First, she calls presidents of clubs in her city. She explains over phone how her service can benefit teachers, students, and their parents. She schedules an appointment to visit with club leader, show samples of her work, and leaves a brochure filled with enthusiastic comments from past customers. She will also leave with club's mailing list.

Many national groups sell their member list at low cost. One business man I know does exceptionally well getting member lists from local chamber of commerce in cities he wants to target.

However, once people have heard about your business, you want to give them an incentive to choose you over your competitor. A great way to do this is to promise (and deliver) speedy service without compromising quality. No question, in our hurried world, few things please customers like fast turnaround. Deliver fast and many customers will come to you.

State your turnaround time in your marketing materials. If you can do job fast, say so loud and often. Recently, I was looking for an item online. One web site said they could get it to me via FedEx within two days. Another site said they also used FedEx, but it would take them 3 to 5 days to get item ready for shipment. Even though I was in no hurry to receive my purchase, I picked one that could deliver faster.

But even more than fast turnaround, customers crave helpful problem solving. Most customers want to understand your product or service better before they buy. Some get frustrated while ordering. Others feel something is wrong with product once it is delivered. Help customers solve these problems. Let them know you are there to help them and it is easy to reach you. These days when customers are frustrated with companies that keep them on hold or never respond to email, your helpful problem solving will make you a favorite.

Once you've thrown name of your business out there, whether it's through your own inventive marketing methods, targeting a potential group of clients, or a cheap television ad, remember that customer service is key. This will likely make your clientele return and potentially recommend you to other people who require same type of service.

I have also successfully used many expired coupons. Yet I have never seriously considered that companies that issued coupons were lying to me. I considered it "good customer service" and made it a point to patronize those places more often.

It is true that expiration dates do not magically change on coupons like they can on internet, and some companies do enforce expiration dates. This aspect may be what erodes customer confidence for tech-savvy people.

"What about everyone else?"

If your offer appears on a one-page "sales letter" website or on a separate page of your website devoted to your product (where there are no informative articles or interactive programs to encourage return visits) very few people are likely to come back to find out if your offer is in fact still there.

If nobody ever comes back to your website after their first visit, your offer is not a lie. They can not receive your original offer past expiration date.

If you don't get purchase (or at least an email address) during that first visit, you will not make a sale. Offering an extraordinary offer with an expiration date will help you make more sales because it gives people a reason to act now rather than putting it off and forgetting about it.

"I collect email addresses - how can I still use an expiration date?"

If you offer a special report, free email course, or other promotional offer to visitors to your website, you are collecting valuable contact information. You can afford to have a later expiration date (say, in a week or two). Send three or more reminder letters to those who haven't responded to remind them of offer.

Another tactic would be to offer an extraordinary offer expiring immediately and to follow up by offering a scaled-down product for less money.

My most successful promotions have used expiration dates on offers made through my newsletter, Busy Marketing Tips. (After expiration date, I have always changed my website to reflect my "regular" price.) My sales letters without expiration dates have sold little or nothing.

Believe me, expiration dates are a powerful sales motivator!

You can use expiration dates any way you feel comfortable with, but USE THEM! They are a powerful sales technique you can't afford to ignore.