After spending 30 minutes in a coffee shop with a potential client, I realized that the sheet of paper they were writing on was almost full; full of ideas that I had just given away for free. If you consult, coach, or are in the advice-giving field, you may have had a similar experience. Here are some valuable techniques to practice that will prevent you from giving away free consulting. In most cases, arrange to meet with your potential clients for about 30 minutes, to see if you are a match; that is, can you offer a service to them and do they need it?...

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He was pretty smart to target women as prospects for his business. After all, experts say that in the average household women control over two thirds, 75 percent, of the finances and are responsible for 80 percent of purchasing decisions. That means women wake up in the morning ready to spend money. Will they spend it with your business? And what about women-owned businesses? Well, that's a huge market too. According the the Center for Women's Business Research, 10.6 million firms are at least 50% owned by a woman or women and the average growth rate of women-owned firms is nearly twice that of all firms....

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1. Determine the goals of your promotional products program. Do you want to create awareness? To attract new customers? To reward or provide incentives to existing customers? Remember to determine a means for measuring the results. 2. Plan ahead. At minimum, you'll need two to four weeks forproduction and delivery of standard products. If you wait until the last minute, your choices will be limited and you may pay more. When creating custom items, it can take 12 weeks or more shipping from overseas sources....

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A person or business that might buy from you is called a prospect. But they might just as accurately be called a skeptic. We live in the age of the spam filter. And call-display. We live in what fellow-copywriter Herschell Gordon Lewis calls, "The Age of Skepticism." Your sales letters must overcome your reader's built-in baloney detector. Your prospective customers are on their guard. Here, in no particular order, are some tips on how to prove your trustworthiness on paper. 1. Third-party endorsements If your product has won an industry award for innovation, say so....

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Generation X"--the 40 million or so people born between 1965 and 1976--understands it is living in a world of uncertainty where neither the govern¬ment nor private employers offer lifetime financial security. This is, however, the next generation of responsible adults, bright young people with families to protect and educate...and nearly 40 years until retirement. Generation X was the backbone of Operation Iraqi Freedom and continues serving the US effort to bring peace to the Middle East. None had to be there....

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Marketing is like rowing a boat. When you know how thepointed bow moves smoothly forward through the waterencountering the least amount of resistance. Rowingbackwards, the square stern of the boat pushes against thewater, requiring more effort and increases the risk ofhaving a wave come over the transom (back) and swamping it. Yet most people market backwards, trying to grow theirbusiness while pushing against the greatest level ofresistance. Wouldn't you like to market your business so that it movedeasily forward?...

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Your marketing weak link could be undermining the rest of your marketing. It is vital that each link in your marketing system supports and builds upon the previous link. Each link must bring your customer closer to the next sale. Any link that takes the customer further away from the sale, makes your marketing program inefficient and causes you to lose money. There are many areas where the system can break down and cause expensive waste of potential. For example, I see many retailers who invest enormous amounts on advertising to bring customers into their store, only to lose potential sales through poorly trained sales people who don't know how to help people buy what they want....

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Ok, before we get down to the benefits of selling Big Ticket Items, we had better define what a Big Ticket Item is. A Big Ticket Item is any product or service that sells for more than $500 or $1000. Or, at least, that's my definition. The truth is, the definition of a Big Ticket Item really depends on where you are starting. Maybe you already sell E-Books or some other product for between $17 and $97. Or maybe you think $200 to $300 is a lot of money. My point is, the definition of Big Ticket depends a lot on your perspective....

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As a business owner or marketer, if you don't reverse the risk in your product and/or service offerings, you're really missing out in what can be one of the most powerful weapons in your marketing arsenal. Risk Reversal Defined Risk Reversal, in essence, means that you, the business owner, assumes all the risks associated with the businesstransactions, and your customers none. Why Reverse The Risk? The main reason that you'll want to reverse the risk is sothat you may boost your sales and profits....

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6 Secrets to Stellar Sales Presentations Every sale is won or lost in the presentation. Regardless of product, industry, or market every sale has the same basic components: A prospect who wants a product, a product, and a sales person who will or will not help that customer buy. These 6 secrets will help you make presentations that build your customers understanding and excitement to a point where they will buy from you right now. The operative word in right now selling is VALUE if a customer sees the value of your product they are sold if they do not they won't buy....

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"How to Earn the Right..." Marketing your professional services is a lot like dating: you haveto earn the right to be intimate. In both endeavors, you can't skip or rush through levels of intimacyfor the relationship to work. Whether it's a new flame or a newclient, you have to build trust that leads to deeper levels ofcommitment. Think about it: people that you want for clients start out asstrangers. They don't know about you and your firm. So you can'texpect them to jump into a long-term relationship with you beforethey move from stranger, to acquaintance, to friend, to lover, andthen to loyal partner....

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Joint venture marketing is a lucrative way of leveraging the assets of two or more businesses. It is the fastest way for businesses to achieve certain business goals and benefit their clients at the same time. For any joint venture project to be successful, the partners must possess certain skills that are required to choose the right deal, the right partners, and to promote the project effectively. I've outlined a basic skill set consisting of the five most important attributes below: 1. The ability to nurture client relationships People buy only from those that they know, like and trust....

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