For further details go to Marketing Advice Berkshire.

So you convert five prospects out of ten. Does a 50% success rate mean you are wasting half of your marketing budget? Of course not. But maybe some sales training could boost your rate to 60% – and that would up your turnover by 20%!

Meantime here are a few ideas that may prove useful.

1. Get yourself into the proper frame of mind. You can’t expect to do a good job if you are still fuming about the idiot who cut you up on your way to the appointment. Let go of the day’s frustrations and concentrate on the customer.
2. Find some common ground. Sometimes this means talking about (or letting the customer talk about) last night’s football or the awful state of the country before getting down to business. Just don’t let it get out of hand!
3. Clearly indentify the customer’s need. It’s a cliché but don’t try to sell the drill bit – sell the hole!
4. Use their words, not yours. Sometimes we get carried away with our own clever jargon. If the customer wants ‘plenty of loft space’, don’t turn it into ’30 square metres of unobtrusive storage solution’.
5. Paint attractive word pictures. Ask the customer to ‘imagine yourself driving through the countryside in your new convertible on a sunny day’.
6. Use positive reinforcement. When the customer himself talks about the benefits of ownership, don’t be tempted to add lots more features – (s)he knows what (s)he wants. So just agree and ask for the order.
7. Put yourself in their shoes. Try to see things from the customer’s viewpoint; ask yourself, ‘Would I buy it from me?’ If you can’t convince yourself ….
8. When they suggest a feature they want, ask questions. ‘Why is that important to you?’ The more you ask, the more you will understand what they are looking for and the better you will be able to match your product to their requirements.
9. Always be credible. Don’t make outrageous claims. Most customers can spot them and the ones that don’t come back looking for refunds when they discover the truth.
10. Be prepared to say no if you believe they are making a mistake. It’s awfully hard to turn down a sale but they will thank you and probably become your most loyal customer in the future.

In 2012 there are so many opportunities out there for a small business to market its self using my Marketing without Money systems and strategies.

All businesses need to do it to understand how to use them and invest a little lime and effort.

Walt Disney once said – “Observe the masses and do the opposite”.  This is great advice for anyone in business.  Because the masses right now are losing their shirts.

Why?  Because they are cutting back on their marketing, or trying to sell their products and services using old and out of date strategies and techniques.

The reality is that if you fail to adopt and adapt 21st century marketing, then you are losing out!

The good news is that there are lots people people just like you and I who are succeeding in these tough times.  I have clients who have doubled the size of their business in the past 12 months and others who have increased their income from the Marketing without Money techniques that I teach by many thousands of pounds.

So what are the changes small business owners need to be aware of:

1. The use of social media

2. The need to employ marketing without money strategies within their own business

3. The need to tap in to the growing income online

4. The power of online PPC Advertising on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and others

5. The essential strategies for maximising the revenue from their own clients

6. The need to become better at closing leads

7. The need to be up to date with the latest in the world of marketing.

For further details take at Marketing Advice

Steve Mills

The fastest way to grow your business in today’s economy is not by doing more hard work… but by improving your marketing!

A Tale of Two Coaches
One day, on a rainy spring afternoon in London, ten and a half years ago, two men attended a coach training program…

They were very much alike, these two men. Both wanted to make a difference in the world, both were friendly and people focused, and both had big dreams for their future businesses as coaches.

They vowed to stay in touch, but as the years rolled by they gradually lost contact, until recently when they ran into each other at an event out at Heathrow.

They were still very much alike. Both were happily married. Both had children. And unlike many who attended the same coach training program, both had started coaching businesses AND were still in business, despite the tips and turns of the economy.

Both also had excellent reputations for being great coaches.

But there was ONE striking difference…

One of the men worked in his business 40-50 hours a week, and made a modest income for his family. (around £25k)

The other spent more time with his family than he did working, and enjoyed a seven figure business with a mid six figure personal income.

What Made The Difference?

Have you ever wondered, as I have, what makes this kind of difference in people’s lives?

It isn’t always intelligence, or hard work, or luck. And it certainly isn’t that one person wants success and the other doesn’t.

The difference lies in what each person knows, and how they make use of that knowledge.

The first man – who worked very hard to bring home a modest income for his family – had become an expert on the latest change techniques, NLP, hypnosis, reiki, TFT, you name it, he did it!

The second man – who had achieved all his financial goals - had become an expert on marketing.

The first man had become a master of his craft… while the second man had become a master at bringing in new clients, getting bigger deals, and ultimately helping more people.

The first man took pride in doing every job himself – he had to make sure it was done right… while the second man – with his higher revenues – took pride in hiring highly skilled people to be a part of his team and be excellent in areas he was weak.

The first man’s business was his life, it constantly interfered with his relationships and his health…. while the second man’s business enabled him to create the lifestyle he dreamed of ten years ago.

How do I know this?

…Because the second man in the story is me.

But here’s the reason why I tell you this true story…

This exact same story will be repeated in hundreds of lives in the next few years.
Many new coaches, trainers, consultants and speakers will start and run businesses… only to struggle to find the clients, struggle to make ends meet and either stay trapped in a job they hate, not being able to make the leap or worse having to go back to the job they left because they can no longer pay the bills.

If they’re lucky, perhaps they’ll make a bit more money than they did at their former job… but with more stress and work along with it.

But a small handful of coaches trainers consultants and speakers (CTCS’s) will go about things differently.

This small handful of CTCS’s will…

Position themselves as the dominant player in their industry – the one people go to FIRST when seeking the service they provide

Become one of the “big boys” that scoop up 80% of the available clients… while the small fish who don’t know any better compete with each other for the scraps

Set up their businesses so they not only run themselves (products, memberships, etc)… but grow on their own… increasing net profits year after year while the CTCS spends LESS time actually working

But perhaps most exciting… they’ll do it without working any harder than the others… and while having a whole lot more fun!

And the way they will do it… will be with MARKETING.

So the lesson from the story is quite simple…

The Fastest Way To Grow Your Business In Today’s Economy Is Not By Doing More Hard Work… But By Improving Your Marketing!

Places are going really well on my DIY Internet Marketing Workshop at Heathrow on 4th April.  Further details can be found at Internet Marketing Workshop London.