Issue #2116
- WEALTHY: 5 ways to get a stubborn insurance company to pay up (Jason Holland)
- HEALTHY: Say goodbye to boring push-ups (Suzanne Richardson)
- WISE: George Herbert on eyes
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Become a human lie detector with this simple technique (Paul Lawrence)
- A secret about communication that is seldom taught (Michael Masterson)
- It’s Fun to Know… about the connection between mortgage foreclosures and mosquitoes
- Add "paterfamilias" to your vocabulary
Your Computer Sucks
No, I’m not being impolite. I mean your computer sucks your time, your money and your life away from you.
Drip drip drip… out it goes.
But now there’s a way to turn that flow around… to stop GIVING all the time and start GETTING!
Join hundreds of your fellow ETR readers who are making the switch over to The “Other Side” of the Internet.
- Patrick Coffey
How to Win a Fight With Your Insurance Company
You may be thinking that only spurious claims are rejected by health insurance companies, that only patients seeking unnecessary plastic surgery or unapproved experimental treatments are denied coverage – but that is far from the truth. It’s not uncommon for insurance companies to deny a claim, even for care that is medically necessary. According to a recent survey by PNC Financial Services Group, almost 25 percent of patients have had a legitimate claim denied.
A friend of mine recently filed a claim for an annual physical, a routine doctor’s visit that should have been completely covered under her insurance plan. But the claim was repeatedly denied for bogus reasons that made sense only to the insurer’s bloated bureaucracy. Out of frustration, my friend paid the bill herself, and has since switched insurers.
Chances are, you might find yourself in a similar situation. But instead of feeling like you’re stuck with nagging the insurance company for endless hours or writing out an unnecessary check, try these strategies from CNN.com to get insurers to reverse their denials:
- Seek help from your doctor, the hospital business office, the employee benefits office, and nonprofit advocacy groups. They can wield more authority with insurance companies than you.
- Don’t give up on appeals. Persistence can sometimes yield a decision in your favor.
- Watch what you say when communicating with insurers. Words like "cosmetic" can trigger denials.
- Have your doctor re-file your claim after modifying the paperwork. Subtle changes in language can alter the insurer’s decision.
- Hire a lawyer. The possibility of a lawsuit can sometimes scare an insurance company into a settlement.
[Ed. Note: Learn the keys to handling difficult situations involving your health, your business, and your family. Just pick up your free copy of ETR's Unscrew Your Life e-book, and get 223 pages of our most practical insider information.]
"The eyes have one language everywhere."
George Herbert
The Eyes Have It
Whenever you have to work with others – whether you’re trying to accomplish a business or a personal objective – your ability to communicate is absolutely crucial. In fact, being a good communicator is one of the most important success skills you can develop. Today, I’ll teach you two simple techniques you can use to become a better, more persuasive communicator – at work, in your personal relationships, and with your customers.
But first, why are communication skills so important?
Let’s say you’re in a business meeting and you want to look good in front of your new supervisor. Here’s where your ability to communicate can help you sink or swim. You’ve got to get your ideas across in a succinct and effective manner, without looking like you’re blatantly trying to earn points.
Perhaps you’re in the opposite position. Maybe you just got a promotion and need to win over a new group of subordinates. Making this happen is largely dependent upon your communication skills.
And communication is just as important in your personal life. Maybe you’ve decided that you’ve got to relocate if you want to advance in your career, but your spouse is reluctant to make the move. Being able to make your case in a positive way can actually affect the rest of your life.
The art of communication is a complicated subject, but you can greatly enhance your communication skills simply by learning a few "tricks of the trade." One of them is knowing how to read nonverbal cues. Research suggests that when you’re communicating in person with someone, as much as 93 percent of that communication is nonverbal.
Body language is a big part of nonverbal communication, but the eyes may be even more revealing. (You know the old saying, "The eyes are the window to the soul.") And there are some specific techniques related to the eyes that you can use – whether you’re the one reading the message or the one sending it. Here are two that I’ve found to be very useful…
1. Become a Human Lie Detector
When a salesman is trying to convince you to buy his product, wouldn’t you like to feel confident that all the claims he’s making are for real? And what if you’re the one doing the selling? Wouldn’t it be helpful to know if your prospect is telling you the truth when he gives you his reason for passing on your offer? (After all, if you don’t know what his problem is, you’re not going to be able to overcome it!)
Well, there is no 100 percent foolproof way to determine whether someone is telling the truth, but the "Reid Technique of Police Interrogation" can help you figure out if you’re being lied to. The nine-step technique was developed by a police polygraph (lie detector) operator, John Reid, who observed his subjects’ behavior while he was administering the polygraphs.
The scientific basis for the technique is that when the brain is processing information, it sends signals to the body that are manifested in a physical way. The part of the technique that I want to talk about here has to do with the eyes.
Reid discovered that when people are remembering something, their eyes often move to the right… and that when they’re thinking (using the portion of the brain that deals with new images, sounds, and thoughts), their eyes often move to the left or upward. To take advantage of this behavior, the detective who will be doing the interrogating first engages the subject in some simple conversation, asking questions to establish a pattern for his involuntary movements. Then he moves into the "real" questions regarding the crime.
If, for example, the detective asks the subject where he was on the night the crime was committed and the subject’s eyes move to the left, that could indicate he’s trying to fabricate a story. On the other hand, if his eyes move to the right, he may simply be remembering (truthfully) where he was.
So when you ask your assistant why he missed an important deadline, or you ask your teenager why he didn’t call to let you know he’d be late… you might be able to use this technique to decide whether or not you should believe the answer.
2. Get People to Talk Without Saying a Word
Let’s say you want to encourage a certain employee to contribute more in your regular weekly meetings. Instead of making him feel self-conscious by calling on him during the meeting, you can use the power of your eyes to get him to speak up.
Sciencedaily.com published a study in which subjects were told that they were participating in a three-way video-conference with other participants – and that they were to attempt to solve language puzzles as a group. The "other participants" were actors whose images were electronically transmitted to the subjects – and during the so-called video-conference, they made various degrees of eye contact with the subjects (looking at the camera intensely, looking away, and so on). What the researchers discovered was that people in group discussions will speak up more if they receive a greater amount of eye contact from other group members.
Before I came across this technique, I was often frustrated when I was trying to get someone to open up to me and share their thoughts. Simply making eye contact with them made a huge difference.
Effective communication is critical to success in any endeavor. Knowing how to use the eyes to gauge truthfulness and to encourage people to speak up are just two of the powerful communication skills you should develop.
[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is a produced screenwriter, direct-mail copywriter, and business author. He is also the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR's program for starting a business for under $100. For more easy strategies you can use to become a more effective communicator, click here.]
Launch a Business in One of the Fastest-Growing Niche Markets Around
The Ultimate Pet Photography Workshop Hershey, Pennsylvania * September 14 – 16, 2007
- Learn from our team of professional photographers how to turn people’s urge to pamper their pets into a profitable income-earner that’s not just fun, but lucrative, too.
- Discover the secrets to photographing animals — how to put them at ease, how to make them look their best — and how to create photo packages pet owners will love.
- Find out three more ways to turn a profit on every pet photo you take — with virtually no additional work — and triple or quadruple your pet-photo income.
- Learn how (even with no technical savvy) you can quickly, easily, and affordably set yourself up to look — and sell — like a pro… so you can enjoy the freedom, flexibility, and independence that comes with being your own boss.
To Get Your Sales Message Across, Make It Simple
Consider any great marketing campaign – Burger King, Charmin, Marlboro. Examine any best-selling, non-fiction book – The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, What Color Is Your Parachute?, Chicken Soup for the Soul, etc.
What do they all have in common? Simple themes. Ideas so simple they can be expressed – and understood – in a few short words.
Simplicity is key. But it’s not enough. For an idea to really take off – to seize the public’s imagination and explode in growth – it must be not only simple but also good.
A bad or dated idea, however simply expressed, is still a bad or dated idea. But a fresh new thought stated cleanly can have great power. People hear it and think, "Yes! That’s right! That’s just what I’ve been thinking myself!"
By making machines simpler, they become more widely used. By making work processes faster, more people can do the work with fewer mistakes. By making marketing messages simpler, a greater percentage of the population can respond to them.
One of Hemingway’s biggest contributions to modern English prose (and one of the main reasons for his popularity) is that he managed to convey complex and subtle ideas in the simplest of ways.
St. Jerome, one of the Catholic Church’s top writing honchos, argued against ornate language. "I have revered always not crude verbosity," he said in a letter to a friend, "but holy simplicity."
It took John Huss, the Puritan martyr, quite some time to figure this out. It wasn’t until he was awaiting his death that it came to him. On seeing an aged peasant bringing a bundle of twigs to throw on the pile that would burn him at the stake, Huss is reported to have said, "O sancta simplicitas!" ("Oh holy simplicity!")
Don’t wait till the last moment to discover this important truth. Here’s what you can do today:
Examine your business’s (or your book’s or your whatever’s) basic idea. Ask yourself, "Is it good?"
If it passes the "good" test (which means it’s sound and useful), ask yourself if it has been clearly expressed.
Do your customers understand exactly what it is? Do your vendors? Your employees?
Is it translated into a simple sales message – one that can be understood almost immediately? Understood and repeated from memory?
If there is any doubt, you should probably do some work on making it simpler.
ETR Insider Report: Not Your Grandma’s Push-Ups
Push-ups strengthen a lot more than your arms, shoulders, and chest. Because of all the stabilizing muscles at work, they are truly a full-body workout. But you have to admit that regular old push-ups can get a little boring.
Yesterday, I told you about a core- and upper-body-strengthening type of push-up that some ETR staffers have been doing as part of the company’s fitness and weight-loss challenge: the Spiderman push-up. Today, I’ve got another even more difficult type of push-up you can try to keep things interesting. (Coach Yari calls them "push-ups with a twist.")
- As with normal push-ups, lie on your stomach, making sure your hands line up with your chest.
- Push yourself off the ground with your arms (as in a normal push-up).
- As you’re straightening your arms, swing your left leg under your body to the right, twisting your hips to the right as well.
- Balancing on your left hand and right toe, stretch your right arm out and back to touch your left toe.
This exercise is not for the faint of heart, so make sure you’re good and ready before you test it out. Then prepare to increase your balance and flexibility and see stronger biceps, triceps, and shoulders.
[Ed. Note: If you'd like more information about getting fitter and healthier and burning fat, check out Coach Yari's "Get Fit in 6" program. And if you'd like to learn more about nutrition, exercise, diet, health and healing, pain relief, natural remedies, and more, sign up for ETR's brand-new FREE weekly natural health newsletter.]
It’s Fun to Know: The Connection Between Mortgage Foreclosures and Mosquitoes
Mortgage foreclosures in the Sunbelt are leaving thousands of homes unoccupied. Many of these homes have pools – and when the pools are not maintained, they become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other insects, according to USA Today.
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Word to the Wise: Paterfamilias
"Paterfamilias" (pay-tur-fuh-MIL-ee-us) – from the Latin – is the male head of a household.
Example (as used by Leslie Stainton in Lorca: A Dream of Life): "His father served as paterfamilias to the entire Garcia clan, dispensing money and advice to those who needed it, and the family, in turn, revered him."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007
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