Frank, I am happy to know about this venue. My wife is a dance instructor, and it might be a good venue for lessons or dances, so we might both make it your open house on December 1. I have also invited some folks from my business networking group which meets in La Mesa on Tuesday mornings. See you then.

Whew! Well, so far, it looks like something some of us non-sales people can handle. In the top 5, please, no base-jumping, trapeze work, or mountain climbing. I'm afraid of heights.

Jim,

Start with no? What an intriguing concept.

On Don't Be Needy, you didn't quite satisfy my curiosity for a good opening on a cold call. Perhaps an opening should always state a solution to a common problem, or a situation company's need to avoid.

I was captivated by your article. Now I will have to watch my language, and not begin inquiries with verbs. Dang!

Jim Hance

These are wonderful points to consider in the face of any adversity. Setbacks, even enormous in size, are not death sentences. Thanks!

Perfect. Three big ideas in any promotion, and very inspirational coming from someone with 20 appointments. Wow!

Good points. I'm making two presentations in the next two weeks, and will put these ideas to work. Thanks!

Oh, cool. My friends Jan and Don own that building.

Hmmm. An ounce of selective editing can prevent a lifetime of debilitating verbosity.

I love this article. Just not sure about the correct spelling of "scmediting." :-) Also like your varied use of idea connectors: ellipsis, semicolon, em dash. Using the same punctuation throughout is boring, I think.

An inspirational list. Thanks for posting!

I'm sure you know at least part of the answer. Small business people have close relationships with many of the clients and customers, and care about them as well. Probably the last thing they want to do is cause a problem, even when they are struggling financially. Small business people blame themselves for shortcomings in developing a steady stream of business, so they don't want to come to terms with it. And also they may be afraid of the cost of taking the issue to collection, both in terms of time and money. I think those concerns are pretty common among small business people.