CONTENTS FEATURE: Tell prospects why they should call you today GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions NET NOTES: Captivating web sites FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn up to $500 FEATURE: Why should prospects call you today? Be sure to tell them      Despite the advent of new electronic media, traditional print advertising vehicles—notably newspapers and direct mail—remain viable because e-mail "spam" and telemarketing phone calls annoy most consumers. Commercial companies and nonprofit organizations successfully use print advertising to induce prospects to make a purchase or a charitable donation. But many printed messages fall short of their potential power to generate revenue because their messages don't convince readers to take prompt action.      Consider the advertising appeal by a consultant offering employment background screening and testing. His advertising message declared "eight reasons to call today": Over 28 years experience as an FBI agent, homicide detective, and security officer with workplace violence prevention experience; Top expertise in his field; Highest rated and most dynamic speaker you may ever hear; Biographical questionnaires customized for you; Cost-effective pricing to comply with clients' budgets; No single act of retaliatory violence have resulted from his techniques; Integrity; No EEO challenges.      Presumably, those are enduring conditions that will remain true next week, or next month. None of them specifies why anyone should call today.      A manufacturer of car wash equipment distributed a flier that said, "Quality products, immediate shipping and assistance from experienced staff are just some of the reasons to call today."      Wrong. Customers expect suppliers to offer high quality, prompt shipping and experienced help every day.      A heating and air conditioning equipment firm distributed a direct-mail flyer that declared, "Here are a few of the many reasons to CALL TODAY." The reasons: Prompt and friendly service; Award-winning installation quality; Energy conservation—stop overpaying the utility company; Ozone-friendly refrigerant; Best warranty and service in the industry; Keep your family comfortable for the holidays; Great financing options.      A skeptical reader might wonder if the service will not be as prompt and friendly tomorrow. Presumably any heating and air conditioning company should offer the services listed. Readers were offered no real incentive to call today.      However, they might be inclined to respond to a limited-time offer, such as free filters for two years with the purchase of a new air-conditioning unit, or a gift certificate for free carpet cleaning service when duct-cleaning maintenance is ordered during the next 30 days. Such a promotion would enable the heating and air conditioning firm to offer customers increased worth—without devaluing the rates it normally charges.      If you want prospects to call you today, make sure you offer good reasons for them to do so. A community organization can spur donations by emphasizing a looming time limit—for example, for contributions to fund an upcoming anniversary event, or for donors to beat a deadline for engraving their names on a dedicatory plaque.      A photo studio marketing high school senior portraits produced an advertisement in late spring that offered a believable reason for people to "call now": it announced that its May, June and July appointments were sold out—and "only a handful of time slots were left in August and September."      That ad created a sense of urgency, and gave readers cause to respond promptly.      The next time you're asked to prepare an advertisement or sales letter, review the appeal message critically and honestly. Would the message grab your attention if it turned up in your mailbox or in the pages of your newspaper? Would you respond to it? Or would it strike you as just another insincere sales pitch that doesn't take your interests to heart?      If your message doesn't incite readers to call today, it is destined to go directly into their recycling bin. Make sure you give them a compelling reason to pay attention and respond promptly. Yes! You can earn up to $500 by recommending EditPros. Read further to learn about our "finder's fee." GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions Kathy Garvey submitted this month's question:      "Solve this: 'General pest management decision making for insects and mites, weeds, diseases, and nematodes.'      In this text, do you include a hyphen between 'decision' and 'making'?" The grammar coach replies:      When used as a compound adjective, "decision-making" should be hyphenated, as in "his decision-making authority was questioned." However, no consensus appears to exist about whether "decision making" should appear as an open compound (two words), closed compound (single word) or in hyphenated form when used as a compound noun.      Most compound nouns involving "making" are closed, as in: bookmaking, cabinetmaking, dressmaking, filmmaking, matchmaking, moneymaking, noisemaking, peacemaking, printmaking, rainmaking and shoemaking. One exception is "policy making," which dictionaries show in open as well as hyphenated form.      However, neither "decisionmaking" nor "decision-making" appears in the Cambridge Dictionary of American English, the Oxford Dictionaries, the American Heritage Dictionary or Merriam-Webster Online.      Curiously, the American Heritage Dictionary uses the noun form inconsistently; it appears in both open and hyphenated forms in the definitions for other entries. The definition for "business ethics" begins: "the study and evaluation of decision making..." (open); but the definition for "groupthink" begins "the act or practice of reasoning or decision-making..." (hyphenated).      The on-line version of the U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual includes a page on compounding examples in which "decisionmaking" is shown as a closed word.      Our recommendation: We'd discourage the closed and hyphenated forms because they are excluded from the four dictionaries cited. By default, we'd recommend the open form ("decision making") as a compound noun.      Thanks for submitting your question, Kathy!      Are you perplexed by some aspect of grammar or word usage? Don't be shy! Ask the "grammar coach" at EditPros and we'll try to help—at no charge, just for the sport of it. NET NOTES: Captivating Internet resources OneLook reverse dictionary      What is someone who makes barrels called? (A cooper.) What is the name for that flap on the back of a hat to protect the neck? (Havelock.) What is the decorative top layer of a wall called? (Cornice.) If you're groping for a word but can't think of it, just pop over to this site and enter a couple of words, a sentence or a question about the term you're seeking. It will generate a list of words—among which will likely be the one you're seeking. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration      Whether you're interested in tracking the latest course of hurricanes, obtaining tidal tables and navigational charts of vital interest to maritime industries, or viewing historic maps and charts, this site may have the information you're seeking. It's operated by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a unit of the U.S. Department of Commerce. MedlinePlus medical encyclopedia and dictionary      MedlinePlus is a comprehensive resource enabling consumers to access information from the world's largest medical library—the National Library of Medicine—as well as from the National Institutes of Health. The site encompasses descriptions of more than 650 medical conditions; lists of hospitals and physicians; a medical encyclopedia and a medical dictionary; and information on prescription and nonprescription drugs. FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn a finder's fee of up to $500      Do you know of a friend or colleague whose office can benefit from EditPros services? If you do, EditPros may reward you with a "finder's fee" of up to $500.      EditPros performs writing, editing and publication management services for newsletters, sales literature, brochures, Web sites and other informational and marketing materials.      If you recommend our services to a friend or business colleague, and that introduction leads to an assignment for EditPros, we will award you a "finder's fee" equaling 10 percent of the amount we earn on the first assignment for the new client, up to a maximum finder's fee of $500. Naturally, the finder's fee is applicable only to clients for which we have not worked previously.      This offer will remain in effect until further notice. YOUR TURN: Ask the "grammar coach" or subscribe      We invite you to submit your questions to the "grammar coach," and we welcome you to subscribe to this monthly newsletter—which we'll send to your e-mail address at no charge. We respond to all "grammar coach" questions personally, but delays may occur because we must place top priority on assignments from our clients. We appreciate your patience and your interest.      You also can change your e-mail subscription address. For an address change, please indicate your existing AND your new e-mail address. Thank you. OUR PRIVACY POLICY for e-mail newsletter subscribers:      We do not use any commercial e-mail lists or automated mass-mailing programs, and we do not allow access to the list by anyone else for any reason. Our subscriber list is maintained by hand, and it is not for sale. We are protective of confidentiality because many of our readers are also clients of ours. Any accompanying advertising is placed by Yahoo.com in exchange for our use of the e-mail server to distribute this newsletter.