Collectors take note: Nothing disarms another person’s objections more than a genuinely warm and inviting smile. Since the skill to persuade is a pillar of merchant-collections management, upping your smile power can do a lot to move those past-due receivables to the ‘paid-in-full’ column.

While it’s true most collection activity revolves around the telephone, smiling operates on more than one frequency. A smile transmits cheer both in person and over the phone. Here’s yet another interesting fact: Facial muscles strongly impact an individual’s feelings. Try it. Make a frown and keep it while you go about your daily activities. You’ll soon find it really does affect your mood.

Scientists have discovered smiling is a powerful gesture, indeed. In fact, research has demonstrated that presenting a genuine smile can be as potent to a person’s psyche as receiving a wad of cash! It’s one small but important tool to moving a slow pay to the current column.

To boost your smile power, begin with the mirror test. Don’t trust your feelings. Trust the image you see reflected in the looking glass. You need to focus mindfully on those facial muscles. Now form a smile. Freeze that expression and look into the mirror. What is the quality of your smile? Look at your image objectively. Are you actually frowning instead of smiling?

The truth is, your looking-glass self may not match your internal self at all. Have someone take a series of photographs of you while you go about your normal activities of interacting with others, particularly while you are on the phone. Try to ignore the camera. Then take a peek at those images. Does your internalized self-image match those photographs?

If not, practice will make perfect. Spend a few minutes a day focusing on the image you want to project to those past-due account holders. Keep at it until that mental image in your mind matches the one you are actually projecting to those around you.

Keep in mind that all this talk of practicing smiles is not about being disingenuous — in fact it’s just the opposite. It’s about accurately projecting the authentic feelings and the persona that reflect your ‘best’ self while you are on the job.

Now that you’ve peered deeply into your smile power, aim to put that best face forward. Tune up that convincing smile, and then bring those past-due accounts current. That will give you a definite reason to break out into a smile!

If you want to bump your multi-level marketing skills to the next level, consider tapping the expertise of a life coach to help you develop and enhance your abilities for managing both your business and your life.

Life coaching is a billion-dollar industry in the U.S. That should tell you something. It’s a powerful signal that having someone standing by to help you be a better salesman isn’t such a bad idea. If you’re considering tapping the expertise of a life coach to hone your salesmanship abilities, check out these four tips:

1. Choose the right coach for you. Be cognizant of the fact that coaching per se isn’t regulated. The term is vague and may be interpreted in different ways by different organizations. Do you need someone to help you sharpen your sales skills? Or perhaps you often find yourself buried under a heap of paperwork — a time suck that drains your bank account. Maybe you just need some tips on presenting your sales pitch. This is where accreditation comes into play. The International Coach Federation’s certification serves as a benchmark for the industry and will help you find the right coach for your needs.
2. Size up the credentials. In similar fashion to choosing a physician or an accountant, ensure there’s more than just sizzle to the steak. Don’t be shy. Ask for credentials. There are a significant number of fake credentials floating around. The Bureau of Consumer Protection Business Center offers some tips on how to root out the flimflam artists.
3. Successful coaches pose questions. They also possess excellent listening skills and they set and track their goals. While vetting a coach’s expertise, if you hear the person shift blame to another person, that’s a danger signal. Taking personal responsibility for your missteps is the mark of a successful life coach.
4. Know when to end the coaching relationship. Top-notch sales or business coaching eventually proves its obsolescence, if it serves its purpose, so be prepared to end the relationship in a professional manner. Have a face-to-face meeting with your life coach and ensure the parting is one that ends with a smile, because you did it! Your coach helped you reach the next level in multi-level marketing acumen.

As Americans, we enjoy freedom like few others in the world, and it’s easy to take our right to come and go as we please for granted.

This isn’t always the case with habitual criminals who are used to facing the prospect of arrest. But that is certainly not the norm for most Americans, whose dalliances with the law are few and far between.

Yet it’s a fact that false charges and bizarre circumstances can ensnare even the nicest person, who is often shocked by the turn of events. Unlike the hardened criminal who knows the cat-and-mouse routine quite well, the Average Joe rarely comprehends the nightmare of an unexpected arrest, particularly when the accused is a law-abiding person.

In May 2013, Gail Gerlach of Spokane faced a charge of first-degree manslaughter after firing a gun at a thief who subsequently died from the gunshot. Gerlach told officers he thought he saw a gun, but investigators determined that the SUV thief had been armed only with two sets of shaved keys, a flashlight and a screwdriver. Gerlach said he left his car running in his driveway and watched the suspect drive away with his car. He admitted to officers he fired the gun.

If you are the person under arrest in a situation like Gerlach’s, which has garnered much attention from the press, immediately following such a traumatic event is not the ideal time to locate and retain a family attorney. If you do not have an existing relationship with an attorney, the situation can quickly spiral out of control. In such stressful circumstances and without the presence of an attorney, the person under arrest may utter words that can have a dramatic impact on a criminal case.

Panic and shock in the wake of such an event can leave a person in an extremely vulnerable situation. The take-home lesson here is to form a relationship with an attorney when life is proceeding along smoothly and no horrific crisis is literally knocking on the front door. Adrenaline has a nasty effect on logical, rational thinking.

Plan for such a crisis even if you never expect it to happen. Few people ensnared in these situations ever believe that it could happen to them. If you do not have a family attorney who knows you and is ready to help you during a crisis, today is a good time to find one.

What is cold laser therapy? The short answer: It’s a penetrating beam of light that stimulates healing and decreases inflammatory pain. Here’s the long answer.

Using the same type of healing philosophies practiced by chiropractors, cold laser health providers aim a particular wavelength of light — in this case between 600 and 635 nm wavelength. It’s the same wavelength that occurs when DNA replicates. This therapeutic approach is not a quickie solution, as multiple sessions are typically required to obtain the desired result. However, the fact that it’s a non-invasive treatment regimen, which has effectively reduced pain and inflammation for many a patient, convinces sufferers to seek a cold laser practitioner.

Cold laser therapy works in tandem with other common chiropractic procedures, all of which limit additional trauma to a patient. That is in stark contrast to many traditional approaches to resolving inflammation through administering drugs or even performing surgical interventions.

Many people really do underestimate the healing power of the human body and spirit. As a culture, we have pursued a mechanical, piecemeal approach to healing inflammation and soft-tissue injuries for many decades.

Ask your chiropractor about cold laser therapy. Many people have found it to provide pain relief, according to the American Cancer Society’s website. As each individual presents a unique case, be sure to seek advice from a medical provider for your specific health concerns.