One of the biggest challenges in marketing is getting people to respond to unsolicited calls and emails. When prospects enter your marketing pipeline as the result of your cold call, their casual visit to your website, or your finding their name on a list, you are essentially a stranger. Read more (members only)

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 (members only)

As business owners, we are frequently offered “opportunities” that may deliver a significant return, but also have the potential to take up a great deal of time. You may be asked to provide your professional expertise, collaborate on a project, help with organizing an event, or Read more (members only)

One of the worst marketing mistakes a self-employed professional can make is to create a marketing plan that consists of activities you don’t enjoy and aren’t good at. There’s no boss looking over your shoulder, so who’s going to make you do things you don’t want to? Read more (members only)

“I asked a new client recently what he had been doing to market his professional services. “Everything,” he said. “I’ve been running pay-per-click ads on the web, I paid a copywriter to write a sales letter and mailed it to a list of local companies, I have a display ad in the Yellow Pages, I’ve even been posting flyers around town… and I still have almost no business.” Read more (members only)

I frequently recommend to entrepreneurs that they focus their marketing on building referral partnerships instead of attracting clients by advertising and promotion or approaching them cold. With a few pointers, most entrepreneurs can identify many possible referral sources. But I’m often asked how to best go about approaching these potential partners. Read more (members only)

“I don’t like to sell.” “Asking people for business makes me uncomfortable.” “Selling feels manipulative and sleazy.” “I’m good at what I do. Why don’t clients just come to me?”

If any of these thoughts seem familiar, Read more (members only)

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 (members only)

While it’s true that many business owners never take time to write a business plan, it’s also a fact that two-thirds of all new businesses fail in the first five years. The majority of failed businesses never had a written plan. Read more (members only)

A curious thing happens to entrepreneurs in the spring of every year. They wake up one day and realize they had better figure out how much money they made last year so they can pay their taxes. But wait, shouldn’t a business owner already know how much money he or she made last year Read more (members only)