When business is slow, it can be easy to avoid making sales calls, after all, business is slow for your prospects too and many of them may not use much tact when they let you know this. The thing you may not realize is that despite their sometimes inhospitable nature, they really do want to buy something from you if it will help them in a way that’s important to them. All you have to do is reach them and then show them how your product or service can do just that. Here’s the beauty of the situation ? when business is slow you are more likely to be able to reach the decision maker because they may be working earlier or later than usual or their staff may be on vacation or laid off.

With that in mind, here are 8 tips to make the most of your sales calls when business is slow:

1. Start early and finish late.
When business is slow, most business owners will put in extra hours to compensate. This usually means that you can reach them with out having to get by a gate keeper and without distractions from other people.

2. Be motivated on every call.
Your prospects don’t care if you’ve made fifty sales calls before you came to their office. When you show anything less than 100% you’ll appear unexcited about your product or service, and if you’re not excited, they won’t be excited.

3. Maintain confidence.
To convert your prospects into clients, you’ll need to show absolute confidence in your product or service as well as your self. If you appear desperate you’ll give them the upper hand.

4. Be respectful.
This applies to everyone you meet ? not just the business owner. If you treat the receptionist like she’s not important you can bet that the owner will hear about it. Don’t be fake about it though. It’s pretty simple really, just be genuinely respectful of everyone.

5. Be persistent.
Most sales are not made on the first call, and this is especially true when your product or service is a high-dollar item or fairly complex. Be persistent, but not pushy and you’ll create a higher overall close ratio.

6. Develop a yes pattern.
By getting a series of smaller yeses during the sales process, you’re more likely to get a yes when you ask for the sale. For example, you could say to your prospect “Dave, this software let’s you schedule your projects so that they get completed more quickly and you make more money. Is that something that’s important to you?” Of course he’s going to say yes.

7. Get commitment.
By getting commitment from your prospects, you’ll increase the likelihood that they’ll become clients. For example, you could say to your prospect “Sarah, if I can show you how this service will increase your web site traffic resulting in more sales, is this something that you would be ready to make a decision on today?” Now when you get to the close, they really can’t say that they have to think about it because they already said they would make a decision today.

8. Follow up.
As mentioned earlier, you won’t close most of your prospects on the first call. That being said, you need to follow up in a timely and professional manner. You can utilize a software program such as Outlook, or better yet, Act or Goldmine to keep you on top of things. The person that stays in their mind will be the one that gets the sale when they make a decision.

A common clich? you hear in business is, ?there is no better form of advertising then word of mouth.? Networking is unfortunately one of the most neglected aspects of professional development, an untapped mecca of free leads waiting to happen, and your potential clients are out there waiting to hear about you.

Whose almighty word will potential clients initially trust; close friends, random strangers, or yours?? A conglomeration of all of these is important to any business; however, your presence is always needed to solidify the contact.

Effective networking is a give and take responsibility.? You need to first build the relationship then work on maintaining it by providing leads and utilizing the new leads that come from your new contacts.

Networking is not for business settings only; contacts are made at grocery stores, baseball games, and even standing in line for a much needed beer at the local bar.? More solid business contacts and deals have been made over a shared drink or an afternoon at the golf course than you might think.

When going to functions or even just out, always be prepared.? No, this does not mean whip out the power suit for every outing; just make sure that business cards are readily available if a networking opportunity comes along and a pen is there for important notes you can take on what they will need as a lead as well.

The kind of networker you are will dictate which contacts you will attract.? If you are shy, unconfident and do not seem knowledgeable about your services, others will not view you as a leader in your profession. In order to gain a potential contact you will need to professionally establish yourself as the leader in that business, an appropriately dressed person will be more effective then one who either intimidates, or is seen as a slob.? For example: if you are meeting a potential or a group of contacts in a social setting, you would not want to arrive fully decked out in a suit if you know these are beachside kind of dressers.? You will be seen in a different light that will be less than agreeable.

Networking is a vital part of making a company a concrete part of the business community. Use your skills of conversation, your joy of happy hours, dining, and business events and you will gain that extra edge.

When a clear concise branding is partnered with an equal physical presence you will find clients and potential clients on a consistent basis.

One of our newest partner web sites, My Florida Home Builder, is currently accepting new authors in the home industry (home builders, real estate agents, mortgage professionals, etc.). Each relevant article that you post will automatically create a link to?your own web site and you will be allowed to include one additional link within the body of each article. It’s a great way to get in front of the people who are actively looking for a home in Florida, plus, it’s free!

If you’re interested in getting free exposure for your home related business, email us at partners@wildfiremarketinggroup.com.

According to the 2007 AffStat Affiliate Marketing Benchmark report, online marketers are using fewer affiliates this year than they had last year. One trend suggested by this report is that the number of marketers maintaining a large number of affiliates is dropping. 9% of respondents said that they have 10,000 or more affiliates, a drop from the 14% of respondents who made the same statement last year, and 10% said that they have 5,001-10,000 affiliates, a decrease from the 15% of respondents who made the same statement last year.

Many business owners wonder why (or if) they should choose organic search engine optimization over pay-per-click or banner advertising. The short answer is that you shouldn?t necessarily choose one over the other as they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. The choice of which option or combination of options is right for your company depends of your needs and your budget.

Search Engine Optimization

With proper keyword phrase selection, search engine optimization delivers extremely targeted traffic consisting of visitors that are actively searching for whatever it is you offer. Think about it like this ? if your web site holds the #1 position for the keyword phrase ?tampa real estate agent? you can be sure that all of your visitors that arrive as a result of typing said phrase into Google, Yahoo or MSN are looking for a real estate agent in Tampa. They may be at various stages in the buying process, but they all are somewhere in the buying process. The biggest weakness associated with search engine optimization though, is that unlike other forms of marketing or advertising, it can take a considerable amount of time to see any results. The length of time depends on the competitiveness of the selected keyword phrase. For example, if you sell children?s pogo sticks, you will be competing with approximately 425,000 other web sites, but if you sell plasma TVs you will be competing with approximately 8,330,000 other web sites. As a result, it will take considerably longer to achive a #1 ranking for the keyword phrase ?plasma tvs? than it would for the keyword phrase ?childrens pogo sticks.? Another caveat to your search engine optimization campaign is that the major search engines are often able to detect your attempts to artificially affect your rank if you?re not careful and if you don?t know what you?re doing, you can actually end up getting your web site banned from their listing altogether. Search engine optimization is best compared to a marathon ? planning and a solid long-term approach will deliver the best results.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

You can begin to receive immediate targeted traffic when you implement a pay-per-click campaign. The upside is that your traffic is directly proportional to your investment and you can start with just a few dollars a day. The downside is that you pay for each visit whether they are serious or just curious. Also ? if your competition is on the shady side, chances are they will click your ads just to churn through your marketing budget. Most businesses use the PPC ads by Google, but Yahoo has a similar offering. Either option provides a pretty detailed set of stats to help you make more effective choices in your PPC campaign. The best way to utilize PPC is to supplement a solid search engine optimization campaign. You can use PPC to target the more competitive keyword phrases which generally deliver more traffic, while using search engine optimization to target the less competitive keyword phrases.

Online advertising

This can consist of static image ads, animated ads or even rich media ads. Online advertising was the love child of the 1990s internet bubble and after the bubble burst, it was bounced from foster home to foster home. Lately, this form of advertising has been making a strong comeback thanks in part to the low cost to implement it and in part to some recent realizations. Online advertising generally has a low click-though rate, less than .5% in many cases, but it also has a low CPM in most cases. This makes it extremely attractive to smaller businesses on a budget. A fairly recent realization is that even though the click-through rates are low, most visitors do see the ad, which over time has a powerful effect on your branding efforts.

When utilized collectively, search engine optimization, PPC and online advertising will help turn your company into an internet marketing powerhouse, giving you a serious advantage over your competitors. Remember ? prior to making a buying decision, most people begin their research online, regardless of the industry. Are you where they?re looking?

Do you think it’s a good idea to advertise that you’re under new management?

It’s not and here’s why. The people who aren’t currently doing business your company also aren’t paying any attention to?your company anyway so they never hear that?it’s under new management. Meanwhile, the people who are currently doing business with your company may get scared off when they hear that?it’s under new management.

If you buy or otherwise take over another company, simply let your clients/customers know via an email newsletter, a letter in the mail or even just a simple note on their next invoice assuring them that you will still be providing them with the same level of service of better and that you value their input. Keep it simple and don’t turn it into a big deal, and it won’t become one.

Need a quick way to help choose effective color combinations? Check out Adobe’s newest tool, Kule. For the particularly color-challenged, you can use it for all sorts of color related decisions in your life,?like choosing the right tie, paint or drapes.

Below is a web site that we recently designed for Delatorro L. McNeal, II, a world renowned professional speaker, best selling author, successful entrepreneur, television personality and CEO of Delatorro Worldwide Empowerment. Delatorro needed a powerful and dynamic web site that presented his high-energy personality in a professional manner to audiences, meeting planners, business owners and managers alike.

Chances are they already know what you’re trying to sell them, but what they want to know is what you’re willing to give them. Let me explain.

People, your prospects in particular, expect more today than ever before. It’s not unreasonable for them to expect more either because technology allows you to give them more at the same or a lower cost, more quickly and more easily. Plus, you are someone else’s prospect, and you know you expect more than you did even just a few years ago. Thanks to the internet, people have the ability to find companies offering just about everything all over the world. There are upsides to this as well as downsides. One of the upsides for you as a business owner is that you can now dramatically increase the geographic?range that you can sell your products or services to. One of the downsides is that many people are still a bit?apprehensive?about doing business with a company that they found online, either because they’ve been burned or because they’ve heard a story about someone else that has.

?This brings us to the point of the article. Most of your prospects will come to your web site a few times before making the decision to do business (or not to do business) with your company. During that time, what are you doing to help sway their decision? You can offer a variety of useful but free downloads on your web site that are relevant to your industry.?This can consist of?free tools such as back link checkers or?mortgage calculators, information such as white papers or educational materials, or any other tools that your prospect may find useful and relate in some way to your company. This accomplishes a few things.

1. It gives them a reason to tell other people about your site.
2. It helps to maintain TOMA (Top Of Mind Awareness)
3. It establishes your company as a valuable resource
4. It encourages a trust based relationship.

If you don’t have something that you can offer to your prospects for free, get to work and develop something. The time it takes to do so will be minimal compared to the results it will deliver.