(1) How many years have you been in your current line of business (or a related field)?

For example, I've been in marketing field for over 20 years.

(2) How many clients or students or customers have your served (in your current business or your total years in this industry)?

For example, I've taught over 600 small business owners how to create and implement their own marketing plans using 10stepmarketing System.

(3) What results have you generated with your business, products or services?

For example, I increased my subscriber base by 590% in four months and I tripled my web site traffic in three months.

(4) What results have your clients or customers gotten with help of your products or services?

For example, when I worked with American Council on Exercise, I helped them generate over 340.8 million media impressions in three years, through public relations and public service ads. I have also secured nearly $1 million in free media exposure for my clients.

(5) How many awards or recognitions have you or your business, products or services received?

For example, I've earned three national and two local marketing awards, plus a small business top achievement award.

(6) Have you spoken, taught or done presentations?

For example, I have spoken on marketing at conferences across United States and in Canada, and I've taught hundreds of small business owners via teleseminar.

(7) Have your articles been published or have you been quoted or interviewed or written up in media?

For example, my marketing advice is featured in Entrepreneur Magazine's Start-Up Series publication "How To Start A Personal Training Business." Additionally I am an Expert Author on EzineArticles.com and my marketing how-to articles are featured on numerous web sites.

(8) How can you quantify your business (e.g. how many business deals or transactions have you made, or how many articles have you written)?

For example, I've written and published 40 articles in past six months.

(9) How many products have you sold?

For example, I made 20 sales my first two weeks in business.

(10) What experts in your industry have you studied or learned from?

For example, I have taken courses from such marketing and business experts as T. Harv Eker, Jay Abraham, Brian Tracy, Robert Allen and Mark Victor Hansen.

I challenge you to spend some time this week, compiling your own list of stats. Start with these 10 questions and see what you can come up with. Draw on your personal or professional experience.

What makes you great at what you do? What experience and knowledge to you have to offer? What are you passionate about and how can you translate that passion into credibility? Why should others pay attention when you talk? Be creative. Brainstorm.

Then select a few of strongest, most compelling stats and start using them in your marketing.

Remember, you are not using these stats to brag about your accomplishments. You're using them to get your prospects to pay attention to you and to establish credibility.

(C) Copyright 2005 Debbie LaChusa

Make sure to give attendees a special offer on your products or services at end of your presentation. Give offer a deadline to create urgency for them to take advantage of offer on spot.

4)Give Something Away

Find a way to give away samples of your products or services. Is there an association or group meeting or any other event that is looking for donations to be given away as door prizes?

Why not donate a package of your services or products? You will gain exposure (a free advertisement by group leader) among entire group when your package is either auctioned off, or announced and given away in front of everyone. You are also giving person who wins package chance to sample your products or services at no risk.

You could further leverage this marketing by offering “winner” an incentive to refer others to you. The “winner” might also be a great person to provide feedback to you, or a testimonial regarding how they felt about your product or service, that you can use in future marketing.

Yes, there may be a hard cost associated with product you are giving away, or a “time” cost associated with time you are donating, however when you weigh that cost against number of people who are being exposed to your products or services, usually it is well worth it. And it certainly is cheap (and usually more effective!) in comparison to buying an ad. My advice is to incorporate this sort of activity into your operational budget and simply consider it a cost of doing business.

There are all kinds of ways to generate exposure of your products and services without paying for advertising space. Yes, sometimes this does involve giving away product or service, but I don’t consider that a hard “marketing” cost. I have found that benefits always outweigh cost of my time or my products.

The trick is to target well, or in other words, locate where your prospects congregate or what media they read or view, and then find creative ways to get yourself, your products or your services, in front of them in those places.

(C) Copyright 2005 Debbie LaChusa, 10stepmarketing