Don't be lazy-get that sale

With so many social media monitoring sites like Radian6, google alerts & Collective intellect, it has become apparent just how important online chatter has become.A lot of companies only use these sites in a crisis pr environment, but is that a wasted opportunity?There is such a thing as proactive social media that the Pr professional should not only develop but embrace. You should always be on the lookout for mentions of your business. All you have to do to prove this point tweet to your followers that you are in a particular town and ask what restaurant to go to. Why should business that are in your area not tweet themselves? They can only do this if they are constantly monitoring online chat. Surely, a wasted opportunity if the restaurant themselves did niot promote themselves?I once worked for an insurance company and the one thing that I took away from a solid month of training was: DONT BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR THE BUSINESS!!We went looking for bunkbeds recently, we went to at least 4 furniture shops ready and willing to spend our hard earned cash! NOT ONE of the sales people asked for the sale, none seemed eager, in fact they were the opposite. Two did not even stand when we approached their desk asking about delivery costs.This surely was an indicator that we were willing to buy. The sales people seemed tried and had no interest in our plight - even when the sale was standing right in front of them. I would not be impressed if I was their boss depending on each and every sale.The two lessons here are: 1. MONITOR ONLINE CHATTER 2. DONT BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR THE SALE - BE EAGER, NOT HALF DEAD!We're still looking for the bunkbeds. Anyone willing to prove my point!!Lorra