Hi Lynn, Thanks again for inviting me to be a part of this article. It really turned out terrific, and is packed with simple advice anyone can follow.

Judging from the comments, it looks like a follow up article on the same topic is in order! :-)

Best, Stacy www.success-stream.com

Hi Paul, You really hit the nail on the head with this one. And, following your iPhone example, you can take it one step farther by saying the same thing about products in general: People don't buy products with lots of benefits; they buy products with benefits they want.

All too often small business owners try to create and sell products or services they think their prospects need, instead of what their prospects want.

As you stated, whenever you're selling anything, you absolutely must get inside your prospect's head and understand what is important to them...What problem are they trying to solve? What need are they trying to fill? What want are they trying to fulfill? Then show how your products or services can help them do just that by talking about benefits that matter most to them. Otherwise they simply have no reason to buy.

The easiest way to find out what is most important to your prospects and customers is to ask. You can do this in person, or by using an email survey. Or you can also surf the Q & A sections on sites like this one to see what's on people's minds. Every time I speak at an event I have an evaluation that asks a number of questions to help me understand what my prospects want and need so I can give them exactly that.

That way you don't waste time and money developing ideas people don't really want anyway and your sales job gets much easier.

Thanks for sharing!!

Stacy

Another terrific article Nancy! All too often people get stuck in thinking about their business from their own perspective. The problem is that then they're only thinking about their goals and what's important to them.

As you pointed out, this rarely makes for good news. I've found the key to getting noticed, whether with a press release or any other kind of marketing, is to put yourself in your client's (or the potential reader's) shoes and talk about something that's important to them.

If your business is a viable one, then surely you must have something of value to offer beyond your products and services. Find ways to help them solve a problem, then follow Nancy's advice, and you're sure to get noticed.

Stacy --- Stacy Karacostas success-stream.com

Hi Veronica, I use and recommend www.1shoppingcart.com for a few reasons...

1) It's an industry standard so it's very easy to find people who know how to use it. And it's very customizable.

2) They have terrific tech support and because they are one of the larges out there they regularly update their system with new options.

3) You can export your sales data directly to QuickBooks in a jiffy.

4) It has a built in email autoresponder/broadcaster so you can set up automated follow-ups and easily stay in touch with customers.

5) You can start with their small package and then upgrade later.

6) Their credit card merchant is one of the most reasonably priced out there.

I've been using them for a couple of years now and have been thrilled.

Best of luck! Stacy

Fun! Here's mine...

I take the struggle out of growing your small business

Hi Sasha, To be honest, deciding what to charge is probably the hardest part of starting out as a freelance writer. Depending on the type of writing you do, the range can run from $25/hour for content and catalog work to upwards of $10,000 plus royalties for a sales letter. After years on my own as a copywriter working for both large corporations and my own clients, I've definitely learned a few things...

The biggest is that charging by the hour is not the best way to go unless you're working contract gigs for larger companies. It's much better to charge by the project for a few reasons...First, you really don't want a business where all you do is trade hours for dollars. It's about your hard-earned expertise too and the value you bring to the table. Second, it's better for your clients if they know what your services will cost up front. Third, there are a lot of other aspects of your job and taking care of your clients that you need to be compensated for other than just the time spent at the keyboard.

Finally, it all goes back to the old story of a woman who sees Picasso in a cafe, and asks him to draw her something...anything. So he grabs a napkin, sketches on the back and hands it to her. Then says "That'll be $3000." Shocked, the woman says, "But it only took you 30 seconds." And her responds with, "No it took me 28 years of study plus 30 seconds."

When you charge per project, I've found it best to base my fees on my day rate. Coming up with your day rate is the tricky part. If you're writing content and press releases, you usually can't charge as much as you can if you write direct response and marketing copy (my line of work). Because the value of good marketing copy (IE getting new clients in the door) is more obvious.

When I have done press releases, I make it clear that there are no guarantees as to whether or not it will be published. And that has no impact at all on my rates because I always do the best job I can and I have no control over what editors choose to run with.

If you do a quick Google for copywriter's rates, you should find a couple of different, helpful guides available. Then I advise charging just above the mid-range. That way you're not the most expensive, but you're seen as better than average.

Hope this helps...

Here's to your future success! Stacy

It's always good to see more on social networking! Thanks for sharing Len.

I've been experimenting with social networking myself for the last 9 months, and recently interviewed social networking guru Aliza Sherman for my monthly Small Business Success Teleseminar Series. Here are a few things I've learned that might help readers of this article...

1) Joining more than 5 social networks can become a huge time suck if you really want them to work for you. My experience has shown that, much like in person networking, if you want to get a lot out of it you have to forge real connections with people. Not just make them your virtual contact or friend. That means hopping on the phone and getting to know each other. And posting articles, answering questions and generally being active on a regular basis so others get a sense of your style and expertise.

2) Using any kind of content aggregator tool that posts to multiple networks is a huge help! I like www.hellotxt.com for micro-blogging (IE answering the "what are you doing now" question). It automatically updates my status on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo and more.

3) Another terrific tool is www.utterli.com. It's both a podcaster and an aggregator. So you can record audios (or add videos or text) and have them automatically post to their site, your blog, your Website and anywhere else you care to stick their widget. Best of all, you record by phone so you don't need any special equipment or technical know-how.

Hope this helps others out there make the most of social networking with less effort!

Here's to your future success! Stacy

Love this article Kirk! So often people only look at what comes in and not at what goes out, and how that affects their bottom line.

It's always important to review your numbers and how you run your business to see if you can find ways to make more while spending less. But it's especially important when times are tough.

Thankfully, these days, there are tons of ways to get things done in a small business for a fraction of what you used to have to pay.

For example, rather than hire employees I use teams of Virtual Assistants. That way I don't have to do a lot of training or guarantee them a set amount of hours.

I also, very carefully, use a credit card to give myself 30 days dating on products and services that are "Due on Receipt". And I get frequent flyer miles from it that I use to travel to conferences.

As a result of these and a few other changes I've grown my revenues by almost 50% over last year and worked way less, while at the same time only increasing costs by a little less than 30%. Love that!!

The key is taking the time to work on your business, not just in it. Sounds like you do a wonderful job helping your clients do just that. Thanks again for sharing your wisdom.

Stacy

Hi Jezra, What a timely article...It seems public speaking is on a lot of our minds lately (I just posted a podcast to my blog about ways to get started speaking a couple weeks ago...and so did my friend Nancy Juetten!)

I'm lucky in that I was trained as an Environmental Educator in college and spent years delivering talks on everything under the sun. So moving into speaking with my current business was a no-brainer and something I love.

You've offered some terrific tips here, and I thought I'd share a few more for folks who are stuck trying to get started...

1) Practice does indeed make perfect. But it helps most when you can review yourself from the audience perspective. So I regularly video and audio record my presentations both while practicing and during the actual talk. Then I go back and listen or watch to see what I can improve. We did a lot of this in school and you'll be amazed to discover the nervous ticks you have that you didn't know about.

2) For some folks, the big problem is fear of standing up in front of people. So rather than start out with live speaking, consider delivering a teleseminar instead. Or even interviewing someone else via teleseminar. It's a terrific way to ease into speaking in public since it feels more like a one-on-one conversation.

3) Just do it! Don't get so stuck in preparing your talk that you never actually promote or deliver it. In fact, I recommend promoting your topic and getting booked to speak before you get the whole thing put together. That way you don't waste a bunch of time putting together a perfect talk that no one is every going to hear.

You can find more helpful recommendations on getting started in public speaking on my blog at: Find it here: http://marketing-junkie.com/soyouwannabe_aspeaker/

Here's to your future success!

Great thoughts from Scott and all who posted.

Just to add my two cents...I think we can all take a cue from the banks and the government here and spend some more time looking at our own revenues, expenses and bottom line.

So many small business owners pay little or no attention to their own cash flow issues as long as they are still putting a buck or two in their pockets each month. Now is the time to take a long, hard look at your numbers and figure out what is worthwhile spending and what is not.

For example, while it is extremely important to keep marketing in a recession (otherwise you may be forgotten), it is also extremely important to make sure the marketing you choose to do gets you maximum ROI (IE more than enough new clients or sales to pay the costs of the campaign and leave you with a profit).

There's no better time than the present to assess your businesses financial footing and make sure you're operating lean and smart. It'll be good for your business during this recession, and good for your business long after...

Thanks for sharing Dani!

LinkedIn was the first network I joined, and I get a lot of value out of the Q & A section. As you mention, I regularly go in and answer questions as a way to participate and show off my expertise.

But I also love just seeing what questions are really on people's minds, then using that to choose new article and seminar tactics.

I've found in general the biggest key to all these networks is to participate. Then they can do a ton for your business.

Stacy

Hi Chris, Terrific questions to help people get turbo-charges testimonials! I always say what you really want in a testimonial is a sense of problem-solution-results. That keeps 'em from getting too sugary sweet or overly general. And I love how your questions help people get there.

However, even with all the guidance in the world, getting great testimonials from your clients can be like pulling teeth.

That’s why I recommend taking advantage of the impromptu testimonial...That moment when one of your customers starts raving to you about products or services out of the blue (If you're good at what you do, this probably happens pretty often).

As soon as they finish telling you how wonderful your "whatever" is, and how much it has helped them, say, "Wow! Thanks so much for the wonderful compliment! You said that so well, would you mind if I jot it down and use it as a testimonial on my Website and other marketing materials?"

If they're truly psyched on what you delivered, they won't say no.

Then, as soon as you have a sec, just write down their comments to the best of your memory (this guarantees you’ll keep it short) and email to them for approval. Simple. Done.

This way you don’t have to wait for people to find the time to write a testimonial for you. And you often get WAY more powerful and authentic testimonials because people don't self-edit as much when they speak as they do when they write.

If you want to see examples of these kinds of testimonials, there are tons on my Website.

Happy testimonial hunting!

Stacy

Practical Marketing Expert SuccessStream

Another terrific article Zita! It's interesting, when I first started networking at Chamber events years ago as a salesperson, I kept finding myself in a room full of salespeople all trying to sell each other. Neither fun nor effective.

However, over the past 10 years I've noticed a change. And although I still run into people with the sell, sell, sell mindset, more and more folks seem to get that networking is about connecting and helping.

If you go networking with the goal of helping other people make connections and find what they need, everyone benefits. And you make some great friends along the way. Then the sales follow all on their own. Who wouldn't want that?!?

Your article is a terrific reminder for anyone getting out there...

Thanks, Stacy