Although many states have bans on hand-held cell phone calling while driving, they exempt incoming, emergency calls, and also some professionals (I would like to think my doctor can be asked for his guidance in an emergency).

Most states have primary enforcement for their cell phone laws, which means an officer can pull you over and give you a citation if he sees a cell phone in your hand while you are behind the wheel. Only Maryland and Utah have secondary offense laws, meaning the officer must pull you over for a driving offense (were you weaving or speeding?) before checking if you were using your cell phone.

California is hoping to reduce the 4,000-person annual death toll from traffic accidents by about 300, but a Harris Interactive poll in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey found that although 72 percent have a hands-free product in their cars, only about 14 percent of drivers use them while driving. Reasons they gave were that the devices were uncomfortable and difficult to use.

A recent study established that young adults talking on cell phones while driving, not only had their reaction time slowed, but that it was the conversation on the phone, especially the listening part, that caused the reaction-slowing distraction.

Current state cell phone driving law highlights include the following:

Preemption Laws: Several states have cell phone laws, but treat cell phone use as a larger distracted driving issue. Preemption laws prohibit local jurisdictions (like cities) from enacting their own restrictions.

School Bus Drivers: In 18 states and the District of Columbia, school bus drivers are prohibited from all cell phone use when passengers are present, except for emergencies.

Text Messaging: 30 states ban text messaging for all drivers, and other states have introduced similar legislation.

The list so far:

From: Cell Phone and Texting Laws (January 2011)

8 states (CA, CT, DL, MD, NJ, NY, OR, WA) plus D.C. and Virgin Islands ban hand held cell phones while driving. In all except MD, law enforcement can cite a driver if they SEE a cell phone being held while driving (primary enforcement).

6 states (FL, KY, LA, MS, NV, OK) have preemption laws prohibiting localities from enacting their own laws.

28 states and D.C. ban ALL cell phone use while driving for Novice drivers. The definition generally includes drivers under 18 and holding learner permits or provisional or intermediate licenses for less than 12 months.

18 states and D.C. ban cell phone use for school bus drivers with passengers.

30 states, D.C. and Guam ban texting while driving. 26 of those states have primary enforcement (an officer just has to SEE a cell phone in the driver’s hand). 2 states prohibit school bus drivers from texting while driving.

An additional 8 states prohibit texting while driving by novice drivers.

Drivers who want to (legally) talk while driving are adapting to the new reality.

Presentations explain the features and benefits of a program or product. 

Giving presentations are the easy part, with so many electronic products available to make your presentation professional and convincing. 

It is understood that you are highlighting benefits to them, not just features of the product.

But when your presentation comes to the last slide, what then?

Will your audience just sit there, not knowing what comes next?  This is where you have to confirm the sale.  This is the close, where you move your audience from a passive, receiving position into action. 

The Close:

This is your summation, where you condense your message, reiterate the key points and move them toward the path you have laid out for them. 

It is a common wrong assumption that your audience is now in tune with you and knows exactly what you want them to do. 

Tell them what to do next:

I worked with a man selling electrical saving devices for the home.  The devices were not cheap ($500), but they would save 20-35% of a home’s electric bill.  He offered to install a model without cost for a month, so the homeowner could see the difference. 

He told his prospect exactly what they were going to do next, what they needed to do and why they should do it (the benefit).  If he assumed the customer knew what to do, he would many times be left with a prospect thinking “that’s nice” rather than participating in the sale.  He guided the prospect toward an installation date, assuring him that he was taking all the risk and the homeowner was taking none. 

He knew his customers would pay to keep the device once they saw the savings on their monthly bill.

Selling multiple products like courses or recordings can be achieved through a checklist where prospects select their choices as each is presented.  Question marks can highlight any cloudy areas.  In this way, the audience is interactive.  This is exactly the way builders go over upgrades to a new house, or companies with multiple product offerings offer selections. 

The assumption is that the prospect will buy one or more items.  The question marks can be dealt with as the sale is being rung up, perhaps with further explanation or demonstration  later – but the sale is handled first.

Help them buy:

When presenting a course of action to achieve a result, guiding your audience with a question of “what are our next steps?” will lead to participation.  Combined with your presentation, this question indicates all possibilities have been considered and now the audience must figure out how to put that course of action into place.

A different question of “which of these courses do you like?” without guiding to a specific course runs the danger of the answer, “None.”

The bottom line is that you are helping your audience choose the best course of action for them.  Don’t sell them.  Help them buy.  Put yourself in their perspective.

Closes that rarely work:

Questions?  What are your thoughts?  These closing questions initiate confusion.  Many people attending a presentation want to take in benefits and be assured that the presenter’s course is the right one.  Asking for questions will force issues to clarify, many times confusing the audience, leading the discussion down other tracks and dampening sales action.

It is better to emphasize the next step in the sales process, offering to be available later for specific questions.  Don’t give up control of the close.

Which do you like better?  This closing question invokes choice and confusion.  People rarely like to be put on the spot, and will choose neither rather than make the wrong choice.

Finally, never sound hopeful that the presentation was clear and the audience understood the overall objective.  Maintain control, put yourself in their shoes, and help them buy with firm and knowledgeable guidance.

Now is the time to be aggressive at work, when being noticed and becoming indispensable to your company are more important than ever. 

John M. McKee, is the author of Career Wisdom: 101 Proven Strategies to Ensure Workplace Success

Pretty much any time is the appropriate time for self-promotion.  Even in this environment, there are people who are thriving and succeeding.  Those people are very good at self-promotion. 

Some tips from the book:

1.     Develop an elevator speech:

Take advantage of those brief encounters with people who can influence your career in the future, like if you happen to meet the CEO going to work and share an elevator ride.  To prepare, take 2-3 sentences that will present you in a very effective way and you feel comfortable with, memorize them, and use them at every opportunity.

2.     Pace Your Boss:

It is entirely to your benefit to spend as much time with your boss as possible.  If your boss comes in early or stays late, or comes in on the weekend, match those traits as much as possible to show you share the same work ethics.  Being with your boss and spending some one-on-one time when others are not around vying for attention is a great opportunity to establish or cement a relationship.

3.     Over-communicate:

We rely too much today on text messaging, voice mails and emails to get our messages across.  We need to make sure that people are aware of our contributions.  If decisions are being made that will impact who will be laid off or promoted, you want to be in the right area. 

Go out of your way to tell your boss what you are doing, by asking for formal meetings on a regular basis, chance encounters using the elevator speech, or perhaps sending a weekly email update of a status report for them. 

It is preferential to have the meeting in person, because the power of communication in face-to-face meetings or one-on-one far outweighs anything that text messaging or the volume of emails or the endless voicemails they get.  You want to see them, look them in the eye and convey your successes.

4.     Shine Brighter by Sharing Credit:

Most people hate “glory-hogs”.  It doesn’t matter whether it is your boss, or people that work with you or people working for you.  If you are seen as a “credit-hog” that takes all the glory, it will come back and bite you.  In an environment where people are shrinking the number of people working for them, they are often looking for a team player, someone who can work well with others and do more than one task.  Share the credit, be part of team, keep a job.

5.     Look the Part:

Dress for the position you want in the future.  You want to be perceived as capable as moving ahead.  It is also how you communicate, and how you carry yourself, standing tall, looking people in the eye, talking clearly, all make you look more like a winner, and when promotion opportunities come around, they will look to you first.

6.     Arrive Rested and Prepared:

It’s not always possible.  With all the news we see and hear, people are getting more anxious, and when we are more anxious, it impacts our sleep.  When our sleep goes downhill, we don’t perform very well, we become more emotional and foggy-headed.  We arrive on the job and are not capable of making decisions we would like to make with the speed that we would like to. 

You must get a good night’s sleep, come in prepared for the job and be clear-headed to make decisions.

7.     Network, Network:

Use social networking online.  Services like LinkedIn, Plaxo, and Facebook are being used more and more by recruiters, cruising, and looking for job replacements.  Make sure you look as good as you can on them.  Use them to connect with other people in like-minded jobs across the country to share ideas and learn tips. 

On a lower tech level, go to industry events as often as you can, get your card out there, use your resume, and your elevator speech.

See Career Wisdom: 101 Proven Strategies to Ensure Workplace Success