com

Here’s a tip I just love. I call it “Analogy your way to a new business.”

Okay, so maybe it doesn’t roll off the tongue, but I think you’ll Iike it anyway.

Everyone loves eBay.

Everyone knows what eBay does: sells stuff via auction via the Internet.

Everything from baseball cards, to Boxsters.

You’re probably wondering, “There’s no way I can compete with eBay.”

And you’d be right.

Amazon tried.

Yahoo tried.

Other companies you’ve never heard of have tried (and probably died.)

Now, I get an email today from a company called LabX.

What do they do?

“LabX is an online auction and classified ad marketplace for scientific and hi-tech equipment. Think eBay for scientists and engineers (business to business),” according to General Manager Ken Piech.

In other words, LabX took a very successful business model. But instead of battling head to head in the wonderful world of Madonna memorabilia, they found a niche and found success.

This is a great formula for success that you can use to your benefit. Let me know when you do!

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS Expert Resource Network
www.prleads.com
952-380-1554

When’s the last time you raised your rates?

1976?

Way too long!

Vickie Sullivan, a superb coach to speakers, said that she raises her rates every year, no matter what.

Vickie gave dozens of other tips on how she run her business that have created a 6-figure coaching business on our Coaching Wizards teleseminar last week. You can learn how she balances her life, gets new clients, keeps clients, markets her business in a CD or read the transcript by clicking here:
http://www.prleads.com/coach-sullivan.htm. You’ll find a lot of great information that you won’t find anywhere else.

This week’s Coaching Wizard will be Linda Hollander, “The Wealthy Bag Lady.” We’ll be focusing on how to get corporate sponsorships and how to use public seminars to grow your business! For information on attending the seminar for free, or for ordering the CD or transcript, go to: http://www.prleads.com/coach-hollander.htm

Thursday, January 19, 2006
2-3 p.m. Eastern time

Register for the free seminar here:
http://snipurl.com/seminarhollander

If you’d like to order the CD recording of this event for $29.95, click here:
http://snipurl.com/cdhollander

If you’d rather read the transcript, order it for $19.95 by clicking this link:
http://snipurl.com/transcripthollander

I’m pleased to announce a whole new focus for teleseminars to serve you this year. It is called:

“Build Your Own Six-Figure Coaching Business.”

Each week, I’ll interview my favorite “Coaching Wizards” who have certified they make six figures (or more) from coaching so you’ll learn from the people who are at the top of the game!

We’ll focus on the BUSINESS of coaching, not the act of coaching. There are lot of great places to learn to be a coach. We’re going to focus on how to be a successful coach!

I’m inviting all my blog readers at Duct Tape Marketing to attend each session at no cost, but you must register at this site to receive the phone codes. Each session will be at 2-3 p.m. Eastern time on Thursdays, so mark your calendars. You won’t want to miss each session.

This week’s session with Vickie Sullivan will be held on Thursday, January 12, 2006 from 2-3 p.m. Eastern.

To get the codes, click on this link and register. You won’t have to give your credit card info. Just skip over it. Please write “Duct Tape” in the box labeled “how you heard about us.”

http://snipurl.com/coachvickie

If you can’t attend, you can order the CDs and transcripts for each 4-week block of sessions. Here’s the pricing:

Annual Service — all 4 CDs will be mailed to you each month and you’ll be able to download each transcript via the web: $995. You’ll also be able to listen to the MP3 recording via the web. No charge for shipping.
http://snipurl.com/coachannual

Monthly Service — all 4 CDs will be mailed to you each month and you’ll be able to download each transcript via the web: $97 per month, plus $10 shipping and handling, automatic recurring billing to your credit card. You’ll also be able to listen to the MP3 recording via the web.
http://snipurl.com/coachmonthly

Installment Plan — you’ll get all the CDs and transcripts as above, with 3 easy payments of $495. No charge for shipping. You’ll also be able to listen to the MP3 recording via the web.
http://snipurl.com/coach495

Our first session will be with Vickie Sullivan, the coach for many top speakers and emerging speakers. She helps them determine their positioning strategy. But we’ll be focusing on such topics as:
- how to set your fee
- how to justify your fee
- how to position your fee in a value-based way
- her recipe for success in building and growing a business

I won’t reveal Vickie’s sales numbers — that’s between her and Uncle Sam. But I will let you know that any of you (and I do mean you) would be ecstatic to charge what Vickie charges!

You can read more about Vickie at http://www.sullivanspeaker.com/

This week’s session with Vickie Sullivan will be held on Thursday, January 12, 2006 from 2-3 p.m. EST

Click the following link to register:
http://snipurl.com/coachvickie

You won’t have to give your credit card info. Just skip over it.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS Expert Resource Network
952-380-1554
dan@prleads.com
http://www.prleads.com

The Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas has the best bottled water I’ve ever tasted. Better than Dasani. Better than Evian. Better than Perrier.

It just feels smooth when I drank it. Never had that experience before.

So, when I saw a worker replenish the water supply, I complimented him on the water.

His response?

Not — “Thank you.”

But — “Does it make you want to gamble?”

Now that’s a mission statement!

The Wynn seems to have trained it people to make sure they are consistently aligned with the company’s mission — get more people to gamble more often.

If that means having a beautiful registration area with the most luscious flowers I’ve ever seen, then order the flowers.

If that means having a great restaurant so I don’t ever have to leave the hotel, then build it.

If that means having friendly staff (and they really were a notch better than any other hotel I’ve stayed in in Vegas), then teach them to be friendly.

It all comes back to their mission. Everyone in the hotel is on the same page.

The funny part of the story is that I don’t gamble. I don’t win enough to make a difference and I hate to lose. But, if I did gamble, I’d do it at the Wynn.

One more point: Even the elevator is aligned with the message. There are buttons for all the floors, the spa and the casino. That’s it. There’s no button for “First Floor” or “Street Level” or, heaven forbid, “Exit.” That would be inconsistent with the message. And yes, I do feel for the off-the-scale literal-analytical types who probably ride the elevator all day long trying to figure out how to get out of the hotel.

Is your company aligned on its message? Can your employees articulate that message? Wynn does. Can you?

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS
952-380-1554
http://www.prleads.com