Here’s a great way to make your business stand out from the crowd for all the right reasons!

A common marketing problem

Most businesses really struggle to develop something uniquely valuable about their services.  That’s why your local; accountants, designers, insurance companies and recruitment firms etc, seem so similar and find they have to sell their services based on prices or fees.

• They use the same generic promises.
• Offer the same or a similar range of services.
• Advertise in the same places.
• Attend the same events.
• … and thus make themselves all-but invisible.

They are pretty-much camouflaged, which is the exact opposite of what they need, if they want to gain the attention of prospective clients or customers!

Companies that look too similar to their competitors, find that their prices or fees are the only thing a prospective customer has, to measure their VALUE compared to the others.  As a result, these companies find themselves competing for business based on price.  They blame the marketplace for being too cost-conscious or fee sensitive; when in reality it is they themselves that have failed to show the marketplace enough unique value.

Marketing and customer service

One way to really stand out and make a GREAT name for your business, is to provide genuinely exceptional customer service.

Here’s why:  Offering exceptional customer service is one of the best ways to retain your existing customers and develop new ones at the same time. It’s a super high leverage activity.

After all, people universally adore being looked after and being made feel special.  If you want to plug your business into the power of word of mouth marketing, this is a superb place to start.

The great news is that customer service excellence is rare today – So rare that when you provide it to people, they tell everyone.  In other words; if you become one of the few businesses that takes people’s breath away with YOUR customer service, your business can generate stacks of powerful word of mouth publicity.

A recent example

I needed to get my car repaired last week, so I used a local garage that had been highly recommended to me.  The garage examined the car and gave me a quote.  They were very highly recommended, so I told them to go ahead and fix it.  They told me that my car would be ready in two days.

The garage owner called me the next day, to say that my car would be ready to collect on time and offering to send someone to come and pick me up, to collect it!  When I arrived at the garage, they had repaired my car and given it a thorough clean; inside and out.  It looked like new.  There was a small note left on the passenger seat, with a list of free extras they had provided.  For example, they had filled up the screen wash and made sure the car’s tyre pressures were correct.  They also must have noticed my 4 year old son’s child seat, so they left a Disney stories CD in the car too, again with their compliments.

These are fairly small, inexpensive things to offer; yet they make a huge difference and have a massive positive impact on how their customers ‘feel’ about them.

What did I do after being treated like this?  First off, they got a MASSIVE tip from me.  In reality, my tip probably paid for all the extras 3 times over.  I also asked them for a pile of their business cards, which I have been handing to everyone I know locally; telling them how great these people are and what an amazing service they provided.

Promising exceptional service is easy.

The CHALLENGE is providing it!

If you want the marketplace to shout about you from the rooftops, your level of customer service has to be worth shouting about.

In my experience, business owners typically believe they already offer a good enough level of customer service, when in reality they are not even close.  They try hard and go the extra mile – but so do all of their serious competitors.  That’s just average – it’s not ‘exceptional.’

It’s easy to find out if we really are offering this level of service, because we will already have people eagerly recommending us to their contacts and friends.  We will already have the marketplace buzzing about the wonderful way we look after people.  We will have people sending in their résumés, because they really want to work with us.

If you are not getting that kind of traction, you might want to try this: Think of some companies you know, who already offer breathtaking customer service.  They don’t need to be in your industry.

Next, write down what it is that they do, which YOU could do, to make people feel just as good about you and your services.

Over to you

What great examples of customer service you have experienced and what impact did it had on you?

Please share your experiences below.

Related posts:

1. Creating a buzz about your business
2. Marketing that makes you cringe

This post is all about generating word of mouth and creating a positive buzz about you or your business.

If a friend recommends a great restaurant to you, you are massively more likely to go and eat there than you would be, if you’d found out about that same restaurant via an expensive advertisement. This is because, as we all know, a word of mouth referral is extremely powerful.

So, here’s a question for you:

Why do so few companies do anything to encourage word of mouth?

There are a number of reasons, but here’s what I believe to be the primary one: In my experience, most business owners think they are already doing enough to generate a buzz about what they do.  They genuinely care about their customers and work hard to try and exceed their customer’s expectations.

Surely that’s enough to get people talking about them?

No. It’s not!

That’s because there’s a high level of customer expectancy within the marketplace.  Think about it for a moment.  You expect great service don’t you? Of course you do and so does everyone else!

So, we all notice when we get bad service, but when we get either a good or slightly better than good service, it just washes over us.  It certainly doesn’t motivate us to want to tell all our friends.  We reserve that kind of buzz for the special companies – The one’s that stand out.

Word of mouth 101: We attract remarks, when we become remarkable

The marketplace will not start talking about a company, unless there’s a reason.  So, if we want to attract word of mouth business, we need to give people something to talk about.  A great place to start, is to continuously look for ways to offer a remarkable service, remarkable products or both.

To become remarkable takes courage; the courage to be different.  I’m not talking about being different just for the sake of it. If Bob’s the only Accountant in town to wear a batman outfit to his meetings, he will be different AND people will talk about him. (But that’s a whole different kind of word of mouth!)

Here’s a thought:  Why not take a moment to think about the companies, services or products that you are talking about and figure out how to adapt what you do, so your business becomes just as remarkable – but in your own way.  Use companies in different industries as inspiration, but don’t copy them.  Dare to be different and offer unique value.

Okay, that’s my take on it. I’d really like to hear what tips or ideas you have for generating word of mouth.

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This post is all about how to increase your sales and profits, by matching your actions to your promises.

Marketing & trust

Trust plays a BIG part in sales and marketing.  That’s because we buy from people we trust.  It’s also why testimonials and referrals are such powerful marketing tools.  They provide a short cut to the trust building process.  Even if you don’t know a service provider, the fact that a friend recommends them to you, immediately makes you massively more likely to do business with them, than with a stranger.

Marketing & consistency

There has been a lot written about the importance of building trust, yet very, very few marketing professionals ever mention one of the most important elements in the trust-building process. Consistency.

Even if a person or company has been recommended to you, you are unlikely to go ahead and use their services if they seem inconsistent, when you speak with them or check them out.  For example, if Bob recommends an accountant to you, but when you call them you are left waiting for ages before an uninterested person answers the phone, you still won’t use them.  That’s because there’s a lack of consistency between what you have been told and what you have experienced. This causes confusion and in marketing we know that a confused mind ALWAYS says NO!

Consistency & image

Many businesses (of all sizes), think that this consistency problem can be overcome by investing in a snazzy new logo and some well designed marketing material.  Banks and phone companies are a great example of this. They will often invest a fortune (millions) on beautifully designed websites, brochures and commercials – only for you to find that when you call them, you are placed in a queue, before your call is transferred to someone who’s clearly not interested and usually reading from a script or check list!

Whilst it’s REALLY important to invest in great design, this is only part of the challenge.  You also need to make sure that a prospective client’s experience of your business is consistent with that polished, professional image.

Marketing & customer service go hand in hand

Why not take a look at the overall experience a prospective client is likely to encounter, when connecting with your business?  Examine every part of the process.  This should include (though not exclusively), things like; how you deal with their initial email enquiry or phone call, how you handle the initial meeting and the follow-up.

How does their experience in these areas match up with your marketing promises of great customer service?  Remembering all the while that GREAT customer service means that you offer significantly better customer service than your competitors! Every business I have ever studied promises great customer service, yet most provide an average service at best.  They seem to do as little as they can ‘get away with’ – when they should be constantly searching for better ways to improve their customer’s experience.

This simple exercise should be expanded to include how well you look after your existing clients too – that’s if you intend keeping them!  Right now, with so many businesses really struggling, your competitors are working harder than ever to persuade your clients / customers to switch to THEM.

When you decide to offer truly great customer service you; add value to your service, generate more referrals, win more new business and just as importantly, retain more of your existing clients / customers too.

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Earlier this week, I was writing an article for my newsletter; all about how to generate valuable, word of mouth recommendations and have the marketplace saying great things about you.  I was writing the article, whilst sat in the lounge of a London hotel, where I had been staying for a couple of days.

Word of mouth marketing

Whilst writing article, a fellow guest asked me if I knew where there was a power supply, so he could plug in his laptop.  I told him that I didn’t, because I was using a netbook, which has around 7 hours battery life.

I explained how I charge it in the morning and that I don’t need a power source for the rest of the day.  After looking at the machine for 5 minutes and asking a few questions, he asked me for the model number, which I gave him (it’s a Samsung NC10) and promptly got his office to order him one!

It struck me afterwards, that I must have recommended the NC10 to around 20 people, since getting it just over a week ago.  This is a great example of the power of word of mouth!  By the way, I have no association with Samsung or anyone who sells their products. The reason I have told so many people about the NC10, is that I know how valuable that amazing battery life is to people like me; who often work away from their office and not always within reach of a power pocket.

Remarkable

It also struck me that in the 12 months I have owned my other laptop, I have never recommended it to anyone!  My other laptop is bigger, faster and does everything really well.  However, unlike the Samsung, with its amazing battery life, the other machine doesn’t do any one thing that is REMARKABLE.

‘Remarkable‘ is the key word here. People will only remark on you, your product or your business if you are remark-able in some way!

Just like my older laptop, which does everything really well, a business needs to offer more than a good quality service if it wants to attract stacks of word of mouth recommendations.  People EXPECT a business to offer a really good service, so it’s not remarkable when they get it.

That great service you offer your clients / customers is extremely valuable – it will help you to keep their custom and encourage some of them to recommend you to their friends.

However, if you want to have thousands of people or tens of thousands of people shouting your name from the rooftops, you also need to get creative and offer YOUR marketplace, YOUR version of the NC10′s amazing battery life!

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Here’s a quick marketing tip, which has helped thousands of people to massively improve their sales results.

One of the most common marketing problems businesses have, is reaching the right people at the right time. You need to get YOUR message in front of people, at the exact point where they are extremely interested in buying your kind of product or service.  So, how does it work?

Marketing, word of mouth and a recommendation too!

This quick marketing tip is all about identifying the people, which your prospective clients contact before they are about to purchase your kind of product or service – and getting these people to recommend you.  This means you not only get a supply of sales leads from extremely hot prospective clients, you also get to benefit from the power of a referral too!

Example:  Although this process works for business to business providers and in many different industries, for this example, let us assume that your business supplies and fits wall and floor tiles.  You would start off by asking yourself; “what do people do just BEFORE they get their bathroom or kitchen re-tiled?”  Well, in some cases, the person will have just experienced a flood etc and called in a plumber.  Equally, they may have got a plumber in to fit a new bathroom suite and now require the floor and walls re-tiled.

So, you would contact the plumbers, who work in the areas and the kind of homes you want to work with, and offer them a standard referral fee for every piece of work their referrals generate for you.  Obviously, you would show them some examples of how brilliant the quality of your work is, so they knew they were recommending a high quality service.

What kind of businesses can use this marketing tip?

I have seen this simple idea work wonders for; web designers, accountants, hotels, marketing consultants, recruitment companies, trainers, insurance providers, lawyers, hosting companies, maintenance providers, PR firms and stacks more.

By being selective about who you get to recommend you, you will also be able to attract work from the ideal profile of client or customer for your business too!  This is a great way to attract excellent quality, highly targeted leads – Without wasting a penny on ineffective advertising. You only pay when a lead becomes a piece of business, making it one of the most profitable forms of marketing out there.

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It’s a fact: People will only buy from you, if they believe that the value of your product or service (herein called a service), is significantly higher than its cost to them.  If they believe they can get better value (or a better deal) elsewhere, they will go and spend their money somewhere else.

Equally, if people think after reading / listening to your marketing that you must be out of their price-range, they won’t even get in touch with you.

You need to know how to strike the correct marketing balance and that’s what this article is all about!

Effective marketing works on a number of different levels.  For example, it should show people what a great service you provide and also reassure them that your prices or fees are set within their range.  You achieve this by pumping massive value into your services, PLUS showing that people, just like them, are already using and benefiting from your services.

For example, when I market my services, I have to make sure that people know that I work primarily with small businesses and that my fees are easily affordable to them.  Otherwise, I risk people NOT calling me or emailing me for more information, wrongly assuming I’m out of their price range!

Getting your marketing balance right

To find out if you have got your marketing balance right, you will need to measure the quality and quantity of the responses you get.  If people often tell you they’re surprised at how expensive your price or fee is, it means you need to pump more value into your services.

Yes, some people will say they think you are expensive, just as a way to try to negotiate your fee down – and you will always a get a few of those; but if this response becomes regular, it’s usually an indicator that the perceived value of your service is too low.

Another indicator that there’s a problem with your marketing balance, is if prospective clients start asking about your price or fee, early into your first conversation with them.  When this happens, it usually means you are either marketing to the wrong crowd or you have caused them to think you are probably out of their price range.  When people think your price / fee is likely to be great value or nominal, they are less concerned about it and more interested in how you can help them or how your service works etc.

How to make testimonials work!

One of the ways I demonstrate both the value and affordability of my marketing services, is to provide testimonials and that’s what I suggest you do too - but not just ANY OLD kind of testimonial!

YOUR testimonials need to show the value and the affordability of your service.

Most testimonials I see, are from people simply saying how great, professional or effective a service provider or product is – which is fine – but only if it’s clear that the people giving the testimonials are just like them. This way, the reader can relate to the message and ‘see themselves’ in those testimonials!

For example, the testimonials I use are all from people who run small businesses or are self-employed – who are elated at how I’ve helped them achieve fantastic results.  These are the same kind of people I market my services to.  This means that these testimonials tick both boxes; showing the value and relevance of my services.

What next?

Take a look at your current marketing feedback and see if you can spot a pattern.  If you find people are often too fee-sensitive when they respond or that you do not get as many responses as you would like, take a look at your marketing balance.

This is obviously a big subject and there are dozens of elements to consider, if you want to blow the lid off your sales and profits.  I will be addressing all these in future articles / blog posts.

Over to YOU!

What tips do YOU have, to overcome prospective clients or customers that are fee-sensitive or too price focussed? I would love you to share them with the readers and myself!

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If you want to lower your costs, increase your sales and boost your profits, you need to get the most from online marketing.  This post focuses on 2 forms of FREE online marketing, which you can use to achieve amazing results for your business; Blogging and Newsletters!

Online marketing is changing

Not that many years ago, online marketing reached a relatively small, fairly select group of people.  These were either technology enthusiasts, businesses run by technology enthusiasts or multinationals.  Because only certain groups of consumers and businesses used the Internet regularly, online marketing was of limited use to the average small business.

Of course today, that’s all changed! Almost everyone in a ‘developed’ country now has Internet access at home, work or both. This means it’s now possible for you to use online marketing to generate either sales or leads, for just about any kind of product or service.  It also means it has never been quicker, easier or less expensive to market your business!

Free online marketing

Right now, armed with nothing more than an Internet connection and a blog, you can generate leads or sales for your business for free.  Moreover, these can be highly targeted leads and highly profitable sales too.

Practising what you preach

I have not used any form of paid marketing for my business for years.

That’s right – 100% of my non-referred business comes from either my newsletter, my website or this blog!

All I have to do is make sure I give away as much valuable marketing information as possible, to as many small businesses as possible.  Then, when these small businesses want someone to help them market their products or services, they give me a call.  When they want their blog or website transformed into a goldmine, they already know my work and that I get results – so they get in touch!

Fast results?

Oh yes – You can see results in seconds! For example, once you build a list of newsletter subscribers or a group of regular blog readers, you can start generating either sales or leads, less than a minute after you send a message or post something to your blog!

Of course, most people with newsletters or blogs have very few readers. Just as with everything else, you need to do the right things, in the correct way, if you want to achieve the desired results.  That’s why it’s important that you spend a little time doing some research, before you start!

Blog marketing

There are lots of online networking sites and ‘social media’ tools you can use, to build up a targeted network of prospective clients or valuable contacts.  In fact, the number of websites offering these facilities is so vast, that it has become a problem in itself.

In my experience, the foundation of your free online marketing should be a blog.

A simple blog, if used correctly, can help you develop a massive community and allow you to showcase your talents to your prospective clients / customers.  It can help you find out about the needs of your marketplace and also develop a special relationship with thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of prospects.

Getting a blog

You can get yourself a free blog right now, from wordpress.com or blogger.com, and be blogging in minutes.  Each blog platform has pro’s and con’s.  I use a paid-for version of wordpress for this blog – you can see the benefits of a paid wordpress blog here.

However, before you invest your time starting a blog, make sure you get some advice from someone with a successful blog.  I recommend you take a look at Chris Brogan’s blog, which covers business blogging (and also other forms of social media.)  It’s a great resource and well worth a read.

Blog marketing is a massive subject and I can only scratch the surface in this post, but there’s going to be a LOT more information to come – So subscribe to my RSS feed, using the button on the top right of the page and make sure you don’t miss a thing!

Newsletters

By far, my biggest ‘network’ is the readership of my marketing newsletter.  The newsletter has been going for almost three years and has thousands of valued readers, spanning over 100 countries around the world.  Each newsletter is sent just a couple of times a month and contains an original marketing article (like this one).

I use the same principle to grow my newsletter, as I use to grow this blog.

I provide high value content, so people share it with their contacts. These contacts then subscribe and they share it with their contacts…

Which businesses can benefit from Newsletters & Blogs?

Any business, in any industry can benefit from a Newsletter and / or a blog.  That’s because the same process outlined above is universal.  Just make sure your blog or newsletter content is designed exclusively for YOUR target market.

In other words, if your business offers web design – write about great web design ideas, tips and tricks.  If your business offers insurance, write about how people can lower their premiums or get better cover or share some funny insurance stories.  If you are a coach or consultant, blog about your subject and give great tips and ideas to your readers. Most newsletters are little more than advertisements and because of this, people do not forward them on and they fail to grow.

Make sure you pump as much valuable information as possible into everything you write.  This showcases your talents, positions you as an expert and shows the real value of your products or your services.  It also makes choosing you as a provider almost risk-free to your readers.

Conclusion

I know people in just about every industry, who get the vast majority of their leads or sales through free online marketing.  I also get emails from people every day; who are wondering how to generate the leads or sales their business needs in order to survive.

If you want to know more, take a look at the free resources mentioned above and also check out the guides and articles in this blog.  You might also want to look that this, it’s all about how to build a successful newsletter.

If you have found this post useful or you have anything to add, please leave a comment and share your feedback with everyone!

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By Jim Connolly
In business, confidence is massively important! I’m not talking here about our self-confidence; but rather the level of confidence that other people have in us, our business and our services.

I would like to ask you a question!

When someone asks you; “how’s business?” – what kind of answers do you tend to give them?

If you want people to buy from you, recommend you or invest in you; it’s vitally important that you always speak in positive terms about your business!  If there’s nothing positive to say about your CURRENT business position, then tell people all about your exciting plans for the future!

What a ‘positive’ answer does

Whenever you speak about your business in a confident, positive way, it causes people to feel confident about you and your situation.  This is really important, because your future success will always be in direct proportion to the number of people that ‘feel’ confident or positive about; you, your abilities, your business and it’s products or services.

If you think about it, the current economic situation is a great example of this.  The direction the stock markets take is always determined by the ‘confidence’ of those, who invest in stocks and shares.  If they feel positive about some news or a rumour – they act positively and the market grows.  If they lack confidence in something they act negatively and the market shrinks.

What a ‘negative’ answer does

Whenever you speak in negative terms about your business, you cause people to lose confidence in you.  This is one of the most commercially damaging things anyone can do to their business!

I have lost track of the number of small business owners I have spoken with over the years, who ALWAYS find something negative to say about their business, no matter how well things are going for them! What they seem unaware of, is that these negative comments about their business can spread like a virus.

Soon, their suppliers, competitors and potential clients start speaking negatively about them and BOOM – they can actually ‘talk themselves out of business!’

For example, there are countless companies who have gone broke, PURELY BECAUSE a false rumour suggested they were in financial trouble.  Very quickly, people’s confidence in the company starts to dip; so they stop using them, (fearing they will lose their money.)  Suppliers stop providing credit to them and all of a sudden, that company REALLY does have a financial problem! That’s how important it is to generate confidence in you and your business!

Especially in today’s erratic economy, make sure the seeds YOU plant in the marketplace are 100% positive.  Make YOUR business the one that people feel positive about and want to buy from, recommend or invest in. Talk only about what you want and not what you fear.

NEVER, EVER FORGET you are ALWAYS just one great idea away from your first (or next) million!

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If you are one of those dedicated people, who invests a lot of their time developing a network of contacts, I have a question for you:

“How valuable to your business, (in financial terms), is your network of contacts?”

I ask this because in my experience, many small businesses focus almost exclusively on developing networks of people, with little influence in their marketplace!

A VERY low leverage activity!

You can end up wasting thousands of pounds worth of your time and money on local networking events and joining networking groups; whilst simultaneously limiting the time you have to actually RUN YOUR BUSINESS! A lose-lose situation.

Although a local Accountant or Bank Manager can be an excellent source of credible referred business; not everyone in your local business community has credible access to your target market.

Without credibility, a lead or referral is worthless!

This is because when a person who lacks credibility recommends your business to someone, you become associated in their mind with that ‘non-credible’ person.  I wrote recently about a Lawyer whose law firm has suffered terribly; after he joined a networking group and had his good name associated with some hard-sell tactics, used by a few of his fellow networkers to generate leads!

Of course, one of the most effective ways to network today is from your desk! Millions of people have totally ditched traditional, time-consuming networking, for free online networks.  I use one myself called Twitter which is excellent!

There are also more formal online networking groups like ecademy and linkedin that you might like to explore – neither of which I use or endorse! In any case, the costs will be massively lower than traditional networking.  So will the demands on your time – essential for people like us who run small businesses!

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It’s a fact; before someone becomes a client or customer of your business, they need to trust you.  One of the fastest ways to create an image for your business, which people in the marketplace will trust (and desire), is to make “the power of association” a part of your marketing mix!

Marketing and short cuts

People are programmed to look for short cuts when it comes to making decisions!  This is why the recommendation of a friend is so powerful.  If there are 10 equally good print companies in your area and you need to pick one, the one that has been highly recommended to you by half a dozen of your friends will win your business every time!

The recommendation of your friends quickly and powerfully reduces the level of risk you feel about using the recommended company.

In marketing, you can ‘leverage‘ the power of association to create a similar decision making short cut in the mind of all your prospective clients!

The marketing power of association

If your prospective clients associate you or your business with a highly respected person or organisation, they mentally link you and them together.  This instantly elevates your reputation in the marketplace!

For example, an unknown designer can make a fortune, simply by having Brad Pitt say he loves wearing their clothes!  Yesterday, he or she was an unknown designer – today they are a super-cool designer to the stars!   Their designs are no better or worse than they always were, but their new association with Brad Pitt means there will now be massive demand for their work.

Brad Pitt’s praise created a short cut, by showing people these designs were ‘cool.’  His comments would also generate a stack of invaluable free publicity. That’s the power of association!

How the power of association helps me

If, for example, someone has never heard of me, they might be cautious about using my free marketing advice.  However, when they learn that I have contributed to The BBC or CBS or their favourite newspaper – they instantly see me in a different light.  My work takes on a totally different perspective, because of my associates.

How the power of association can help YOU!

More importantly, the power of association can be used to massively improve YOUR results!  If you want to benefit from the power of association, you need to do two things.

1. Firstly, you must be extremely selective about who and what you associate yourself and your business with.  You need to deliberately target people and organisations that will increase your reputation in your marketplace.
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   For example, phone your local radio station and ask if they need a newspaper reviewer for their early show.  (That’s how I got my first coverage on The BBC!)Think of the people and organisations that are most respected in your profession and form associations with them.
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2. Secondly, you must make sure that everyone knows about your high calibre associations!  It’s not enough to be linked to some great people and organisations; you need to make sure the marketplace knows.
   

The power of association can also work AGAINST you!

I spoke with an accountant recently, who told me he had wasted over £1,000 sponsoring a business event.  The event was a free-to-attend lunch and seminar; hosted by a well-known UK business development organisation.

Although he got a handful of leads from the event, they were a total waste of time.  He explained; “they just picked my brain for free accountancy advice!”

The reason his sponsorship could never have worked is simple.  He had just associated his accountancy practice with an organisation well-known across the UK for providing free, low quality business advice! Also, the people attending the event were those who are looking for FREE, generic advice.  These are the very worst people to market his premium accountancy service to, because advice from a qualified accountant is neither free nor low quality!

So, it’s extremely important to be selective, regarding who you associate your business with.  The right associations will attract business and the wrong associations will lose you business even faster!

Avoid this common problem

As I mentioned earlier, a personal or professional recommendation CAN be a wonderful source of new business.  The problem here, is that very little is ever said about the DAMAGE that can result from having your business recommended by people who lack credibility or are unprofessional!

For example, I was emailed by one of my newsletter subscribers, who runs a small law firm.  He had been a member of one of those networking groups; which meet for breakfast once a week to swap referrals.  To remain a member of this network, you have to provide leads every week.

He found that a few of his fellow networking associates were using the same ‘high-pressure techniques’ to generate leads for him; as they were using to generate leads for their own direct sales businesses.

Two years later, his law firm’s professional reputation is still tarnished; because of the hard sell approach used by his former networking associates!

What next?

Every association you have is either helping you gain credibility and trust within the marketplace or it’s bringing your reputation down!  Take time to list and then evaluate the credentials of everyone whose name or logo you use in your marketing.

Next, decide which side of the scales they are on!  Are they helping you or hurting you?

If they are not improving how the marketplace views your business, you should seriously consider disassociating from them immediately.

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