So, Let's Get Specific ... Sales & Marketing

As with each industry, there are differences in how each of the tools available to us are used, what the tools are, how they function, what they are called and so on.  In your business, you probably have your identity, brochure, website, business card and PowerPoint presentation to name a few pieces in your marketing blueprint.  If you don't - get them. But in the end, even if you have the most beautifully designed brochure, the most exciting FLASH driven website, the glitziest PowerPoint ... what's the point if they're not helping you sell your products and services? There are a few things that are very important.  You need to think of your sales, in my humble opinion, as building relationships.  Your customers are people, they have needs, wants, desires, fears.  You need to build a rapport with them, build trust at the same time you are generating awareness.  Today's customers are smart, they've been through the ringer a few times and they're not going to take any shenanigans lying down.  Focus on your relationship with the customer and you'll have a customer for life (so to speak). With that said, what tool is in your arsenal, that you can use to educate, inform, build a relationship, prove you know your stuff AND create something that will keep your target audience coming back for more, time and time again?  Have you considered regular email publications such as this one?  Better yet, how about Blogging!!!  There's even Twitter, the hottest new social interaction medium on the net today. Yes, they take some commitment, but the rewards for  companies who have embraced these technologies, are astronomical. But I digress a bit.  Before we can begin communicating with our audience, we need first to know what we're going to say and how, what sort of "face" we're going to put on our business ... our corporate identity.  We need to research how the customer thinks, feels, how they speak ... and prepare our content, perhaps multiple sets of it for different target audiences.  Without a plan, we're just shooting into a dark room with a shotgun, praying we'll hit something.