For years, I heard that if you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it. Implication: busy people are successful. I’m sure some people still subscribe to this philosophy. I don’t any more, especially when it comes to successful business ownership. Read more

Doing a good job at follow-up is a piece of cake. You just capture every lead or potential referral partner you run across, then place a call or send them something, or both. If you don’t make a sale right away, you calendar them for the next follow-up and do the same thing again. Pretty straightforward, isn’t it? So why is follow-up such a problem? Here are the four most common reasons, and what you can do about them:

1. Prioritization. With an activity that you must initiate, it’s easy to let other tasks come first: responding to incoming calls and mail, reading what drifts into your inbox or crosses your desk, going to meetings and conferences, and oh yes, doing the client work you get paid for.

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Have you ever noticed what happens when an independent professional speaks up in a group or posts to a message board and says, “I’m not getting enough clients. What should I do?” Inevitably, everyone responds with a different marketing idea. “Have you tried joining a leads group?” one person asks. Someone else suggests, “What about writing a blog?” Read more

How many times this week did you reach a live person when you placed a sales call? Even if you never make cold calls, you still have to contact people by phone. That prospect who was so interested last month never called you back, and now you must call her. You call once, twice, three times, but you can’t get her in person. Read more

If you’re ready to get started speaking to promote your business, the first challenge you may encounter is finding places that will welcome you as a speaker. One of the best approaches I have found to locate new speaking venues is to scan public event calendars on a regular basis. Read more

No, I’m not talking about the Beatles. Instead of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, there’s a different Fab Four you’ll encounter in selling your services to corporations. Meet the Decision-Maker, the Champion, the Technician, and the Gatekeeper. Read more

“I have a great website and publish a regular blog,” my client complained, “but I’m not getting any clients from it. The only new client I got this month was a referral from a friend. What am I doing wrong?”

It’s a common complaint of self-employed professionals that they spend a great deal of time and money on Internet marketing and social media with minimal results. You build an attractive website, launch an ezine or blog, set up a couple of social media profiles, and maybe try a Google AdWords campaign. But for all that effort, not much seems to come of it. What’s going on? Read more

Most of the dialogue about networking to build your business centers around attending events or social networking online. But I’ve always found that one-on-one networking is where the real magic happens. Meeting with people individually, in person or by phone, builds the “know, like, and trust” factor, generates referrals, connects you with new resources, and creates lasting relationships. Read more

Hardly a week goes by without someone asking me to help them compose a winning sales letter to market their professional services. “What is the magic formula,” they ask, “for writing a letter that results in clients?” Unfortunately, there isn’t one. And a whole lot of folks are wasting precious marketing time trying to create the perfect letter to jumpstart their marketing. Read more

If cold calling businesses and organizations is an approach that makes sense for your business, you’ll find this activity more productive when you do some advance research before placing your call. You’ll often have more success speaking to someone live if you already have the name of a decision maker before you get on the phone. Read more