Cosmetic Promotions, Inc, the beauty marketing firm that facilitates the Glam Camp program for Rite Aid, is proud to announce –that Brooke Dalley, 16, of Washington, Utah, has been selected grand prize winner in the first-annual Rite Aid Glam Camp Model Search . Brooke is a junior in High School who wants to study Marketing and PR in college. She is a cheerleader, acts in school plays, dances and still finds time to volunteer as a Peer Tutor for mentally challenged kids. She was among the top five finalists out of more than 6,800 entrants, and was chosen by popular vote online at glamcamp.com and on Rite Aid’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/riteaid

As the grand prize winner, Brooke will star in the 2012 Rite Aid Glam Camp Seventeen Magazine two-page spread and 2012 Glam Camp Back to School promotional materials such as in-store signs, Rite Aid circular ads, websites, and e-mail marketing materials. The prize includes a trip with one parent or guardian to New York City and $500 spending cash. During the four-day trip, the winner will receive a professional photo session, a complete makeover by Rimmel and Sally Hansen, a tour of Seventeen Magazine, and a $250 shopping spree with a professional fashion consultant.

Orlando, FL – Cosmetic Promotions, Inc., a national beauty marketing and promotional company, is facilitating the Rite Aid Glam Camp Back-to-School program for the fourth year in a row.  New to 2011, Rite Aid has expanded the Glam Camp program to include a national Model Search for consideration to become the 2012 face of Glam Camp. The winner will be chosen from the more than 6,000 teen girls between ages 13 and 22 who submitted their profiles to www.glamcamp.com/model-search.

Two semi-finalists were chosen each Friday (beginning in early August) by a panel of industry professionals including Seventeen Magazine.  There are a total of 14 semi-finalists for the final phase of online voting, which started September 19.  Visitors can vote for one semi-finalist once a day. The five entrants with the most votes on October 1 become the finalists and will submit a video and more pictures highlighting their personality. Beginning on October 21, the videos and pictures will be featured on Rite Aid’s Facebook page, where people can vote for their favorites. One grand prize winner and two runner-ups will be selected on Oct. 31.  To view the fourteen finalists (or for more details including rules) go to  www.glamcamp.com/model-search/.

The grand prize winner will star in the 2012 Rite Aid Glam Camp Seventeen Magazine two-page spread and all 2012 Glam Camp promotional materials such as in-store signs, Rite Aid circular ads, Facebook page, websites, and e-mail blasts. The prize includes a trip with one parent or guardian to New York City and $500 spending cash. During the four-day trip, the winner will receive a professional photo session, a complete makeover by Rimmel and Sally Hansen, a tour of Seventeen Magazine, and a $250 shopping spree with a professional fashion consultant.

Maybelline, Neutrogena, Rimmel, Sally Hansen, and got2b are the major companies featured in the Seventeen Magazine Glam Camp spread.  Prepacks from these brand along with Essie, Veet, Demeter fragrances, and Dove are on display through September in most Rite Aid stores.  Teens can receive a Glam Camp cosmetic bag and cell phone charm by mail when they send in a receipt totaling $15 or more from the featured brands by Oct. 27 for purchased made through Sept. 27.  See stores or Single Check Rebate Guide available online at www.savenow.riteaid.com, for more details.

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For more information on the Glam Camp Model Search or about Cosmetic Promotions contact Joann Tyson at 407-644-9916 or joann@cosmeticpromotions.com or check out www.glamcamp.com

Two clients had the same exact birth date – August 31st- so Cosmetic Promotions, Inc donated $250 to the Ronald McDonald house near Chicago and Alzheimer Association in Rhode Island.

Clients still have a chance to participate and get $250 for their charity by sending their birth date and charity to joann@cosmeticpromotions.com. All responses will be entered into a 2nd chance drawing on 10/15.

Cosmetic Promotions began as a one gal show back in 1990 and now has 12 full time employees, 2 warehouses and over 1000 makeup artists listed with the CosPro
Agency which was founded about 11 years ago. They have beauty marketing programs at Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS and customize programs and events for every major mass cosmetic company in the United States.

Talk to Me. Diversify your networks by getting active within your community, professional networking groups or professional associations. Most business people stay within their comfortable zone of home and work and back again and can’t figure out why no one is referring them. Get active and visible within your community and let people know you are there. (More tips on this next month!)

Mouth to Mouth. Develop relationships with businesses that are symbiotic and noncompetitive with yours. The wedding industry, real estate market and construction industry are all great examples of this. A new customer for one becomes a referral for the rest – such as with real estate where your real estate agent can refer you to a mortgage broker, title company, inspection and repair companies. Determine what services best compliment your own and begin building a relationship with them, breathing new life into all of your businesses.

He Said, She Said. Use your website and social media outlets to your advantage. Create a system where customers can review your products or services. Customer reviews are one of the most effective user-generated methods for driving sales. In fact, over three quarters of customers admit to seeking out peer reviews before purchasing a product or service (A.C. Nielsen). Then expand outward from your website inviting customer feedback from various venues such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and partner websites – you want to make it easy for people to talk about your brand wherever they are…and to drive them back to your site. Finally, if you get a good customer review – use it. Integrate it into your ads, signage, newsletters, emails, etc and let customers know what others are saying.

Actions Speak Louder. Develop an army of volunteers, samplers, ambassadors, etc that you can send out new product/service invites to for the purpose of reviewing and telling friends and colleagues about. Large companies such as Procter & Gamble, Lee Jeans, even movie companies such as New Line Cinemas, have begun using this method that has been shown to increase favorable opinions in case after case from 50-75%. (Source: Company reports). By using a select group of thought leaders of companies, clubs or groups to ‘preview’ your new product or service, you are creating implied endorsers/thought influencers to sell for your brand.

Keep a Civil Tongue. Obviously, you do not want to ignore your current customers either. Remember that the customer is always right and to keep them happy. A happy customer will come back for more business as well as tell their friends and colleagues about you. Make sure you listen to your customers and show that you care about their needs. Get their opinions on new products or services and incorporate the useful information. Customers like to think that you value their opinion – and you should. After all, they are the ones supporting your business.

Talk Shop. Referral programs are always a great way to get current customers to tell their friends and colleagues about your business. Referral promotions can be something as simple as a percent off their next purchase, a free gift or a donation made to their favorite charity. The important thing is to make it as easy as possible to refer you. That means emails that they can just forward, including business cards or brochures with invoices, samples/gifts that they can share (such as pens, notepads, lollipops with your logo/web address), etc. – whatever method (or better yet METHODS) you use, make sure the customer can pass it on easily and quickly. You want to show the current customer that you appreciate the fact that they would refer you, but not take up any more time in their busy day.

The Final Word. Last, but not least, you do still need to focus on minimizing your negative word of mouth by making sure to provide a quality product or exceptional service. It does not do any good to get new customers if you are unable to keep them. Make sure that you are honest in your marketing materials and sales tactics. Try and correct problems immediately, showing them that their business is important to you. Referrals and growth are going to be hard to come by if the customer is unsatisfied. Better yet, go the extra mile. Make sure the work you do get’s people energized, excited and eager to tell a friend.

Increasing your business through word of mouth advertising is about cultivating relationships with people and allowing them to get to know you and trust you. People do business with people they have confidence in. Simple as that. If you go into this process understanding this one key point, you will have a better opportunity to build your business through word of mouth.

“If it’s not worth talking about, it’s not worth doing.”
 - Andy Sernovitz – Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking

Over the years, I have sampled hundreds of products and many of those are products I would have never dreamed of buying. I work hard for my money and don’t want to buy something without knowing it works. I prefer to hear from a friend or a review on the product but I really want to try it myself for FREE.

Because of all the sampling, I now have a bunch of items I can’t live without. Here are my top 10 …

1. Neutrogena Microdermbrasion Cleansing pads – Unfortunately this one is discontinued by JNJ but I scour the internet finding leftovers. Again, I would have been very skeptical about buying these but we were doing some instore demo’s a few years ago and we all got to sample them. All the females in our group over a certain age LOVE this product and it is not unusual for us to notify one another when we find a stash of it somewhere. Please, JNJ, bring this back or if anyone out there cares to send me a box, I will be forever grateful.

2. Skin Doctors Zit Zapper – I d never even heard of Skin Doctors before we were commissioned to do some instore events. Somehow we ended up with an extra one of these wands and I was lucky enough to get it. I still get occasional breakouts (yes, even with my wrinkles) and this little marvel really zaps them and quickly. I used it on my mate’s pimple once and he now calls it the miracle pen. And the darn thing seems to last forever. With my luck they will discontinue this before I have a need to buy a 2nd one.

3. La Roche Effaclar foaming Cleanser – again there was an extra and I thought I would try it, fully expecting to not like it. Well, I was wrong. This creamy cleanser foams up brilliantly and leaves my face feeling very smooth and you only need literally a pea size drop. Since I can’t find it locally, I order it on line or stock up when I am in NYC but one tube lasts me at least 6 months.

4. Garnier Eye Roller – Like millions of other women, I have made this a staple in my daily routine. I love the roller, I love the way it makes my eyes feel refreshed and I think it does reduce my puffiness. Actually, I was the most skeptical about Garnier Nutritioniste line of skincare products. I would have never thought these would be effective but I find the whole line one of the most effective brands I have ever used. I really see results and have had people comment on my skin when I am using the products.

5. Physician’s Formula Talc Free foundation – it took me years to find out that I am allergic to talc – I can’t thank PF enough for this fabulous foundation that covers well and stays on all day. I also love their talc free powders. I wish they would make that new bronzer talc free.

6. Loreal Everpure Sulfate Free Shampoo and Conditioner – My hair has always had what I call performance anxiety. The more important it is for my hair to look good is in direct proportion on how bad it will look. The day I am home washing the dogs, it looks and behaves brilliantly. On the day of my big gala event, it is limp and awful. Anyway, I have gotten some relief by using these new products. Even my hairdresser noticed how much stronger and easy to manage it has been since I started using it.

7. Revlon Tourmaline Ionic Ceramic Hair Dryer – My friend swears by those $300 hair dryers and I am not about to pay $300 to dry my hair. But this past spring, our trainers (and I) were trained on the Revlon Hair Dryers sold at Walgreens for $29.99 and each of us was given one. I also got to see a segment of GMA where good housekeeping rated this hair dryer BETTER than the $300 one my friend uses to dry her hair. And I was also given instructions on how to use it and now I feel like a professional! Remember that when setting your next demo event; people need to be educated on how to use the product and WHY to use YOUR product.

8. CoverGirl Lash Exact Mascara – I torture my lashes – I curl them and use waterproof mascara so they stay curled. I hate thick clumpy lashes, I want mine to look like those beautiful false eyelashes – long and silky. Well, Lash Exact (and I love the eye brightening ones) is the best one I have tried. And I have tried just about all of them – Lash Blast, Stiletto, Telescopic, you name it – nothing else does the trick.

9. Bliss bath products – I stayed at a W hotel a few years back and was treated to some FREE Bliss products and got hooked. Wish I hadn’t since the stuff is so expensive. I love, love the lemon-sage Body Butter and Soapy Sap shower gel. I even like the shampoo and conditioner. I keep trying to find something that smells as good for less money but no luck. Luckily I stay at W Hotels a lot and all my friends know to get me some for birthdays and such.

10. Regenerist Serum – when the line first came out, we were sent about half a million little tubes of the serum. I was able to use them for almost a year before I had to buy a bottle but now I do and continue to do so.

So there you have it, NOT one of these products would I have ever bought if I had not been given the opportunity to try it. And not only I am hooked and a consistent buyer but I have gotten my friends hooked on many of the items as well.

One thing to remember when doing an in-store event is that is very difficult to get a good ROI on the day of the event – you have to factor in the customers that will become fans, tell others and make repeat purchases all because you had someone in the store one day pimping your brands – just make sure that person is educated and a good representative of your brand. Oh yeah, make sure the product actually works!

• Create a productive atmosphere. Spend a lot of time at your desk? Improve your productivity by creating a work space that is inviting and inspires you. Art, plants and music as well as organizational tools such as file sorters, letter trays, etc. can all help to keep you alert, organized and focused.
• Be adaptive. The work place is changing and employees are being asked to do more and more. Take a hard look periodically at how you spend your time and purge tasks that are no longer necessary in order to stay on top of the things that are.
• Be decisive. Stop doing “the desktop shuffle” – try to take the next action that’s required each time you handle a piece of paper. Use your letter tray to help clear your desk. Don’t save paper that you’re not willing to spend time to file. If you avoid filing things because you’re afraid you’ll forget to follow up, write a reminder in your planner or computer. Then file or trash. You’ll save a lot of time looking for the document in your ‘piles’ later if you take a few seconds to file it now.
• You have a scheduler, use it. Schedule in time so that you can work on that important project. During that time, focus. Don’t answer email, don’t answer your phone. Then schedule 2-3 times throughout the day where you can answer emails as well as return calls. This should help you stay intent on your project minimizing time costing errors as well as maximizing the amount you get done. Not to mention the potential for good ideas that your full attention gives.
• Create a ‘To Do’ list at COB. Write down all the items that you want to achieve the next day. Then prioritize them. Don’t set yourself up for failure by putting too much on your list. This will also help to motivate you to get done those items that you repeatedly put off day after day or to recognize them as a task to purge.
• Beware burnout. Schedule in personal time and vacation. If you get burnt out or frazzled from working too much, you won’t be of much benefit to your company, your family or your customers. It is better for you to leave at 6 on Wed and to be productive on Thurs/Fri, rather than to stay late and get nothing done the next 2 days as you are too worn out to concentrate on anything, or worse, to do things wrong and have to spend even more time fixing them.

People cannot work 24/7 and still be effective and companies are beginning to realize this. If you find ways to work smarter and not harder, you will be able to figure out how to balance your work and personal life so that neither suffers and you remain a valuable employee in these challenging times.

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” Albert Einstein

Winter Park, FL - Cosmetic Promotions Inc, a national marketing company specializing in the beauty industry, is celebrating 20 years in business. As part of the celebration, they are offering quarterly specials and also giving back to the community by donating money to their clients’ favorite charities. The special for August includes a 5% charity “rebate” to the charity of their choice on any 100 (or more) store event the client books. The offer expires July 6^th. During Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, they donated 5% of all demo revenue to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, raising almost $4,000. They are encouraging their clients to let them know which charities they would like considered for a donation by asking them to fill out a short survey at http://www.cosproagency.com/survey.

Cosmetic Promotions CEO and founder Joann Tyson believes strongly in volunteering. She gives at least 5 hours weekly to her charities in addition to the cash donations. “If every person who COULD volunteer did, charities in this country would need less federal aid and arts organizations would be able to survive,” says Ms. Tyson who is on two city boards, volunteers at the Florida Film Festival, and served as president of the Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s Associate Board for 2 years. She also chaired the Winter Park Library’s 2010 annual fundraiser and was the community liaison for Toys for Tots for 5 years. Her employees are also big on volunteering. Agency Director Kristin Bocox has been delivering Meals on Wheels to local Dallas shut-ins for more than 2 years. Sunny Wilmot, Contest Administrator, went to Africa for 2 weeks last August to help develop a well and a housing project in a village near Naivasha, Kenya. Diane Burge, Teen Event Coordinator, served on the Orlando Shakespeare Theater Associate Board as well. Kate Crockett, Regional Manager, donates time to political campaigns and Ted Bondhus, Art Director, donated many graphic design hours to the Winter Park Library and Orlando Shakespeare Theater projects.

In addition, Cosmetic Promotions frequently donates extra products from events to women’s shelters and local silent auctions to help those charities raise more money. According to Tyson, “We have been so fortunate to be successful in business for 20 years; we feel it is our duty to give back. Plus, it feels so good!”

The “new” great American dream is to own your own business. More entrepreneurs launched new businesses in 2009 than at any other time in the past 14 years, according to a study released in May from the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity report. This could be due to the fact that so many people have been downsized that they feel the only way to earn a living or be secure is to be their own boss.

The problem is that it’s just not that easy! One of my favorite expressions is “you don’t know what you don’t know” and there isn’t one easy source out there that can feed you all the information you need to know in order to stay on top of the laws and intricacies to running a business – you find out when something happens how to handle it.

SO what was I doing last week instead of touching base with my (very important) clients? Well here is a little run down.

On Monday, I had back to back conference calls with my 4 managers so I knew what was going on in their departments that week and update our deadlines. A catch 22 for small business owners: you hire people so you don’t do all the work and then you end up managing people and creating another category of work for yourself. My company has 10 employees — not enough for me truly delegate everything other than working with the clients, but just enough to add a few hours to my workload each week dealing with them. You need to train them, mentor them, talk with them and, of course, manage them. Once you delegate things to them, you have to go over the results with each of them. This is why so many bosses fail to delegate because sometimes it takes the same amount of time to give the task to someone else then to do it yourself. Ongoing tasks can easily be assigned to an employee, but the weird things that pop up daily (and, trust me, they do) have to be handled and usually you are the only person left who can handle it.

Monday afternoon I spent over 3 hours researching the “use tax laws” in Michigan and discussing the inquiry we got from that state with our CPA and internal AP person. We are a service company and we don’t sell products so why would Michigan ask us to pay taxes in a state where we have no office, no sales, no employees? Because we issued some 1099’s to independent contractors to do in-store demonstrations in a few stores in that state. Each state has different tax laws. We can’t afford to go to an attorney on every issue that pops up and, unlike large corporations, have no one person who can deal with these things. So the small business owner ends up handling these issues one by one.

On Tuesday, I was dealing with my warehouse manager’s neck and back problems. We only have one warehouse manager and the fact her doctor put her on light duty meant the warehouse basically shuts down. We had to find a person immediately to go in and do all the heavy lifting plus deal with the insurance issues.

On Wednesday, I was dealing with another legal issue and this one was really fun. When we starting doing a lot of shipping, we began using a ship broker who was referred to us by another company. For the first 3 or 4 years, it was great – no problems and good rates. Then the broker, Doreen Dillon, sent out a change of company name correspondence assuring us that we would still be dealing with her, but she was working for a different company. It seemed to be business as usual, but then things got strange; she was using different shipping companies for each shipment, she was hard to reach, some invoices were coming straight to us saying they were not paid – she always had a plausible excuse for each. Finally, Doreen disappeared (with 2 years worth of payments) and the shipping companies started coming after us for payment.  It was and continues to be a nightmare; every few months another shipping company pops up and we have to settle with them. Basically we have paid TWICE for all the shipping that occurred during those couple of years. I put her name in this blog in case anyone reading this is doing business with her! Trust me, there are a lot of people who would love to find her.

Other things I handled last week included managing all our projects; making sure that nothing falls through the cracks and that we get everything done on time. We are also in the middle of redeveloping our website and working on a new part time PR position so we have one person monitoring all our social media, press releases and contact lists (something I pretty much handle alone at this point). I get hundreds of emails each day from clients and associates and make a point to respond quickly to everyone. I also invoice most of the projects myself because I do most of the quotes.

I feel extremely lucky (and proud) that we have been in business for 20 years and keep growing.  I hope other entrepreneurs find as much success as I have. But I laugh when someone thinks owning your own business is “freedom” and you can take off whenever you want to. My biggest piece of advice – realize it is going to be twice as hard as any job you ever had and then maybe you won’t be as unprepared for the demands that reaching the great American dream will bring. Oh and yes, stay in touch with your clients because you really do work for them.

1. Be Prepared. Simple, right? While most of us insist that we know this Boyscout motto, not many actually do it properly. Now, don’t get discouraged that this is not some amazing new trick. But it is listed here as tip # 1 as it is THE most important tool you have that will make a difference. There are a wide variety of ways that you can get prepared – research your markets and prospects, prepare an opening statement, loosely script the rest of your call, be prepared with specific requests, KEEP IT BRIEF AND END THE CALL.
2. Re-Re-Research. Take advantage of the wide variety of information available today and find out as much as you possibly can about your cold call contact in advance. It can be a huge advantage to be able to talk about their business and their needs when you call them, making the call personalized and not quite so cold. It also demonstrates your knowledge and commitment about their problems and the opportunities to solve them.
3. Opening Statements. This lets you organize your thoughts before cold calling and helps you avoid common mistakes in the call opening that would give the person you’re calling the chance to terminate the conversation. DON’T read your opening statement into the phone, but use it as a framework to get the conversation off to a good start. The approach can vary depending upon what your research turned up, but your appointment rate should go way up when you show prospects you are interested enough in their business to have done some homework and personalize your introduction/call.
4. Loosely Scripted. Lay out the benefits of your product or service and the reasons your prospect should buy. Write out possible objections and your answer to them. Once again, DO NOT read your script word for word when you call. You do not want to be so focused on your script that you are not paying attention to the customer’s reaction to it. A script’s purpose is to organize your thoughts so that you do not ramble, customize your conversation to your customer and allow you to highlight your main points while keeping the call BRIEF.
5. Converse, Don’t Pitch. In most of our daily interactions, we simply want to get to know and communicate with others. But when we go into sales situations, we have an agenda – to make a sale. And because a pitch can trigger the perception that that’s all we want, many people will sense this immediately and put up their guard, limiting your chance for real, honest communication. If you instead create a conversation around the problems or issues you know they’re facing and have a conversation about how to solve those problems, leaving off the sales pressure – prospects will share their truth with you. They’ll tell you whether solving the issue is a priority, whether they have the resources to commit to it and anything else you need to move forward.
6. Perfectly Purposeful. The cold call is NOT about making the sale, as many sales people tend to think. It’s about getting the chance to make the sale. In plain terms, the purpose of a cold call is to set an appointment to make the pitch. Be specific, “Would Wednesday at 11 a.m. be a good time to meet/call?” instead of saying, “Can I meet with you to discuss this next week?”
7. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Respect their time. Keep your call as brief and precise as possible — generally less than a few minutes. Remember, you are calling them out of the blue and need to realize that you cannot just assume they have free time to listen to your pitch; you need to do your intro, get them interested, then schedule that time with them. If you promised them any additional information during the call, then make sure you send it before your scheduled appointment.
8. About time. Set aside a time each day to make cold calls. By setting a time to make your cold calls, you are creating a new routine for yourself, limiting the chance of procrastination. Generally, the best times to call are either early or late in the day as potential customers are less busy and more likely to answer their own phones.
9. Cut through the clutter. With cold calls, it is all about attitude and how you react to the customer and situation. Don’t be just another drone. Whether using honesty (I realize you probably get 100 of these calls a day. Well, buckle up – here’s one more!), an industry article they may find interesting (Did you see the recent article about xyz?) or humor if the call is not going well (Mr. X, are you about to hang up on me?) – make sure you distinguish yourself and keep it light and energized.
10. Persistence Pays. “Eighty percent of new sales are made after the fifth contact, yet the majority of sales people give up after the second call” (AllBusiness.com). Keep it up! Just remember that people are having to do more and more with less help these days and it may take a while to find some free time. Don’t be annoying, but routinely follow up to show them that you are reliable and willing to go the extra mile in order to help them with their problems.

There are a million sites out there for tips, tricks and even scripts for cold calling. Use them, make the cold call your own and warm up to this area of sales. While cold calling may never be your favorite sales tactic, you can get better at it. The more you practice, the more effective it will be. The people who want to do business with you are out there – but you have to let them know about you first.

“Many of life’s failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Thomas Edison

Cold Calling - While not the favorite method of reaching new clients, it can still be wildly successful if done correctly. Research your prospects and their industry – first to make sure that you are contacting someone that would benefit from your services and secondly so that you can prep before your call to outline how you can help them. Prep an opening statement customized to that prospect to catch their attention. Loosely script your call to help you keep it brief and to stay on subject. By talking to the right people about problems/issues specific to their industry that you can help with, you increase exponentially your chance of success with a cold call.

Word of Mouth – Everyone knows that a dissatisfied customer will talk to many more people than a satisfied customer, hence the hyper focus on customer service, right? But good customer service can only reduce your chances of negative word of mouth. How do you actually generate positive word of mouth? Believe it or not, there are a couple of different ways. Get active in your community, professional networking groups and professional associations (see below). Develop a referral network – determine what professions work to complement your services and develop relationships with them. Think of wedding services – florist, photographer, caterer, travel agent – each networks and refers each other so that a referral for one is a referral for all. Finally, make it easy to refer you – whether sending an email, business cards, brochures, etc with your invoice – make it easy for people to pass on your contact information.

Networking – Most people have a wide variety of networks already in place that they fail to take advantage of, such as Alumni Associations, Special Interest Groups, Volunteer Organizations, etc; there are a variety of people within these groups that may have need of your products/services. Don’t be afraid to bring up your business in these groups, even if it is just in your introduction to someone new and giving them a business card. People are much more likely to go to someone that they have met before and shares some life aspect with them, than to risk going to a company that they do not know. Most important to remember when networking is to be sincere, relaxed and to follow up – so if you promised to email an article to someone next to you on a plane, do it. Networking is about building your trust and credibility, NOT about smoozing everyone you meet.

Current Customers – The quickest, most cost-effective way to increase sales volume is to sell additional products/services to your existing customer base. Compare your current service/products offers to those of your competitors. Add complementary services/products. Expand the range of your service/product line. Offer volume discounts, special offers or package deals to up-sell orders. Be a 1 stop shop for your customers as much as possible. Your customers will thank you for saving them time and making them look good. When they do, GET REFERRALS!

Doing these 4 things should help you to reach new customers immediately, but again, there are a million different ways to expand your customer base. If you have a great tip, feel free to sound off below!

“You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” — Zig Ziglar