When making a slide presentation, stand where your audience can see you to the left of the screen and the effectiveness of your presentation will improve.

Don't buy a general mailing list

Internet mail technology makes it extremely easy to compile large lists of e-mail addresses. You may have already been bombarded with advertisements offering thousands of e-mail addresses for pennies per address, and you may be tempted to buy one of these lists as a way to market your products. I've seen lists of more than 100,000 addresses for less than $30. But guerrillas never send mail to people don't care, and if you buy a list of e-mail addresses you have no idea who you're mailing to, or whether or not they'll care about your message. In most cases, you're asking for trouble by intruding into people's mailboxes. A mailing list that specifically targets your prospects may be worth the investment, but stay away from general lists that don't target anyone at all.

Barriers to creativity:
Over-reliance on statistics, always following the rules, playing follow-the-leader, conventional thinking, self-judgment, over-reliance on research, fear of failure, speed due to emergency conditions.

Why ads move on forum lists

Your brand-new ad will appear at the top of the list in its category when you first post it, but when you check the ad area the next day, you'll probably have to scroll down the list to find it. As other ads are posted after hours, your ad moves down the list until it's no longer visible in the window.

In a busy ad area, your ad can move from the top of the list to two or three screens down the list within one day. It's best to keep your ads as close to the top of the list as possible - if you can stay on the first screen of ad titles, you'll have automatic visibility.

To keep your ad near the top of the list all the time, repost it, or submit the same ad again. In most cases, you'll have to give a reposted ad a slightly different title - you may not be allowed to post ads with the same title in the same category.

If your ad is in a busy area, plan to repost it every day.

Pick the one attribute that most distinguishes your business from others you compete with online: that's your niche. Once you know your niche, make sure others know it, too. Add a slogan to your web site or e-mail signature, and make sure the message of that niche is carried in all your marketing messages.

Advice from an All American

U. S. Senator, Bill Bradley, former All American basketball player who played with the NBA, New York Knicks, relates how he disliked practice. When asked why he forced himself to practice so hard, he said, "Because when you're not practicing, someone, somewhere is. If you don't practice, when you meet that person in competition, he will win."

Continue to refine and upgrade your selling skills. Practice will give you confidence and confidence will give you presence. How prospects respond to your sales effort will depend on the comfort level they experience when you interact.

Two words that might lead you to an increase in your profitability without putting much of dent into your marketing budget: swap lists.

What's in a name?

Plenty. Your business name is often the first thing people see in cyberspace, and it may be the name on your e-mail or web site address as well, so pick a good one. If your offline business name is well-established, use it online. But if you're starting a new business online, choose a name that's well-suited to the demands of cyberspace. Keep it fairly short and easy to type: avoid long names or combinations of letters and numbers. Choose a name that stands out; don't use "online," "cyber-" or "electronic" in your name, it's too common. Finally, choose a name that clearly conveys your business purpose-don't use trendy words or phrases that some may not understand.

Who says it has to be this way?

Things happen when people challenge the status quo.What can you do differently in your sales approach to crack the prospects who won't give you a job order? Think off the wall! What do you have to lose? Remember, your second approach to a previously unsuccessful attempt to open an account should be from a different direction.

Strategize, brainstorm, plan how you will respond to possible objections

Your signature deserves a slogan

Some of the best-known companies in the world have one-line slogans that instantly identify their business mission. We're all familiar with slogans like "We Try Harder" or "All The News That's Fit To Print," for example. Come up with a one-line slogan that crystallizes your business mission and use it on your web site, in your e-mail signature, in discussion group signatures, and in your electronic brochures.

Your company name identifies your business. Your slogan gives people a reason to learn more about it.

Some more probing questions

Probing question #1: "I'd really be interested in learning about your company's needs. Would you tell me how you evaluated the product you're currently using?"

Winning at telephone tag
When you call a machine, say, "If you reach my voice mail, let me know the best time to call back and be sure of reaching you."

What top salespeople do

Top salespeople shake hands as if their reputations and hundreds of thousands of dollars are riding on that handshake. Ask your best friend to assess your handshake.

Top salespeople weave stories from their personal experiences into their sales call. Experiences that may illustrate the effectiveness of an temporary employee or how the temp make that extra effort to satisfy a customer need. Top salespeople make their prospects talk. They encourage the prospect to say more by saying: "That's fascinating, tell me more." "You're really explaining this well, please continue." Encourage your prospects to talk

A British marketing guerrilla's favorite direct mail idea: Mailing a note that makes the offer, then says, "If you'd like to know more, simply pop your business card into the postage-paid reply envelope." This qualifies prospects, makes it easy to respond, and provides him with all the data on a business card.

Do you have a plan?

Going into battle in the online marketplace without a plan is like setting off on a canoe trip without a paddle. A good plan identifies your business purpose, your unique niche, your competition, and how you plan to defeat them.

Probing question #2:

"What would I have to do to win your approval - to be given the opportunity to work on your next order?"

Copy Musts:
Advertising and marketing copy must always be readable, informative, clear, honest, simple, motivating, specific and believable.

To make your plan, "RISE" to the occasion:

* Research your online competition and figure out how to attack them.

* Identify specific battle targets (areas of the online world, such as the web or an online service); weapons (such as a web site, e-mail signatures, and electronic brochures)

* Schedule your attacks on specific locations at specific times, and make do lists that keep your plan on track each day.

* Estimate the time and money needed for the first year's attack and budget for it, and project your income for the first year.

With a plan in hand, you know what you hope to achieve online and exactly how to go about it.

Probing question #3:

Please share with me what you feel your present product supplier does best for you. Also, what do you feel they could do to improve their service?"

Don't be a cyber-litterbug

Once you've started attacking the online market, you'll post messages in discussions, post classified ads, set up or change your web site, and perhaps upload articles to online libraries. It's important to keep track each day of what you did when and where. Cyberspace is crowded with outdated files and descriptions that are no longer accurate: like roadside campaign signs that are left up long after the election, this cyber-litter shows its owners don't care enough to clean up after themselves.

To avoid becoming a cyber-litterbug, set up a simple database that tracks the date, location, and description of your activities when you post discussion messages or upload files to your web site or to a discussion group library. Check the log once a month or so to see whether information needs to be updated or deleted, and where to find it if it does. Up-to-date information is an effective promoter of your business, but out-of-date information works the opposite way. An activity log is the only way to keep track of your marketing efforts so you can keep them working for you, rather than against you.

Probing question #4:

The prospect says: "I'm satisfied with my present supplier." Your response: "I appreciate you telling me that. Now I have to work doubly hard to earn your business. What does your present supplier do best for you?"

Found on a friend's doorknob and doorstep, a half-gallon bottle of spring water and a doorhanger saying, "Hi Folks, I'm your neighbor's water man. I left you this half gallon bottle to introduce you to delicious Pure Flo Drinking Water." A coupon then offered a free sample case and more information. Punch line: My friend tried the water, then signed up to be a customer. Sampling works.

Marching orders keep your plan on track

Great marketing plans are useless without the discipline to execute them. Every day, you should take specific steps to implement and maintain your marketing attack. The easiest way to make sure this happens is to make sets of do lists or marching orders.

* Daily orders remind you to check and respond to e-mail, monitor discussion groups, update classified ads, and follow up on leads.

* Weekly orders remind you to add new information to your web site, evaluate responses to classified ads, and scout new sources of information, or new directories where your web site should be listed.

* Monthly orders might include expanding your attack to a new discussion group, adding a department to your web site, seeking offline publicity with a press release, or searching for forums where you might pitch yourself as an online conference speaker.

* Quarterly orders include seasonal promotions or contests, evaluating your online advertising or discussion group activities and making changes if needed, or creating a new online brochure.

By listing specific tasks for yourself, you'll keep your marketing plan humming.

Probing question #5:

The prospect says: I'm satisfied with my current supplier." Your response: "Practically all my customers told me the same thing when I first called on them. Why do you suppose they are now some of my most loyal and satisfied customers?"

Two ways to profit with the Yellow Pages, neither one easy: (1) Invest in the largest ad so that you'll be the first ad in the category, and (2) Change your name to that you'll be the first in the category -- i.e. AAAA Computers. Still, the key is in what benefits you offer not the number one position.

Organize your e-mail

If you're active online you get a fair amount of e-mail, and you probably respond as necessary. But when was the last time you thought about your mail beyond simply responding? Ordinary marketers let this mail pile up on their hard disks in one disorganized heap. It sits there until they can't remember what each message was about, and then at some point they toss the whole pile out. But guerrillas know better. They know that each piece of e-mail is a potential business opportunity, and they take steps to organize all incoming mail so it becomes a weapon.

To get organized, create separate directories or mail folders for mail on your hard disk, and (after you respond to incoming mail), and sort mail by its marketing purpose as you receive and respond to it. To track responses from your marketing efforts on various online services, for example, you might have separate directories for each one. Or if you're marketing in several discussion groups and you want to tailor your attack to each group, you might sort mail into directories by discussion groups. Or you might organize mail by the type of opportunity it represents: consulting opportunities, product sales opportunities, fusion marketing potential, and so on.

The organizational scheme is up to you, but having a scheme lets you build a series of powerful marketing weapons a day at a time. And when you're ready to send that new brochure to your contacts in a particular online service, or those people who asked about a particular product line, the addresses you need will be ready to go.

Probing question #6:

The prospect says: "I'm satisfied with my present supplier." Your response: "That's understandable. Many of our present customers initially told me the same thing. However, when they understood what we had to offer, their contentment disappeared. Let me tell you why they took action and switched to us."

Be consistent

Be consistent with the identity of your business. Keep the same theme and use the same media so your audience will begin to feel very confident about who you are.

Staying afloat on the info sea

Cyberspace is a sea of information, and the key is to keep from drowning. As you participate in discussion groups or read your e-mail each day, you'll see references to interesting online resources, competitive sites, and business opportunities. It's important to capture these resources as you see them, because you'll never remember to go back to them (or where you saw them) later on.

To store this type of information, keep a separate text file or word processing document open at all times, and copy interesting URLs, mailing list references, or other resources into it as you come upon them. As the list grows, make a commitment to yourself to check out a few items from the list each week.

Probing question #7:

The prospect says: "You're new in town and don't have a track record." Your response: "We're not only new in town but we're innovative. We have a lot to prove so you can be assured that we will take that extra step, even go that extra mile to meet your every need. What area of service would you like us to do better than your present supplier?"

Marketing vehicles:
List all the marketing vehicles that you can possibly use. Select the ones that you can employ right away. Don't feel intimidated at the length of the list. You need not launch all of them at once.