STEP #1: Select one product or service to promote in your offer. If you sell a variety of products or services select only one to feature in your offer.

STEP #2: Decide what specific action you want from prospects or customers who receive your offer. For example, do you want them to call or write to you for more information? Do you want them to visit your website? Do you want them to come into your store? Do you want them to call for an estimate?

STEP #3: Make your best offer. Make it as attractive as you can afford. A discount plus a free bonus will generate more responses than a discount alone. A discount plus a free bonus and a money back guarantee will generate an even greater number of responses.

STEP #4: Calculate profitability of your offer. Don't forget to include cost of advertising. A thin profit from your initial offer may be acceptable if you know it will generate repeat business. Otherwise, revise your offer.

**SUGGESTION: Sometimes you can increase your profit and benefit to your customer at same time. Simply add a low- cost bonus item with high perceived value and increase price to level required to produce profit you need.

Always include an offer in your advertising. It's primary reason why people buy something. Use this simple 4 step procedure to develop your offer and watch how fast your sales and profits increase.

5. PROVIDE FAST ANSWERS

Answer inquiries and questions from prospective customers quickly ...while their level of interest is high.

If you find yourself personally answering a lot of questions, post answers to your most frequently asked questions on a Questions and Answers page at your web site.

A Q&A page enables your customers to get fast answers to their questions while reducing number of questions you have to answer individually. But it deprives you of an opportunity to impress your prospects with personal attention that usually leads to an immediate sale.

6. WELCOME COMPLAINTS FROM UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS

Don't avoid complaining customers. Give them priority attention. Unhappy customers or clients who complain help you grow your business.

Complaining customers are giving you an opportunity to resolve their problem and keep them as a customer. They're also alerting you to a problem you need to correct before it causes you to lose business from other prospects and customers.

7. MAKE TESTING A HABIT

Continually measure and compare results of your advertising and promotional efforts. Continual testing enables you to make adjustments to improve your total performance. It pays off in higher profits and reduced financial risk.

Many successful businesses use an 80/20 formula for testing. They invest 80 percent of their advertising budget in proven promotions and 20 percent in testing new variations. This formula generates a constant stream of profitable business from proven promotions while it forces business to continually test and find ways to produce better results.

These 7 simple selling tactics are easy to use and highly effective. They will quickly increase your sales volume and profit -- without increasing your expenses.

Bob Leduc is a Sales Consultant with 30 years experience in generating low-cost leads. He recently wrote a manual for small business owners, "How to Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards", and several other publications to help small businesses grow and prosper. For more info: mailto:BobLeduc@aol.com?subject=Postcards Phone: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV