4. City/Town ~Chamber of Commerce (search using your city and county name). ~Professional Groups - check phone books, too. ~Develop a relationship with a Banker. ~Interview CPA's Use this "Tips for Hiring a CPA" as a guide. www.coachmaria.com/articles/cpa.html ~Locate a Lawyer and start to develop a relationship. ~Check local newspapers for organizations to join or volunteer to be a speaker.

5. The Internet ~Search WEB using a variety of search engines or directories such as: http://yahoo.com/ ~~ www.excite.com/ www.google.com/ ~~ www.altavista.com/ www.lycos.com/ ~~ ~Use WEB to search for former colleagues and others to let them know about your business. www.switchboard.com, www.infospace.com, www.four11.com, www.classmates.com, are a few sites with phone and e- mail directories. ~Join an e-mail list, newsgroup or business newsletters www.topica.com/, http://yahoogroups.com, www.smartgroups.com

6. Bookstores ~Bookstores give you a variety of great ideas. ~Search web for bookstores. www.amazon.com/, www.bn.com/ are just two of many online bookstores.

7. Libraries ~Many libraries have at least one free computer for patrons to use. ~Ask Librarians for information or advice. ~Tell them about your business. Remember, people ask them for advice, too! ~Check bulletin boards for information. They're a great place to put your business card or brochure.

8. Friends ~If you do not tell people you know you're looking for information or referrals, then they'll never know.... ya know!!!

9. Family Members ~Let everyone in your family know you're starting a business... and watch all free advice come in!

10. Other Business Owners ~Contact other business owners that you know. Do I hear lunch anyone? ~Ask for advice, referrals, and their business cards. ~Start a referral book of local business owners. ~Don't forget to contact owners who do same work as you, but who work in a different state/region/county. After all, since they aren't competition , they maybe more willing share their secrets of success with you!! ~For encouragement, to keep focused, to bounce ideas off of, etc., hire a coach!

"OK, how about this - you give me a voucher for a little freebie, and I'll be back at 9AM?" Now, Jim wasn't at all sure that he'd be in running, but thought he'd try it on, y'know. Well, manager just shook her head like it was fit to fall off. "No way, sir, I'm afraid I can't do that, you'll just have to get back here later, like everybody else, hmmhmm!"

When Jim finished telling me this, we had a good chuckle about how people so easily ruin a good business, and all because so many take short term view. That manager could have had a customer for life if she'd even offered Jim *personal* service at 9AM. He was prepared to return for good service, but *only* good service!

(Hey, hamburger joints are practically viral, right?)

"Heck", said Jim, "she didn't even have to throw in a freebie, but if she'd said that she would have personally attended to my wants, I would've gone back there, yessir!" He grinned, "But, now of course, I've told you about this experience - would you go there for a hamburger now?"

I didn't muddy waters by telling Jim that I detested all hamburgers, but I did readily agree that there are so many lost opportunities in customer relations.

For starters, that burger manager didn't quite have right information on display; information was too easily misinterpreted or wrong. Secondly, she had a golden opportunity for a lifetime customer, when Jim persisted in trying to buy her product. And, finally, not content with *one* refusal, she *totally* deep-sixes her credibility when Jim tried - a second time - to change her mind.

Ultimately to no avail, leaving Jim shaking his head as he drove away...

Now remember, this is a *service* industry we're talking about here, where customer is *always* right...right? Would you deal with a company that had wrong information and wrong attitude?

Maybe Jim *did* hit burger stand at a bad(?) time, but it doesn't matter what time a customer fronts up: you'd better be ready to send that customer away satisfied *and* begging to come back again. If you don't, you're just wasting your time.

And, now that *you* have a website - or you're preparing one - your golden opportunities have just increased a million fold or more! You won't win all customers, but just try to make sure that ones you *do* win always want to come back for more.

(Oh, yeah - Jim went down road a bit further to competition, of course.)