I'm really excited, my newest book just hit the shelves about 10 days ago. I've been waiting to let you know to be sure Amazon and BN.com had enough in stock to ship out immediately. The book is called The 12 Factors of Business Success, you'll find it here:
http://www.bestsuccessfactors.com.

I wrote this book with two psychologists, Dr. Mollie Marti and Dr. Kevin Hogan. It is based on the latest psychological research and
case studies with and questions from our clients and readers like you. I honestly think that this is unlike other success books because it takes a deep look at what makes individual business people successful in life and in their career. Be forewarned though, this is not a book filled with platitudes and motivational hype, it is real psychology combined with practical application that you can implement right now.

Here's what I'd love for you to do:
1. Grab a copy of the book at http://tinyurl.com/12factors
2. Take your receipt and go to http://www.bestsuccessfactors.com click on the link that says Bonuses! and you'll have the opportunity to get a ton of bonuses for buying the book if you want them.

Read the book as soon as you can or study a chapter a week, I'm confident you'll find it transformational. The people who have reviewed early copies and who found it on Amazon when it first released 10 days ago are raving about it. I want you to get it from Amazon because if you don't like it for any reason, they'll take it back.

I'm really excited to have written a book with such great co-authors but most importantly, I'm thrilled that I was finally able to articulate the factors of success that I've found so powerful in my own life and business.

To your success!

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Spin makes the world of business and politics go round. Spin is a form of applied propaganda and when done properly and ethically it is very powerful. One of the best examples of a spin meister is the movie Thank You For Smoking, it is a must view for every serious student of persuasion, public relations and propaganda.

Spin is about putting a tough subject or question in the best possible light. However, all too often spin goes bad because someone is unprepared for the questions. The first rule of spin is to be able to predict all possible questions. The second rule of spin (and the most valuable asset when spinning) is to be able to pause just long enough between question and answer to collect your thoughts, spin, and then answer. If you can't do that, you need someone better on their feet answering the hard questions. Take a look at this example:

Now normally Tucker is good on his feet but Campbell Brown has rocked him on his heels plus she is baiting and taunting him with her facial expressions. She goads him ruthlessly and he has no response. He tried one spin "Our vice president candidate has as much experience as our opponent's Presidential candidate." Campbell digs in harder and hits him about them making foreign policy experience an issue and digs in about the National Guard. He can't recover.

What might he have done to stop the onslaught? He could simply have said, "John McCain has more foreign policy experience than our VP candidate and both of our opponents candidates combined. John McCain is the next President of the United States and our VP will gain valuable foreign policy experience under the tutelage of John McCain, who is going to tutor Barak Obama or his VP?" That would have changed the whole tone of the argument and taken the wind out of her sails. Tucker Bounds should also have been better prepared with executive decisions that Palin had made during her tenure as Governor of Alaska.

When spinning keep these core rules in mind:

1. Be prepared - Know in advance what the questions will be, could be, might be.
2. The best defense is a good offense - Think through the potential attack and be prepared by launching your own attack immediately when you are questioned.
3. Be fast on your feet, leverage subterfuge, sarcasm, humor, related points, examples from your opponents speeches, ask questions in return.
4. Change the issue - Turn the issue on the questioner, make them respond to your attack to remove the attention from yourself.
5. Calm down - Don't let them see you sweat, remain unfettered no matter what they say.
6. Speak with authority - Say it like you mean it and like it is the undeniable truth.
7. Finally, spin in advance so you don't have to spin under pressure.

Seth Godin makes a very powerful point when he says "What you have doesn't make you unhappy. What you want does."

In terms of persuasion, your goal often is to make people unhappy by increasing the emotional connection to what they want. By keeping them focused on the source of their unhappiness and increasing their desire to be happy by getting what they want you cause them to buy.

And, as the brilliant Seth Godin points out, that all changes once they do buy from you, now all of your focus has to be on reminding people how happy they are . . . but happy related to products is fleeting so you must continue to provide them with more opportunities to see ways in which they are happy with your product or service that they haven't even considered yet.

Happiness is a core belief study for all true persuasionists and one of the best short videos on happiness and how it occurs was done by Dr. Dan Gilbert, Harvard Professor of Psychology and author of the book Stumbling On Happiness . Watch this very informative video here by clicking here or just watch below.