The worst kind of businessperson is one who cynically tries to force customer to choose thing that he has to sell, whether it is best for customer or not. The old 'hard-sell'. Most of can agree- that is not a good way to do business.

To my mind, there is another, more common failing amongst businesspeople, and that is lack of desire to do what is best for customer. Believe me, customer doesn't always know what they NEED. They might know what they WANT, but it may not be best answer. It may even be answering wrong question. Please don't assume that customer is a lifetime expert in your field, has done a lot of research, or has engaged a firm of consultants to recommend what he is asking for. He probably saw it on TV, or got great advice from his buddy down at bowling alley.

Let's take an extreme, medical situation. The patient visits his physician, and says "I've got a shocking headache. Prescribe that new painkiller, Fantast-something for me." The physician says "Sure", and sends him of to drugstore for some Fantastifen. Yes, physician's given his patient what he WANTS, but it may not be what he NEEDS. Some discussion and some intelligent questioning might have discovered that real problem is a need for spectacles, or a malignant brain tumor! The physician only does best for his patient when he tries to discover real NEED, and advises (and explains) appropriate course of action. In fact, if he doesn't do that, he is being professionally negligent!

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Everybody loves a bargain or special offer, especially at Christmas time when they’ll be spending lots of money on other people. Traditionally Christmas season has always had a big impact on businesses, some relying on it more than others, it can provide 20-80% of their annual income. So with biggest event of year rapidly approaching, what are you doing to benefit from this spending frenzy? Don’t worry if you’re not doing anything yet, we’ll give you some ideas and tips to get you well on your way.

What exactly do I mean by promotions? Well, some advertisement, event or offer designed to get you a given result. Common examples of promotions: free or discounted product/service, buy x get x, limited editions, promotional items, specials, etc. Where words like offer, discount, only, special, sale, bargain, reduced, free, and my favourite word combination ‘special offer’, introduce a certain magical spark.

By now you’ll no doubt be thinking, and rightly so, What’s in it for me? Well, just about everything you could wish for! More sales, higher visibility, educate about your products/services, increase mailing lists, profits, growth, income, etc.

What results do these promotions get? Done well, they can achieve significant results: more sales, increase visibility of company name and products, add subscribers to mailing lists, etc. Ever been walking in your local shopping area or reading online and BANG! an offer jumps out at you, or you just cant stop thinking about something you’ve just seen? The impact on viewer can be high indeed and will make YOU stand out above everyone else, ultimately making difference between getting sale and not getting sale.

One of benefits of a promotion is that you can choose scale depending on your resources and desired results. In its simplest form it can be a simple price discount with a couple of lines of text on your website or emails. Or it could be a big production event being promoted widely on and offline by a whole organization. Whatever scale it is, effectiveness is key to success.

What makes an effective promotion? Easily understood, good offers with clearly defined objectives. Online promotions have a clear advantage over traditional offline promotions. They can be updated ailored instantly, anytime, anywhere with Internet access and at low cost. Use this advantage.