A newsletter can be a fantastic way to lure new customers, but without right bait, you can send out line after line (or issue after issue) and not get a single bite.

What should you be baiting your newsletter with? Let's take a look:

1. The right list. How are you getting your subscribers? Some people run contests or give away e-books. Both are great, but you need to choose them carefully.

If you sell candles to retailers, you wouldn't hold a monthly drawing for a 12-month supply of candles. Rather, you might offer an e-book on increasing sales 50% with small display changes. The monthly drawing will result in more subscribers, but few of them will be in your target market.

"I'd love to work with you, but..." How many times have you heard these words? As a professional service provider looking to grow your business, isn't it sometimes frustrating to hold an initial session with someone who you'd love to work with but potential client has a whole list of reasons why s/he would love to work with you, but...?

As in, "I'd love to, but.."-"I can't afford it." Or "I'm not sure if it will work for me." Or "I'm going to try to work on it by myself and will get back to you."

Here are some tips and strategies for overcoming dreaded "I'd love to work with you, but..." syndrome. These are gleaned from my own personal experience in building my coaching business, as well as tips & strategies I learned in SalesCoachTraining.com program. I'm happy to share these with you because I really believe it is much easier to run your business when you can afford to do so because you have enough clients who pay you well.

So, there are 10 steps to consider:

1) From beginning, make sure your potential client has a need for your service and can afford it. I can't tell you how many times professionals hold a free consult, and then find out, after 30-45 minutes is over that potential client can't afford service. It might sound a bit severe, but if you're in business to make money, you need to make certain you're spending your time in most profitable ways.

2) Consider cutting down length of your initial consultations. When I first started out, I used to offer full initial sessions of 45 minutes or more. Now I offer 10-15 minute sessions. Within this time frame I can tell if prospective client and I are a good match. If client doesn't sign up I won't feel bad or annoyed since I didn't invest a great deal of time in consult. If you are having trouble converting initial consults into paying clients, it may be because you're "giving away" too much at beginning and client is not left wanting more.