Also, did you know that you’re entitled to a free credit report every year from each of the three credit reporting bureaus? If you’ll read this week’s edition you’ll get all the details!

Check out the “TNT Report” and let us know what you think. And if you find any interesting stories or trends you’d like for us to share, send them our way!

The “TNT  Report” focuses on tips, news and tools in the areas of Internet marketing, advertising and promotion, small business growth, entrepreneurship — and stuff I just find interesting.

Check out the Feb. 10 edition of the “TNT Report” and let me know what you think. Always like to get feedback and suggestions.

Let me know what you think of the video and if you have any suggestions for improvement. And while you’re at YouTube watching, please leave a comment or “like” it.

But, at least this one looks at the subject from a health perspective!

Check out the infographic (screen shot below of just a little of it) and find out what the different colors of your body functions mean. Truly, it’s more than you ever wanted to know about #1 and #2 — at least it was for me!

Source: What Your Poop and Pee Mean

I came across a couple of interesting statistics and facts about this weekend’s game, so I thought I’d share. Hope you enjoy.

The Host City: Indianapolis
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that Indianapolis, the 12th most populous U.S. city, is the northernmost city in the United States to host the Super Bowl since Detroit hosted Super Bowl XL in 2006.

The Census Bureau also reports that  it takes, on average, Indianapolis residents 22.2 minutes to get to work, with 82.6 percent of the city’s workers driving to work alone, 9.2 percent carpooling and 1.8 percent using public transportation. Guess the drive could be longer on Sunday?

Consumer Spending
In a a survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association conducted by BIGinsight, 173 million people will watch the Patriots square off against the Giants. Further, “consumer spending for the Super Bowl will reach an all-time high, too, with the average game-watcher expected to shell out $63.87 on related merchandise, apparel and snacks, up from $59.33 last year. Total Super Bowl spending is expected to reach $11 billion.”

According to the survey, grocery, apparel, electronics, sporting goods and home furnishing stores can expect to see their share of Super Bowl-related spending as sports fans head out to buy food and beverages (71.3 percent), team apparel or accessories (8.6 percent), decorations (6.4 percent), and furniture or a new entertainment center (2.4 percent).

Advertising
It’s reported that a 30-second commercial costs $3.5 million on average this year, up from $3 million from last year. Reuters reports that advertisers, “having spent record-breaking sums to secure the most valuable television slots in advertising, global brands from Coca-Cola to Volkwagen are looking to leverage social media to extend the buzz and reach of their ads.”

Consumer research forecasts that 60 percent of fans watching the Super Bowl will also be tied into a second screen such as a smartphone or tablet.

Coca-Cola’s TV commercials, which will air during the first-and second-quarter breaks, will center around its computer-generated Arctic polar bears watching the game. The bears will then be brought to life on Twitter, Facebook and on a dedicated Website doing such things as responding to fans and commenting on the game. They will even have their own Twitter hashtag –#GameDayPolarBears — for fans to follow.

Audi hopes to continue the conversation about the ad via the Twitter hashtag #SoLongVampires.

Security
The Associate Press reports that the National Football League’s showcase event will consume 44 blocks in the heart of the city, closing off streets and forcing an anticipated 150,000 or more fans to jockey with downtown workers for space much of the week. In addition:

Up to 1,000 city police officers will be in the stadium and on the street, carrying smartphones and other electronic hand-held devices that will enable them to feed photos and video to a new state-of-the-art operations center on the city’s east side, or to cruisers driven by officers providing backup, according to the city’s public safety director. Hundreds of officers from other agencies, including the state police and the FBI, will be scanning the crowd for signs of pickpocketing, prostitution or other trouble.

The Game Itself
NBC TV is your broadcast source in case you’re not going to be at the game in person. Kick-off is slated for 6:30 p.m.

So, who’s going to win? Who are you pulling for? The Giants? The Patriots? Or perhaps you don’t really care about the game, or the teams, but you can’t wait for the commercials!

Share your feelings at the comments link on the left. Just don’t expect me to read them on Sunday. I’ll be enjoying the game, chips and dip, and hopefully some funny commercials.

The share of adults in the United States who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January and the same surge in growth also applied to e-book readers, which also jumped from 10% to 19% over the same time period. The number of Americans owning at least one of these digital reading devices jumped from 18% in December to 29% in January.

According to Pew, “the surge in ownership of tablet computers was especially notable among those with higher levels of education and those living in households earning more than $75,000.”

More than a third of those living in households earning more than $75,000 (36%) now own a tablet computer. And almost a third of those with college educations or higher (31%) own the devices. Additionally, those under age 50 saw a particularly significant leap in tablet ownership.

And when it comes to eBook readers, Pew reports:

Ownership of e-readers among women grew more than among men. Those with more education and higher incomes also lead the pack when it comes to e-book ownership, but the gap between them and others isn’t as dramatic. For instance, 19% of those in households earning $30,000-$50,000 have e-book readers. They are 12 percentage points behind those in households earning $75,000 or more in e-book reader ownership. The gap between those income levels on tablet ownership is 20 percentage points.

How about you? Own a tablet or eBook reader? I’ve got an iPad and my wife has an Amazon Kindle… we love both of them. They make accessing content and books so easy, and of course, it’s extremely easy to buy content for them as well. Kind of gets you thinking about the monetization possibilities!

Read the complete report from Pew for more details and charts/graphs.

Before we hit some of the important news, I found this story interesting. It seems that 39,000 pounds of junk mail bound for Florida burned on a Georgia highway.

According to the Associated Press, in a story from January 24, authorities said they determined that nearly 39,000 pounds of mail bound for Florida burned on the side of a highway in Waycross, Ga. A U.S. Postal Service spokesman told the Florida Times-Union that all 38,616 pounds was advertising mail, also known as junk mail. Authorities said a truck driver saw flames coming from around the rear wheels of his semitrailer January 21. Firefighters extinguished the fire, but the mail had already burned.

Now many would say “no harm, no foul” since it’s just junk mail, right!?

With the advent of email, direct mail lost much of its luster. But many are coming back to the medium.

The Direct Marketing Association reports that last year, “more than 70% of Americans shopped direct. More than 80% of U.S. households read some or all of their advertising mail. And nonprofit organizations raised nearly $200 billion from generous donors through direct mail.” Some pretty serious numbers, huh?

Effective this week, the U.S. Post Office announced its “2nd Ounce Free” offering, allowing businesses mailing First-Class Mail automation, presort letters using “2nd Ounce Free” pricing to mail letters weighing up to 2 ounces at the 1-ounce postage rate.

According to a USPS press release, first-class mail automation, presort letters are primarily generated by commercial mailers of bills and statements — or transaction mail. The “2nd Ounce Free” pricing will provide these customers with greater value from their transaction mailings by letting them include an additional ounce that can be used for operational or marketing purposes at no additional cost.

“With 2nd Ounce Free, companies have greater flexibility to offset mailing center costs by including additional promotional offers with bills, invoices and statements,” said Gary Reblin, vice president, Domestic Products. “2nd Ounce Free also provides business mailers with the option of using higher quality paper stock or larger envelopes to create greater impact.”

The Post Office says that “2nd Ounce Free” can be used to inform, educate and strengthen customer loyalty by providing additional information, such as announcements, disclosures and notifications. The extra ounce also can be used to conduct consumer research with surveys and reply cards.

By combining transaction mail with promotional mail, known in the industry as transpromo, companies can add more inserts and “onserts” — totaling up to 2 ounces — without incurring additional postage costs. (Onserts are advertisements or promotional offers usually printed at the bottom of bills or statements.)

Learn more about direct mail and the new prices from USPS (effective Jan. 22).

Listen to your favorite books — business, fiction, selling, whatever — when you want — any time, any where! Listen while you’re commuting, over lunch or while waiting to pick the kids up after school or at their extra curricular activities.

My latest read has been “Free Marketing” by Jim Cockrum. Before that it was “Book Yourself Solid” by Michael Port and I’ve just gotten Brian Tracy’s new book “Sales Success Made Simple” and have gotten through the first couple of chapters. I also love “Millionaire Upgrade” by Richard Parkes Cordock.

It’s a great deal as well. Get a credit every month for a set fee and you can use your credit to purchase any book you want. As a member, you also get 30% off any audiobook purchased without a credit, plus a free daily subscription to “The New York Times” or “The Wall Street Journal.”

And you can listen to your books and newspaper subscription on your iPad, Kindle, Blackberry or hundreds of different MP3 players. And with Audible’s apps, you can listen on your iPhone or Android phone.

I love “reading” with Audible and am sure you will too!

Try Audible Now and Get A FREE Audiobook! (shameless affiliate link).

See December’s best sellers below:

PopShops™ affiliate stores

]]> http://jimperson.com/use-audio-books-to-improve-yourself/feed/ 0 http://jimperson.com/use-audio-books-to-improve-yourself/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JimPerson/~3/QYFnemFPxxg/ http://jimperson.com/some-great-ways-to-increase-your-sales/#comments Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:33:09 +0000 Jim http://jimperson.com/?p=66
I like reading Geoffrey James’ articles. He previously wrote Sales Machine, the world’s most-visited sales-oriented blog, and is now author of Inc.com’s Sales Source column.

In one of his recent articles, James passed along 12 easy ways to increase your sales. And if you’re a sales consultant, small business owner or entrepreneur, you realize the importance of sales, and that if you only learned one way to increase your sales it’d be worth a couple of minutes of reading.

But 12 ways! Wow!!

Among the suggestions for easily increasing your sales:

• Increase the percentage of time you spend selling.
• Think about your solution as a verb.
• Don’t confuse telling with selling.
• Stay on top of your opportunities.
• Outflank your competition.

Read the complete article to learn more about the five tips above, plus all 12 ways to increase your sales.