So why is it that even when price isn't our #1 concern for making a final decision, we still ask early on, "So what do you charge?" Chalk it up to human nature.

This means that until you have established exactly what your almost-client needs and is looking for, giving a price will only serve to curtail further discussion, questioning and investigation about whether your service is a match for their need. Obviously that is opposite to response you want!

If you're feeling caught between a rock and a hard spot, in this case caught between being courteous and being savvy, don't worry. I am about to solve this dilemma for you with an easy, graceful answer that maintains rapport and gives you full permission to continue your discussion with your almost-client.

You simply answer question by saying you can't give a price yet but can when you have more information. It might sound something like this:

"I'll be happy to answer that question for you. May I first find out a little bit about your situation?"

or another option is -

"I'll be happy to give you a quote once I know what you are looking for. Would it be ok if I ask a couple of questions?"

Sounds easy enough, right? Well, almost. What happens if their response is to ask you just for a ballpark?

It's a trap - don't fall into it!

Author: Ted Nicholas Ted's website: www.tednicholas.com

The Top Seven Marketing Mistakes

In my view, nearly all government statistics about reasons for business failures are nonsense.

Undercapitalization, inexperience, or poor management are usually blamed for all business disasters.

Of course, there can be one or several more causes that result in a business going "belly up."

However, from what I've seen, marketing mistakes are by far primary reason businesses do not survive. This includes companies which consider themselves direct marketers as well as those who do not.

Here are seven most common marketing mistakes:

1. Management treats marketing as a business expense or simply a department rather than a necessary business investment.

Solution: Marketing should be treated as driving force of any company. It is only function that brings in cash. The other major functions in a company are necessary. But they all spend cash. This includes primary business departments of finance, production and research.

To market any product or service successfully, company must do two things:

A. Provide marketing with sufficient resources B. Put marketing at heart of its business strategy

The whole company should be focused on needs and wants of customers and be prepared to satisfy their demands.

Marketing must be part of philosophy of all entrepreneurs and managers.

2. Management does not know specifically what it costs to recruit a new customer. Plus, there are no accurate statistics on average customer lifetime value.

Without this knowledge, it is impossible to make sound decisions. You cannot determine how much to invest in marketing. If you spend more to gain a customer than their lifetime value, ultimately you will go broke. In absence of this information, many businesses can and often do fail. To make matters worse, few of casualties understand why they failed.

Solution: Before you invest large sums on marketing, determine average lifetime value of a customer. An excellent book that I highly recommend on this topic is The Loyalty Factor by Frederick Reicheld.

3. Management makes no attempt to build a customer database. This is especially so with most retailers, restauranteurs and department store owners. However, I've seen this in many other businesses.

Solution: A company's database of customers is potentially its biggest asset. It's much more valuable than equipment, inventory, etc. This is not only true of companies that utilize mail order or Internet marketing. Every single company that wants to survive and prosper needs to build a database.

4. The company does not communicate often enough with its customers. The result is lower sales and profits than are otherwise possible.

Solution: Contact your customers a minimum of once a month. When I started my first business at age 21, I too made many mistakes. The business somehow survived and became a chain of retail confectionery stores called Peterson's House of Fudge. At first I sent my customers an offer every six months. So I tried sending a sales letter every three months. My business doubled. I then began mailing every other month. My business again increased proportionately.

I wound up with ideal and most profitable interval--once a month.

At first I thought contacting customers every 30 days might be too often and that customers would get turned off.

But that didn't happen. I got great feedback as well as higher sales. Providing your customers like, or even love, your product or service, as they should, they want to hear from you frequently.

This, of course, is in context of your sending excellent offers, excellent copy and excellent information.

Indeed, if you are not in frequent contact, your customers will quickly begin to forget about you. Many will start buying from your competitors.

I urge you to contact your customers at least every 30 days (occasionally with special offers a week apart is perfectly fine too).

Your form of contact can be an e-mail, postcard, catalog, telephone call or personal visit. I've found most effective method of regular contact is with a well-written sales letter.