Here’s a simple rule of business: Give your clients what they want, and they will give you what you want.

But… what if you went beyond “wants” and gave your clients what they craved?

How successful could you be if you were in the crave-fulfillment business?

Good news: Not only is it fairly simple to give your clients what they crave, it’s also inexpensive, and 100% legal.

Here’s the secret, in the words of the great American psychologist, William James (1842-1910):

“The deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”

Think about that.

Then, ask yourself:

* How did it feel as a kid when your parent or other adult told you, “Nice job!” after you did something noteworthy?

* How did it feel the last time your family/friends told you how happy they were about a favor you had done them?

* How did it feel the last time you got a round of applause, congratulatory email, or thank-you note in the mail?

Appreciation feels pretty darn good.

Yet, such moments are rare, aren’t they?

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons we crave appreciation — we rarely get it.

Which is a golden opportunity for you.

Simply show your clients how much you appreciate them, and they will return the favor with increased loyalty, repeat sales, and referrals, to name but three ways.

How can you do it? You can…

* Write and mail thank-you notes (email doesn’t count)

* Hold a free client appreciation event, at a restaurant or JV partner’s location

* Mail Thanksgiving cards (not Christmas or Winter Holiday cards — everyone mails those. They mean nothing)

* Mail a monthly “client’s only” newsletter (again, email doesn’t count)

In a world that craves appreciation, there’s room in your industry for a new success story. All you need do is show clients how much you care.

Now. Do you think all this “client love” stuff is a bit warm and fuzzy?

Think about this: The pay-off for appreciating your clients can be rivers of cold, hard cash.

Just ask Zappos, Nordstrom, Virgin Airways, or Apple.

Kevin M. Donlin is marketing expert, author, and speaker, specializing in copywriting for service businesses, information products, seminars, and live events.

He has been interviewed on marketing-related topics by ABC-TV, NBC-TV, CBS Radio, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune magazine, Entrepreneur magazine, and many others.

Kevin writes sales letters, space ads, e-mail marketing campaigns, Google AdWords, and sales scripts to help his clients sell their products and services. He also consults with clients on marketing strategy and lead generation programs.

For a FREE subscription to his blog and helpful newsletter, or a FREE, no-obligation cost estimate on your next copywriting project, visit http://www.ClientCloningSystems.com.

To be the best you can be and make as much as possible as a salesmen takes hard work, but more than that it takes the right work.

These 10 tips are the most effective actions any salesman can take to become a better salesman and improve their income. They are all easy to implement and only take conviction to succeed, the rewards make it all worth it!

1. Improve your sales technique.

You sales technique is what makes the difference between a sale and a “thank you, but no thanks”. Make sure to work on your sales technique every day so that you can get the most possible out of every appointment.

2. Spend more time talking to clients.

A salesman is paid by commission, we make money each time we get a customer to buy our product or service.

If you can spend more time talking to clients, selling them new products and renewing services you will easily increase your income.

If you spend twice as much time, you will make twice the number of sales. Easy as that!

3. Improve you appearance.

People buy from those they respect and the first impression you make is your exterior.

Make sure you are a person your customers want to do business with.

Take a look at yourself and if you feel that you are a person you would like to do business with, because if you don’t you can be very sure your customers don’t want to either.

4. Find better clients.

Even if your sales technique is extraordinary and you spend hours and hours in front of clients every day (see point 1 and 2) if they are the wrong clients, you still won’t make any sales.

Make sure that the customers you meet are really the type of customers you want and that they need your product or service.

Spend some time identifying your “perfect” customer and then go out and look for companies and customers that match your criteria as well as possible.

5. Service your customers better.

It is well known that the price of acquiring a new customer is many times that of retaining a loyal customer.

By going that extra mile with your customers and making them feel like you are their for them and that you will do all that is in your power to make them as pleased as possible, the odds of them using your products again will significantly increase.

A tip I got about 12 months ago that has really made a difference to me is sending every customer a hand written thank you note thanking them for the nice chats we have had. The effect of this has been enormous, people have been so surprised and thankful for that note that my repeat customers have sky-rocketed.

6. Know your products and your competitors products better than anyone else.

Spend a weekend reading up on your products and the products of your competitors.

Highlight the areas were yours are superior and were theirs are better, it might be price, a feature or customer service.

Use this when you meet customers, as you know more than most about the difference in the products you will easily be able to prove the value of your product or service.

7. Believe in yourself and your product.

Have pride in yourself and your product. When you meet a customer stand up for your product and its quality. Be honest, but don’t let anyone step on your toes. Show them that you deserve their respect.

8. Be more prepared than your competitors.

This is very closely related to sales training and knowing your product but what I mean with it is that you should spend time thinking (and writing down) about every argument your customers might have and come up with good solid answers to each.

That way, when you meet a customer you will be fully prepared for any argument they might present.

9. Be the most enthusiastic salesman in the world!

By spreading positive energy to everyone in the room it will be very hard for them to feel anything than happy and energized when reviewing your product, which is just the state of mind you want them to be in when making the decision.

10. Go that extra mile every time.

In everything you do, go that extra mile.

Spend 30 minutes extra every day at the office, do the extra sales meeting, spend some extra time working on sales technique. Read an extra book about your product or competitors product and so on.

Do the things others shy away from and your success will be guaranteed.

Daniel M. Wood runs the popular blog Lookingtobusiness.com.
He offers free articles about Sales Techniques, Motivation and Success I suggest you start by reading these articles as these are his most popular on the subject.

Cut Backs

Because of the recent economic difficulties many small business or home based business owners look to their marketing campaigns to make come budgetary cut backs. However, historical data indicate that cut backs in marketing can be difficult to recover from even during the recover period. Keep reading and I’ll share five marketing recession proof strategies that can boost your business.

Recession Marketing

A study published by McGraw-Hill Research followed 600 companies spanning 16 different industries for five years studying their marketing, recession included. The study’s data indicate that the companies who either maintained or increased their marketing budget spending had 256% sales growth as compared to those companies who cut back their marketing spending. Actually, those who did cut back their marketing had only a 19% growth during those same five years.

Step Up Your Game With These 5 Strategies

1. The answer is not to make cut backs but rather to make sure you aren’t wasting any of your marketing budget. You first have to have a measurable marketing method that will allow you to determine cost per lead, cost per sale and lifetime value of a customer. To not have these data is akin to throwing your money out the window.

2. Provide solutions to your leads using your copy to preemptively address their concerns. During tough financial times consumers are more careful about where they spend their money. Address these financial concerns directly and before your lead is able to identify those obstacles.

3. Review your UPS (Unique Selling Proposition). Does it really set you apart from your competition? Does it explain how your business will benefit your leads? Develop a powerful USP and pull your leads into your personal story. Remember, today’s consumers respond much better to a personal touch than a hard sell.

4. Buy low. That is, look for specials, sales and bargains from your marketing campaign providers. Take advantage of price cuts in printing, leads lists, media costs and shipping.

5. Consider new media outlets such as direct mail campaigns, radio ads or even local television commercials. Send your newly strengthened USP out into the world using every marketing avenue you can afford.

Opportunity for Growth

Although consumer spending changes during times of economic recession people will continue to spend money. Take advantage of these spending changes and use a preemptive approach to grab your leads’ attention. Turn your efforts to marketing recession proof campaigns and start boosting your business growth today.

Have you been struggling with finding the best marketing recession proof methods? Click the link and sign up to watch my video which will explain everything you need to know about the recession and the mechanisms behind it. I can help you learn how to start protecting yourself and your financial future from the current economic recession. Don’t wait until it’s too late!

There’s a little silent refrain that goes on in people’s minds whenever you bring up differentiation. I think that for many business owners, its almost an excuse. “It’s different in my industry; it’s hyper-competitive and it’s such a mature industry, it’s a waste of time pursuing differentiation”.

I want to introduce you to a concept I call the 4P framework, and it’s very simple.
This framework is made up of 4 elements.

People, problem, process, passion

People represents the customer profile, the target market segment that you choose to do business with. It’s the first element in your overall differentiation.

The 2nd P represents Problem. What problem of the people you chose will you be solving… So let’s say that you and I both decided on starting a new business working with dentists. That means that the people, our P would be Dentists…for both of us.

But if I’m a business growth consulting firm, and you’re a dental office design firm, then we’re solving 2 different problems for the same people. Now even though we’re serving the same market, we’d be complementary businesses rather than competitors.

Now since we’re talking about differentiation, this example is probably a little too easy so let’s step it up a bit.

What if you and I were both business growth consulting firms and we were both targeting Dentists. Here’s where the 3rd P would come in as a differentiating element.

The 3rd P represents Process – And by process I mean your unique process or approach to solving your target customer’s problem or delivering your ultimate benefit. If business growth is our ultimate benefit, your primary lever or tool might be strategic marketing and mine might be business networking.

To explore just how much power of differentiation you get by layering the 3 Ps, let’s look at a different target market.

Let’s say our 1st P was mid-sized networking technology companies and you and I were concerned with their business development and growth needs.

My Unique Process might be to show these mid-sized networking technology companies how to leverage internet marketing in their business-to-business marketing, while you may concentrate on how they can grow their business through improved performance from their sales force. So while I would be offering comprehensive internet marketing consulting, you might be offering sales training or sales management consulting programs.

This differentiation by offering a different process or solution has so many different variables that you should never seriously run out of options for differentiating your business. Even if you and I were decided to compete in the Sales training niche, I might differentiate myself by highlighting a branded and proprietary teaching system, learning method, or what have you, or I might differentiate myself by the medium of delivery – maybe all our training is done online through multimedia webinars and Teleseminars, while you go the traditional route with on-site training.

These are just a very few of the ways you can differentiate through method focus, delivery method, areas of emphasis, etcetera

Let’s go on to the 4th P which is Passion
Passion here is the ultimate icing on the cake when it comes to differentiating your business. Passion has to do with the unique way in which your business injects emotional selling into your branding and marketing communications. Years ago, the Government Employees Insurance Company had a brand profile that was as boring as it gets. Today, GEICO is recognized for the Geico Gecko’s continuous insistence that 15 minutes can save us 15% or more on car insurance, and for their highly entertaining campaign that repeats that switching to GEICO is so easy a caveman can do it.

Passion is where so many small businesses make a mistake and turn their natural advantage into a distinct disadvantage. So many small business owners are mistakenly led to believe that branding means a lack of personality, and a transition to slick but faceless marketing that marks so much “Big business advertising”.

Countless research studies have shown that people make their buying decisions based on emotion, and then supports that decision by logical arguments.

Some of the simplest ways to inject emotional selling into your marketing communication is to articulate a core emotional epic. Mary Kay built a half-billion dollar business on the back of her touching story of being a single mom and entrepreneur struggling to make it at a time when women were barely allowed in the workforce.

Another way to differentiate yourself with emotional selling is to personalize your marketing. Put some kind of human face on your company. Even a company as big as Southwest has been able to stay personal. Recently, they launched a “Bags fly free” TV campaign that made lovable heroes out of their grounds crew and bag handlers. If it’s good enough for Southwest, why isn’t it good enough for you?

One last note on emotional selling is that it should still answer a “What’s in it for me?” for the clients. Note in the earlier GEICO example that the underlying promise is still – Convenience, savings, and easy!!

Note that the Southwest commercials were still highlighting the convenience and savings of having “bags fly free”.

If you study these 4 elements – People, Problem, Process and Passion, you’ll find multiple points of potential differentiation for virtually any business activity you want to undertake. Whether you’re starting a new business, contemplating a change in business strategy, or rolling out a new product or service.

Review this video, apply these lessons to your business, then go out there and stand out from the crowd.

Gogo Erekosima, The Small Business Digital Coach is the CEO and Lead strategist at Denver Internet Marketing Specialists, Idea Age Consulting.

He recommends the resources at www.TurnAttentionIntoDollars.com for small businesses (and professionals) seeking to leverage the internet to attract clients, build profitable email lists, generate internet traffic, win influential partners and grow sales in record time.

The common belief is that in the age of email, cell phones and Facebook that all the “old” business tactics can be thrown out of the window. It’s true that modern businesses need to adapt to the times and using the internet and all the new multimedia tools is an important part of marketing your business effectively. The truth is that even with web cams, conference calls and all the latest and greatest online facilities, the need for physical contact is still there. One-on-one business meetings is (and will always be) one of the best ways to do business.

When 2 people meet face to face, there is a “chemistry” or a dynamic that you simply cannot get over the phone or even over a conference call. It is this quality that makes very successful business people what they are. Call it charm or charisma or influence – it doe not matter. What matters is that the importance of getting away from the computer can do wonders for your business.

While most people are on the email all day long, you can really distinguish yourself from your competition by doing business face to face. One very big problem with modern media is that it can provide and easy escape for anyone. Saying no in an email and saying no to someone;s face are 2 very different things.

Building rapport with a business prospect is very difficult over the phone and nearly impossible over email. To really influence people you need that energy and chemistry that is only there when you meet face to face. Doing business on your Blackberry and email is nameless. Its faceless and impersonal and makes you disappear into the abyss of the other 10 million emails that we all receive all day long.

Business is all about building relationships and building relationships on Twitter is hardly the kind that will last a lifetime. Long term business success comes from building solid relationships with people who know, like and trust you. This simply cannot be done on your Blackberry. So, get out there. Meet your clients and show them who you are. Resist the laziness of just sending another email and call them. get to know them and show them that you are a business that cares about people.

Are you thinking of becoming a physician assistant? See my blog to read more about medical assistant careers.