Most entrepreneurs consider it a lucky day when they make a sale. Even better if the client buys a recurring program, like a subscription to a service, like PRLEADS or a coaching program that meets every month.

But many entrepreneurs don’t realize they might be leaving money on the table.

Growing Your Business

“Most of your prospects, even your customers are not aware of all the services and products you have to offer,” says Mark LeBlanc, a small business success coach based in Minneapolis and author of “Growing Your Business” and the soon-to-be released “Never be the Same.”   “They do know about the product they bought, but that’s about all the know. Many small business owners fail to let clients know about all the ways they can be of good service.”

4 Reasons Clients Don’t Know What You Can Do

1. They are focused on the one product or service they bought from you.
2. You focused on selling one solution and they bought it. Everyone was focused on that one service.
3. Talking about multiple products can lead to confusion. The confused mind does not buy. So most entrepreneurs keep the discussion focused on one product or service that the client needs most.
4. You didn’t tell them that you can do other things.

While it is important to keep the initial sale focused so the prospect makes a buying decision, entrepreneurs should realize this is the start of the relationship, not the end.

3 Reasons Clients Want to Buy More of Your Services

1. People like to buy from people and companies they trust. Since they are using your products and services, they will trust you. Capitalize on that trust.
2. Companies like to buy from a single source. It is easier on their bookkeeping systems to have a single-source vendor.
3. As you get to know the client, you will uncover new ways to help them.

So why don’t entrepreneurs try to sell more services?

Three Reasons Entrepreneurs Don’t Make More Sales

1. They are afraid of appearing “pushy, greedy or salesy.” These thoughts are all misguided. Think of how you can add value to your clients and you won’t focus on these negative thoughts..
2. They are lazy. It’s easy to count the money and rest on your laurels, so you don’t tell the clients about new services.
3. They are afraid of being rejected.

How can you ring up more sales by selling more services to your current clients?

Three Ways to Get the Word Out So You Make More Sales

1. Tell them. If they don’t know, they can’t buy.
2. Get over your fears of failure, rejection or being a pest. Instead, tell yourself that you are doing your clients a favor by letting them know about all the good things you can for them and all the great ways they can benefit. An old sales maxim says “the first sale you make is to yourself.” If you believe in your services, you will find it easier to tell your clients.
3. Practice. The more times you say your message, the easier it will be to communicate with clients.

You can let clients know about your new services by email or by phone calls. You could even do a teleseminar or webinar so you can communicate with many people at one time. If you record the session, you can post it to your website so it can help explain your services.

“It’s a constant educational process to keep your customers aware of your entire menu of programs, products and services,” says LeBlanc.

If you follow these steps, you’ll do more than make more money – you’ll help more people!

Find out about OUR new services at PRLEADSPLUS.com

Publicity thought leader Dan Janal coaches entrepreneurs and small business on how to build profits withlow-cost Internet marketing and publicity tactics via individual and group coaching sessions. For information go to www.PRLEADSPLUS.com

If you want to be treated like Hollywood Royalty by reporters, its actually fairly simple. Look to the Red Carpet for clues.

1. It happens every year. Reporters expect it. Their readers and viewers demand it. Reporters have to cover it. There are events in your profession that reporters have to cover, like New Year’s Resolutions in January, Relationships in February and Taxes in April. Find out what reporters cover and give it to them!

2. Actors and actresses come prepared. They don’t wear old rags. They are dressed to kill and they know what they are going to say. You should remember to treat your interview with as much preparation. What are you going to say? How do you want to appear to the media? Be like the Boy Scouts and “Be Prepared.”

3. Act like you belong there. Actors who were unknown a year ago walk with grace on the Red Carpet. Expert sources and thought leaders must display the confidence the same confidence. I’ve met many great people who have done amazing things but think they are not ready for prime time.

You are ready.

Now is your time.

Shine!

I have tools to help you reach reporters. Check out info on our up-to-date media contact databases and our guaranteed, quick and easy press release writing and distribution services at PRLEADSPLUS.com

All good things must come to an end. And so all coaching relationships will eventually end. This article will show you the right way to end the relationship so everyone feels good.

I am a business coach and I’ve hired business and life coaches to work with me, so I’ve seen the story from both sides.

Let’s look at why you’d want to fire a coach.

1.    The project has ended. For example, you wanted to learn how to acquire new sales skills. You learned them. You are happy. The coach is happy. The project is over. There shouldn’t be any surprises there.

2.    The defined period of time is over. Let’s say you sign up for a year-long program and the year is over. The coach will probably ask if you want to continue. You can decide if you want to. If not, let the coach know that you won’t be continuing. That’s just polite. You don’t want to receive a series of emails asking you to renew and he doesn’t want to see the emails unanswered. End on a positive note.

3.    In an open-ended coaching relationship with no defined end, you might decide after three sessions or nine sessions that you’ve gotten all you are going to get from this relationship. Things might have started off well and then plateaued and then you feel like no progress is being made. In this case, you should first tell the coach your thoughts and feelings to see if there is something she can do to add more value to your relationship. If not, then it is time to leave. Chances are, she knew the relationship was running out of steam as well and probably welcomed the fact you brought up the question of leaving. However, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. You might want to alter the relationship so that you check in with the coach every three months, or so for a tune up. After all, you had a good thing going for a good period of time. That added value can help you in future when you get stuck or reach your own plateau. Just like piano that gets tuned every season, you might need to get tuned again. It’s better to do it with a coach that you have a history with than to explain your story to someone new.

4.    Bad fit. While the first three items on this list dealt with the time of the relationship, this one deals with the “feel” of the relationship. You might find quickly that your personality doesn’t mesh with the coach’s. This isn’t anyone’s fault. That’s okay. We’re all individuals and we have our likes and dislikes. We are entitled to our preferences. In this case, let the coach know that you don’t think this relationship will work out and part your ways. It’s okay to use email if you think you’d wimp out in a phone meeting. Chances are the coach knows it as well.

Just like in any relationship, it is nice to end a coaching relationship on a positive note. I’d suggest you take these steps.

1.    Let the coach know well in advance of the meeting that you want to end the relationship. Don’t call or email the day of the event and say you have a flat tire. Be an adult. Don’t make up fake excuses. The coach needs to resell that time block and she can’t do it if you give 30 minutes notice. You wouldn’t want your clients to do this to you, so don’t do it to your vendors.
2.    If you feel comfortable, tell the coach why you are leaving. Some things can be repaired. Some things can’t. See if the coach can suggest a repair. For example, you might be low on money. The coach might be willing to charge less, meet with you less often, or enroll you in a group program that is less expensive. If you feel you’ve plateaued, the coach might suggest a different set of tactics to help get unstuck. If you need to learn a new set of skills, you might be pleasantly surprised to find the coach you like actually can help you in that area, or could recommend a trusted colleague for you.
3.    If it is all right with you, end the relationship with positive comments, like “I learned a lot,” or “You helped me get over this hurdle.” Making a person feel good with sincere compliments is always a good tactic. If you didn’t get anything from the sessions, then don’t lie and say you did. The coach will ask for a testimonial since she thinks you are happy.
4.    If there is a negative reason to stop, i.e. you don’t like their personality, their punctuality, their working style, their accent, or anything else that can’t be changed, you are better off not bringing it up. If it’s a bad fit, it’s a bad fit. Move on.

If you follow these tips, you might lose a coach but gain a friend.

Publicity thought leader Dan Janal coaches entrepreneurs and small business on how to turn their publicity into profits with individual and group coaching sessions. For information go to www.PRLEADSPLUS.com

1.    It doesn’t matter how you start. It matters how you finish. The games started with a death and glitch with the torch. They ended on a high note. Life and business are long-term propositions. Brian Tracy says that everyone who is at the top of their profession was once a newcomer who knew nothing. But they read to get smarter, worked with coaches to get better and, eventually, they triumphed.
2.    Don’t get discouraged by initial setbacks. Canada wanted to be the all-time winner of medals. In the first few days, they looked in danger of falling way short. At the end, they had more gold medals than anyone else. Have you invested a lot of time and energy but see disappointing results? Don’t give up. Success is just around the corner.  Keep your eyes on the prize and don’t be dejected by momentary setbacks.

3.    Sacrifice. Every Olympian seems to have endured a lack of time, lack of resources or lack of money. In other words, they are doing exactly the same things that you have done to build your business. To me, you are my Gold-medal hero.

Interested in having me coach you? Check out www.PRLEADStoPROFITS.com for details.

George Washington

In honor of George Washington’s birthday, here are marketing tips from the father of our country.

1.    Always tell the truth. Nothing hurts your credibility with reporters or prospects or customers more than shading the truth. Look at Tiger Woods and Toyota. ‘Nuff said.
2.    Eat the cherries, but don’t chop down the cherry tree. In other words, enjoy the fruits of your labors and always keep your main business well tuned for these tough times. If that means you need to get coaching and consulting help in marketing, PR and business growth, call me and I’ll explain how we can work together.
3.    Watch out for splinters. Those wooden teeth have got to hurt.

It’s five hours before the kickoff for the Super Bowl and I’m set to make my iron-clad predictions. With apologies to the Who and their Pinball Wizard, I’ll put on my Marketing Wizard hat to predict the three winners are in this year’s Super Bowl.

1. The Who. This year’s halftime act will expose hundreds of millions of people to one of the great groups of the Sixties and Seventies. I saw them in concert in Saratoga, NY and they were fantastic. They’re albums have sold zillions. But today’s youth probably knows them more for the ring tone at the beginning of the TV show CSI (yes, that’s the Who). Now they will become almost as well known as Lady Gaga!

2. Tim Tebow and Focus on the Family. Let’s face it. Many people watch the SuperBowl for the commercials as for the game (especially if the game is a bore!) The true value of any commercial is if it is remembered. I remember cute, talking animals from last year’s ads. I can’t tell you what product they pitched. But I can tell you that Tim Tebow got more media muscle for his ad even before it aired. The commercial has been covered and debated in most daily newspapers and opinion TV shows. It got free replays and it go people talking even BEFORE the show. Even Janet Jackson couldn’t do that. Tebow’s what advertising is all about.

3. Tebow would have been the hands-down winner, except for one Hail-Mary play. What’s better than getting the highest talked about ad? That’s the ad that got the most talk with the least amount spent. For that award, look to Mancrunch.com a company that CBS decided it didn’t want to sell an ad to. By nixing the ad, the company got a ton of PR. But the best part is that rumors are reported that the company didn’t even have the money to pay for the commercial! So they  got a zillion dollars of publicity without spending a penny to produce the ad or buy the ad time!

That’s the play of the day!

What’s the message for you? Controversy creates publicity. What’s controversial in your field? Capitalize on it!

Check out the new duds the U.S. Olympic athletes will wear at the Winter Games in Vancouver.

You’ll see a flag of the United States on one side and a HUGE logo for Ralph Lauren’s Polo.  It might be the camera angle, but the logo looks bigger than the flag. What do you think?

In fact, if you look at the camera angle, the logo is featured, not the flag.

The picture ran in USA TODAY. The article didn’t say if Ralph did this out of the goodness of his heart, or if he paid a fee to sponsor the uniforms. If the former, I wonder how much he paid.

If the money is going toward Olympic athletes’ training, I guess I can’t complain for the big plug. However it does raise the question of how many more logos we’ll see on future uniforms. Will they rival the outfits of NASCAR drivers? Time will tell.

In the meantime, I’m going to buy the cool hat with the moose.

Since I’m knowm for making bold predictions, let me put my neck on the line one more time. I’m usually right, so it’s a prety safe bet!

I predict the iPad will change books and publishing as we know it.

To look to future, I look to the past.  Let me explain.

Back in the early days of publishing, monks and artists wrote books or copies Bibles and Haggadahs and other works. Each work contained not only black letters on white background, but colored fonts, large fonts to draw the eye and most important, illustrations.

When Gutenberg came along and invented the printing press, we started to see the book as we know it today. A bland  series of pages with black on white text. Few illustrations, if any, because they are expensive to produce. And all the type was the same size. So you have no idea if one idea was more important than the other.

We saw the beginnings of the change when Jeffrey Gitomer started writing his marvelous series of books.  Pick one up the next time you are in an aiport bookstore. They are easy to find since they sell like hotcakes. Why? Because Gitomer has gone back to the age of the scribes and took their best ideas. Namely:

- Different sizes fonts so you can see what’s important. It isn’t unusual to see one page with just one sentence displayed in 24 point type. That get’s your attention. You know what’s important.

- Different colored fonts. It’s pretty. Why does reading have to be dull?

- Short chapters. Who has a long attention span today? Need I mention Twitter?

I’m sure many authors would love to copy Gitomer, but their publishers won’t let them because of the expense of printing.

Enter the iPad.

Now authors can design their ebooks with type, fonts, illustrations and color, color, color!

All the new, bold design doesn’t add a penny to production costs.

You’re probably wondering. Why stop there? Why not add audio and video? Perhaps an interview with the author? Or video of a role-playing exercise? The sky’s the limit.

One final point. On a recent flight from Minneapolis to San Diego, my two seat makes each had Amazon Kindles. And everyone who passed by them asked them about it. Ebooks are hot and that’s going to change everything.

Your task: Start thinking about illustrating your books, just like you illustrate your blogs.

When the iPhone first came along, Apps make were cool tools and gizmos that helped you do things better or faster, or were games that were fun.

Then Apps entered a second phase where media companies created Apps that showed their website’s content in an easier, friendly form that was formatted for the iPhone. Instead of seeing a large website of a newsaper with huge graphics that took a long time to load and scrolled off the narrow width of the screen, you’d see a site better designed for the smaller form factor of the iPhone. Newspapers, magazines and sports sites followed this model.

That brings us to today, when companies are creating their own Apps. But rather than add real value like a gadget or tool, these companies’ Apps are really re-designs of their websites so you can see info and navigate them faster. That’s all to the good. But do you really need an app for your favorite big box store?

I can see the need for Apps for UPS or FEDEX so you can find info faster or complete a transaction faster. But for a big box? Or for a giant corporation? I don’t get it. I don’t think there’s a reason for people to download the App from those companies.

However,  I can understand why they are doing it. If they can place an icon on your iPhone, then they own a piece of valuable real estate. And they own a share of your mind. If you keep on seeing (in my case) The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Washington Post and ESPN, then there’s a good chance I’ll look at those sites for news and sports, and less chance that I’ll go to CNN, Fox, or CBSsportline.com.  This makes sense.

I’m sure as the bandwagon moves along, more and more companies will be creating “Apps” which are really redesigned websites. If they can build their brand and add value to their customers, then I’m all for it.

But beware of companies that are going to try to sell you a bill of goods to create an app for your website so you can sell a book or a speech. I don’t see anyone giving up valuable real estate on their iPhones for that.