Why is it so hard for small business owners and independent professionals to make the sale? I think we’ve forgotten the basic building blocks of two-way communication that allow a sale to take place. We’re looking for the Holy Grail of techniques that will bring in more business. A silver bullet sales process. The perfect close. A sales letter that will attract droves of new clients. A software program that automatically sells your service with a touch of a button. Read more (members only)

The fear of hearing those words when marketing your professional services can stop you in your tracks. It’s the response you may most dread hearing when you make a sales pitch: “You? You think I should hire you? Well, who do you think you are?” Read more (members only)

A helpful tool for presenting your services to prospective clients is a repertoire of success stories about the results your clients get from your work. Here’s a template and example for composing some success stories of your own. Read more (members only)

You’d be surprised how often my clients and students ask me to help them find a surefire sales letter or phone script that they can copy to use for their own selling. Or maybe you wouldn’t. Perhaps you, too, have been misled into thinking that there is such a thing. Read more (members only)

If you’ve ever wondered why more people don’t respond to your sales attempts and marketing messages, the first question to ask may be — are you selling something that people are willing to spend money on? Read more (members only)

Happy holidays to everyone. I can’t tell you how many folks I’ve talked to over the past few weeks who said, “Boy, am I glad this year is over!” More than ever, people are wanting to move forward, take stock of themselves, and look to the future. It’s a a terrific time to “stock your shelves” with an inventory of your unique skills. Read more (members only)

Jan is a graphic designer who was always struggling to find good clients. “I could find plenty of people who needed my services,” she recalls, “but they thought my rates were too high. I either ended up agreeing to work for less, or they found someone else. 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)

Selling professional services can often be a challenge because of their intangibility. When a client hires you to deliver a service such as accounting or web design, they can’t see the outcome in advance. They have to trust that your work will produce a result they will like, Read more (members only)

Lately, everywhere we look, from the in-flight magazine in our seat pocket to the Sunday Style section of the Denver Post we notice an article on networking: the right way to network, the wrong way to network, what it is, what it isn’t, how to, how not to, and more. Read more (members only)