The most powerful marketing technique available may cost you nothing. Getting other people to promote your business is not only the least expensive marketing you can find, it’s often the most effective. When people begin telling their friends about you, Read more

If you offer coaching services paid for by the month, it’s a good idea to have a written agreement with your clients that spells out the terms of your arrangement. This sample agreement was designed for business coaching clients, but can be modified to suit any type of coaching. Read more

One of the most powerful ways to gain more exposure for your business is to offer your services as a public speaker. Public speaking can help grow your business quickly by building your visibility and credibility at the same time. Read more

I’ve been asking successful independent professionals lately what it was they did that launched their success. What activity helped them the most to stop struggling to market themselves and start finding clients with more ease? Read more

I hear from many entrepreneurs that marketing is a struggle. They just can’t get enough clients to pay the bills, or they are spending more money to get each client than the sale is worth. So many of their efforts seem to fail. There must be an easier way, they tell me. Read more

You know about the 80/20 rule, right? It’s the guideline that 80% of your return comes from 20% of your investment. For example, 80% of your referrals come from 20% of the people in your network. 80% of your new business comes from 20% of your prospects. 80% of your new contacts come from 20% of the networking activities you engage in. And so on. Read more

You’ve heard it many times before: you need to sell benefits to your clients, not features. Whether you are writing copy, talking about what you do, or engaged in a sales presentation, it’s the benefits and results of the service you provide that you should emphasize, rather than its features or how it works. But it’s not always easy to get this right. Read more

One of the biggest challenges in selling professional services is that what you are offering is intangible. Your product can’t be seen, touched, or tasted. Until your prospective clients experience what you do, they have no way of knowing if it will turn out, whether they will like it, and how well it will work in their situation. Read more

Whoever said, “If you build it, they will come” was not referring to your LinkedIn profile! On LinkedIn, once you’ve built a completely optimized profile it’s time to go connect with people. Why? Because your connections are your network and your network is what makes LinkedIn work for you. Read more

You can’t turn on the television or open your mail in the U.S. these days without seeing a political ad. Between the
presidential election and local initiatives on the ballot in many cities and states, it seems that everyone is campaigning to get your vote. Read more