Exasperated? Goleman had no idea he was coming across that way. A quick phone call cleared everything up, and it taught him a valuable lesson: Sometimes we need the full range of information that can come only from looking someone in the eyes and hearing the sound of his or her voice.

Of course, in order for any type of freebie to achieve its aim, it has to be valuable to the recipient, and one thing that most people have in common is that they value knowledge, which is why offering free e-books on a subject related to the product or service that your business sells can be so effective in terms of marketing.

Like well-written company blogs, e-books are a great way for a company to build its brand and to raise confidence and trust in its expertise, not to mention being superb tools for driving high volumes of traffic to its website and generating sales leads. As those who visit your site to download the free e-book are already specifically interested in what you have to offer, the leads that you generate are mostly of high quality.

If you are not a budding author or simply don’t have the time to write your own e-book, then the services of a freelance writer can be procured for very little money. All your business then needs to do is promote the e-book through e-book libraries and freeware sites and follow up on all those valuable leads.

Follow these tips to negotiate agreements productively and without stress:

• Keep an open mind. Brainstorm ideas. Listen to outlandish proposals. Entertain unusual possibilities. Thiswill expand opportunities for agreement.

• Treat people fairly. When people feel you’re being fair with them, they’re more likely to make real commitments. If they think you’re trying to cheat them, they’ll walk away in a huff. You won’t get commitment unless the other party feels you’re sincerely trying to do what’s right.

• Listen actively. Don’t plan what you’re going to say while the other side is talking.  Pay attention to what they’re saying so you know where they’re coming from and what they really want. When your response makes it clear that you’ve really been listening, they’ll be more willing to listen to your proposals.

• Grab them with your subject. The subject line should read like a compelling newspaper headline. One technique is to use the subject line to tell people what you want up front:  “Please come to the 3 p.m. meeting,” for example, or “Do you have the Jones file?”

• Limit yourself to one subject per message. Don’t overload readers with questions and data. Single-topic e-mails are easier to answer than lengthy essays or questionnaires.

• Ask for action. Tell the reader what you need him or her to do—present a report at the 3 o’clock meeting, or bring the Jones file to your office. Specify whether you want a response to your e-mail. If it’s not necessary, tell them.

• Be consistent. Tracking e-mails is easier when you keep the same subject line.

Here are some basic sales tips that will help you advance and prosper:

• Reject rejection. Even veteran salespeople dread the possibility of rejection. To counter this fear, keep reminding yourself that when prospects turn you down, they’re rejecting your ideas, or the product you sell, or even your company—not you. Never take rejection personally.

• Build rapport without wasting time. A common mistake many salespeople make is spending too much time “making friends” with the prospect. Though building rapport is useful and important, making friends doesn’t automatically translate to making sales. Save time by finding one thing you have in common with the prospect, and talk about that one thing for two minutes. Then, move on to your prospect’s needs. Prospects don’t want to waste time on chitchat any more than you do; most will be gratified to deal with someone who wants to get down to business.

• Don’t mail more pieces than you can follow up on. If your strategy is to mail promotional letters to prospects and then follow up with a phone call, watch how many pieces you mail. You’re better off mailing in small batches and following up each piece with a prompt phone call while the piece is fresh in prospects’ minds. Otherwise, you run the risk of your prospects forgetting what you mailed them by the time you reach them.

• Rate each of your prospects. Whenever you meet with prospects, assign them a rating based on three questions: 1) Do they have a motivation to buy? 2) Is there an urgency to buy now? and 3) Do they have the resources to buy? Put each prospect on a scale of 1 to 10, and spend a lot of time only with your highest-rated prospects. You’ll find that by rating prospects right off the bat, you can quickly disqualify people and move on before you waste a lot of their time and yours.

In terms of the best time of day to follow up, experts believe that after 3:30 p.m. is most productive, because even though customers might not actually place an order at this time, they are generally more open to arranging a telephone appointment for the following day. Perhaps surprisingly, Mondays are the worst day of the week to follow up and Fridays are far and away the best.

Timing, as they say, is everything, and that is never truer than in the world of online B2B marketing!

• Write a clear and descriptive subject line.

• Address the person politely.

• State your reasons for contact.

• Introduce yourself.

• Explain who you are, what you are doing and what you want to know.

• Restate your question and elaborate, if necessary.

• Thank the person and sign off with a formal signature.

• Read your letter and make sure it says exactly what you want it to say—and is error free.

• Get in touch again in a week if you’ve gotten no response.

• Don’t make urgent requests. Assume that the person on the other end is as overwhelmed as you are.

The poll’s findings report that it’s important to a company’s long-term success to make employees feel like they are working toward a greater purpose. It is also important to make employees feel valuable.

How do you get employees to buy into job training? You develop a training program that tells them what needs to be done, how it needs to be done—and finally you give them feedback on how they’re doing.

Who wouldn’t respond positively to a question like that?