Greet clients with

style. Voice mail

may not seem like a component of your marketing plan, but if a potential client

calls and your kid answers, that client will be gone before you can even

technically call him a client. So get yourself a professional voice-mail system

(even the phone company offers options) with several boxes, so callers can press

"1" to hear more about your services, "2" for your web and e-mail addresses,

etc.

Narrow down your

target audience.

Instead of trying to reach all the people some of the time, narrow your target

audience to highly qualified prospects. Instead of going to seven networking

groups once every two months, go to the two groups with the best prospects every

week. "Instead of marketing to 5,000 companies, find several dozen highly

qualified companies and make regular contact with them. Call them, mail your

marketing materials, and then ask to meet. It'll save you money and time.

Start your marketing

strategies by getting the basics right.