We will start by discussing things retail clerks and managers should do to succeed and retain customers. Always be courteous to customers and keep your cool. If a customer chews you out and you cannot appease him or her, walk away.

Be familiar with where every item is and how every item works. Be informed about the warranties and other details of your products and services. Give customers space by not following them around or staring at them. If you are about to pass a customer or a customer approaches you, you may ask, “Is there anything I can help you with? Is everything okay?” To show concern for customers, never say, “May I help you?”

Another crucial key to successful retailing is good presentation. The store interior and merchandise should be attractive and in good shape. Always use concise language and demonstrate your retail knowledge when interacting with customers.

Are you interested in doing personal sales or face-to-face demonstrations? If you are, you must be persistent with your approach and pitch and not fear rejection. Build a good rapport by maintaining a good appearance and hygiene, being friendly, personally engaging prospects in your demo and demonstrating adequate knowledge of your item.

Word of mouth is crucial to successful marketing. If you run a physical business, pass out business cards and flyers. If you run a web site, provide a button on each page that lets visitors recommend your site to their friends who have an E-mail address. If you issue sales letters, ask your prospects at the end of the letter to spread the word about you.

If you want to be a graphic designer or marketing manager, you must develop good copywriting skills. Good flyers and newsletters consist of things such as an exciting headline; pretty text boxes and objects and convincing text. Practice with the materials you find in publications. Expect to use software such as Photoshop, Quark, Illustrator and In Design on the job.

We will now discuss advertising. Those who wish to work in the advertising field must keep up with the news every day and be alert to changing consumer trends. To create a good ad, you must sell the marketable difference of your product or service and start your ad with an unexpected approach; for example, you should begin the ad by pretending like you are not advertising anything before you start discussing the product.

We will conclude by covering ways you can market yourself. Undergo training for as many marketable skills as you can and learn how to write good resumes and cover letters and interview successfully.

Learn to type fast and accurately. In addition to being familiar with the keyboard, you must develop patience. For example, if you must capitalize a word, you should say “Hold” after you hit the “Shift” key so you will not be in such a rush that you release your hand from the “Shift” key before you type the first letter of the capitalized word. Let's use “Asia” as an example. Hit the “Shift” key, hold it down, say, “Hold”, type an A, let go of the “Shift” key and type “sia”.

Giving speeches is another part of marketing. Rehearse before giving a speech. While giving a speech, you should smile, maintain a good demeanor and look at the entire audience. Avoid poor posture and body language. Do not blast others.

If you own a retail or Internet business, you must have good writing and grammar skills because you must write things such as brochures, articles and press releases to advertise your business, get more traffic and establish your credibility. If you want to sell and market books through self-publishing sites such as lulu.com, you must write quality content, include adequate samples and design a good cover. Use an image that looks good and evokes emotion. The image should be free of blots and letters in the title that are too hard to see. Do not use all capital letters for your title or author signature. Your title should not consist of letters that run over the edges of the cover or the edges of the cover's image.

Apply what you have learned here to employ successful marketing!

Sitting at my kitchen table the other morning I decided, as I always do, to read some stories in the newspaper. I like our local newspaper as the writers they have working for them are very good and very thorough in the stories they are trying to translate.

I started reading some articles in their business section. One article I picked out in particular was talking about a handful companies and their stock prices as they are rising and falling based on certain factors and how society may be contributing to them. But what caught my eye was not the article itself but the advertisement located directly to its right on the page. The advertisement clearly stood out from the article, which I am sure was the company's intent when they ran it.

This advertisement was segmented away from the article by being boxed in with a thick dark border so as readers could tell it was not part of the article itself. Now I have seen advertisements like this before so it was nothing new, but it did remind me of the importance of how to relay what you are selling to the reader in the form of information as opposed to a “buy it now” type of advertisement.

The advertisement I was looking at was in the form of an article. The article told a story and painted a visual picture of what the product was, how it was used and who could benefit most from using it. It gave a variety of statistics, that although I did not personally verify, I am sure they can be validated with a little research.

This means of advertising to your customers appeals on a personal level. It doesn't matter if you are advertising in the newspaper, a magazine, on TV, radio or on the internet. The most affective forms of advertising today hit potential customers on an emotional level. This particular story does just that.

Imagine if you sold a product. Your product is used to help prevent fires in the home. You begin to write and advertisement in the form of an article that talks about how many homes are lost each year due to fires, how many lives it claims and so on. This makes your product appeal to them before they even know what it does. Now paint a picture to the reader as to how your product can reduce those numbers. Can you see how this form of advertising can be beneficial to you and the customer? Of course you can.

Before you submit your next advertisement, you should think about turning it into an article where you can paint an emotional picture for the reader. It may be the difference between some sales and a whole lot of sales.

Every person knocking your shop is your potential customer, irrespective of the fact that he is going to buy your product/service or not. Be happy, that he has knocked the door and given you an opportunity. Sadly, in practice, customers who walk-in are seen as hindrances, when the executive is busy answering another customer. Also, the respect and attention given to a customer who asks for a cheaper or not-so-interesting product, is way behind when compared to the one buying an expensive product. This attitude would turn away a golden goose to our competitor. For what you may not know, he would have remembered and come back and bought the expensive product, when he needs, from you, If you had served him better.

Understand your Customer

Many of us assume that we understand our customer's need or problem, depending on the situation. But in most of the cases, we would be offering a different product/service/solution which doesn't suit his requirement.

So, pre-requisite to managing customers is to understand them. How do we understand our customers? Play His Role. And there you understand what he wants.

Here goes a classic answer from Henry Ford, fore-runner in auto-mobiles industry, for a question which reads "How do you design such beautiful, user-friendly cars?" - "Before designing a car, I play the role of a Car to understand how it would react to the bumps and pitfalls on roads, sudden brake etc., That helps me a lot to understand a car and design it better."

In simple terms, think and analyze how you would react and what you would want if you were the customer. This would make your customers stand by you.

Be with the Customer

Customers are known for asking more for less, well that's human nature. This doesn't mean, that he is trying to take advantage of you. He is trying to get good value for his money. The executive must remember not to become defensive with the customer, rather explain and make the customer understand on values offered for the price and how beneficial its going to be for the customer. Most important of all, irrespective of the customer's buying decision, sincerely thank the customer while he leaves your premises.

Support the Customer, in its true sense

Its highly disappointing these days, to see customers being supported (!!!), mechanically, with a pre-defined set of questions and answers. Customer Support is not all about questions and answers. We need to show our empathy towards the customer, who has come to us with a problem. Many of us, see "Customer" as a "Problem". In reality, Customer is facing a Problem because of our product/service and it is our duty to solve it for him.

Ideally, even if there exists no solution to the problem, with just providing a workaround with a right mix of empathy towards the customer, he would be more than happy, even if he hasnt got his problem solved.

Remember, People might forget the problem/solution, but would never forget the way you made them feel. And, this is what will make them come back to you, for a different product/service.

This is not just a way to get repeat sales from the customer, but it would end up in referral sales too. Now, Referred Sales are generated by your happy customers, without you spending on marketing/sales strategies. This referral sales is what ends up in making you a big hit in the market and it would also add on to branding yourself, without extra cost.

Now, this series of important actions and end results is what contributes to Customer Relationship Management, which is CORE to any business.

Say "No" to Customer, when required and relevant

Nowadays with all the hype about Customer, giving everything the customer wants is rocket science. It may be possible but might carry limitations. In such cases, it is advisable that the customer is being explained of the constraints is everything he wants and provide him with alternative solutions. Most importantly, ensure to sound assertive and polite rather than being aggressive. When you provide the customer with alternative solutions along with being assertive and polite, you gain the confidence of the customer that you have understood his requirements and not letting him down.

So how do you foster this relationship you have with your customers?

First and foremost as with any relationships, it needs to be worked at and nurtured. Customers come in all shapes and sizes. There are the fans and there are the switchers. Let's take them on one at a time.

The fans

These are the die-hard fans of your brand. They are intensely attached to your brand and make repeated purchases. They form brand communities like chat groups or fan clubs eg. Mini convertible Club. There they bond with other brand users and promote the use of the brand. It's a great way to get positive word-of-mouth promotion. Hearing it from opinion leaders and brand advocators is more personable and believable. It's a powerful way of getting your brand message across to new customers too! Of course, fans of your brand need to be rewarded for their loyalty and support. They need to feel special and be given special privileges such as, be the first ones to know about new products or sales promotions, get rewarded with rewards points, discounts and one-off special edition premiums. In other words, they need to be handled with care and their feedback taken seriously because they give you a bigger share of wallet.

The switchers

These are the folks that have little attachment and loyalty to your brand. They are brand-switchers and are easily swayed by your competitor's brand messages. Even though they are aware of your brand but they don't quite identify or bond with it. In branding, your biggest challenge is to get the switchers to identify and like your brand. You want to move them from switching to trusting, liking and loving. In other words, switch them into fans. Understand their needs and why they're switching. Pay attention to what they're saying. Because they are already aware of your brand, you can focus on winning their trust and commitment.

It's all about building on that relationship you have with your customers. Remember, fans of brands do more than just rake in the sales. They bring in the new converts too!

As you read this, how many people are sat at their desks or standing at work stations going through the motions and longing to resign and to start their self-employed career? It must be thousands if not millions. So, what's stopping them?

Why People Do Not Work For Themselves

Common grounds for staying in dead end jobs are insufficient skills, no ideas and little ambition and they all rightly disqualify many pipe-dreamers. But what of the people who have abundant skills, excellent ideas but unfulfilled ambition? Why are they still sitting at their desks, enduring the tedium of their daily commute and lack of prospects? Some remain in this position because of The Big Sales Myth (TBSM).

What is TBSM?

The myth's central message is quite simple: Only a few exceptional, gifted people can sell. More specifically TBSM suggests that while any salesperson can “open” sales, only the cream among them can “close” sales. The “closers” have intangible qualities which are present naturally and cannot be taught. Not surprisingly, TBSM thrives in sales offices everywhere.

How TBSM Stops People Working For Themselves

It is very unfortunate, but TBSM has escaped from sales offices and has infected the minds of some prospective entrepreneurs. If they fall hook, line and sinker for TBSM they become certain that they could not live up to the mythological image of a super-salesperson. They start to believe that they “haven't got it in them” or “what it takes” and will subsequently discount any idea about working for themselves.

How ridiculous is that? Well not very actually as TBSM is perpetuated and maintained in modern capitalist society, particularly in popular culture and language. TBSM, for instance, figures heavily in the popular television series The Apprentice.

How TBSM Thrives

In The Apprentice the leading businessmen Sir Alan Sugar (in the UK version) and Donald Trump (in the US version) both put great value on the ability of the candidates to sell. Of course, they are right to appreciate the necessity of sales. The pair, like anyone who runs their own successful business, would agree with the edict: “if you can't sell it you may as well give up”. This is common sense but not part of TBSM.

Unfortunately, with many of The Apprentice's candidates coming from purely sales backgrounds and being overly prone to exaggeration, common sense is rarely the most perceived attribute of the candidates. Instead viewers end up buying into TBSM and its message that “only certain types of people can sell”.

TBSM is also perpetuated in the bandied clichés it spouts. Within TBSM these clichés are given similar credence to undisputed laws of nature, such as gravity and the speed of light. TBSM law dictates generally that you have to be able to “talk the talk and walk the walk” and more specifically that “it's no good being able to talk the talk if you can't walk the walk”. Other laws dictate that you have to be able to “sell coals to Newcastle” and “ice to the inhabitants of igloos”.

Overcoming TBSM

To overcome TBSM and its stifling effects you have to realise it is pure nonsense. There is no mystery about selling but only common sense. Talking and walking in any manner that doesn't come naturally to you will not make many sales, only comedy. No doubt there are extraordinary circumstances in which selling coal to Newcastle or ice to igloo inhabitants could be accomplished but any business based on doing so would fail.

The Reality of Selling

What makes a good salesperson is the product or service she or he sells and the salesperson's ability to locate buyers. Salespeople who do not understand their products and their potential will not be able to locate buyers efficiently, if at all. If you are considering setting up in business yourself, unless you already have agreed buyers, it is a prerequisite to understand your product, who will want to buy it and how big your market is. Given these you will be equipped to be a salesperson every bit on a par with the fictitious salesperson of TBSM.

Making the Decision to Work for Yourself

So, if you're sat at your desk or stood at your work station, going through the motions and longing to work for yourself, don't be put off by TBSM. Do however consider the reality of selling, which is that there must be a market for your business. If there is you should be considering when you should be writing your letter of resignation. If not this evening, write it when you've thoroughly researched your market and are ready to start up your new business. As long as you or a partner have the skills relevant to your business, an excellent idea, drive, ambition and know all your figures, it is highly likely that you will succeed. You don't have to be the stereotypical flash, somewhat smarmy, salesperson that populates The Big Sales Myth, in fact it would help if you are not.

The original aim of the job was to boost employee moral of a certain insurance company but the Smiley design was such a hit that by 1971 more than 50 million were sold. Ball never thought of copyrighting Smiley, nor did the company that first ordered the design, and that caused Smiley to land in the Public Domain. How on earth could that have happened?

Only in 1988 the US entered the then 102 year old Berne Convention - an international copyright agreement which was brought about by the rather European idea that something that is yours is still yours even when you didn't tell anyone. By then, however, Smiley was no longer anyone's but everyone's and once something is in the Public Domain, it's hard to get it out.

The Berne Convention was named such because it was hammered out in Berne, the capital of Switzerland. Much of the preliminary hammering, however, was done by Victor Hugo, who was French and quite deceased when the Berne Convention was at long last achieved. Extra ironic it is therefore that a certain Frenchman named Franklin Loufrani was able to either purloin the design, or as he claims, miraculously conceive of the same and register Smiley® as his own. Loufrani's UK based company Smiley® World now holds ownership of Smiley®'s name and logo in more than a hundred countries.

In the US, however, the deal is still a bit shady. In 2008 Wall Mart lost a Smiley-based case against Loufrani, but in 1999 Smiley's American father Harvey Ball began licensing Smiley to fund his World Smile Foundation (established in 2001), a non-profit organization devoted to spreading the smile. But although the World Smile Foundation states, “We encourage manufacturers to consider using our smiley logos on products and we encourage retailers to consider carrying those products,” it's not very clear if these manufacturers owe license fee to anyone or if Smiley lives happily ever after in the Public Domain of the US. The World Smile Foundation resides in Massachusetts but, according to the website, any questions regarding licensing should be addressed to a club called JASS international Inc., Tokyo, Japan.

Meanwhile, far away in London, Franklin Loufrani's Smiley® World produces and engages Smiley® to promote nothing less than happiness, great communications, the spreading of positive values and ease of life!

The Smiley® World Licensing site informs its baffled spectators that Smiley® is one of the most recognizable icons in the world and “one of the few licensed brands to have exceeded 1,000,000,000 USD in sales.”

In 2005 Smiley® World “decided to share its success and create SmileyWorld Association®,” and pledged a whopping 10% of its profits to providing “assistance to victims of social seclusion.”

That sounds very urgent and worthy of immediate scrutiny, but as this articles goes to press (a cool three years after SWA's launch), the link from Smiley® World Licensing to SmileyWorld Association® contains a typo, and leads to an inhospitable 404. Once we find the coveted SWA website we face a slick Flash concoction that fails to scroll. Under the link "Ethical Products" it says "coming soon."

On the official Smiley® World website we find the following (quote used under the doctrine of “Fair Use”):

Some people make the mistake of referring generically to icons as "smileys" or "smilies". This is an incorrect use of ous "SMILEY ®" trademark. Please make sure that you reffer to "SMILEY ®" only as a trademark fro the icons (or other products and services) os SmileyWorld, Ltd.

You'd think that for $1,000,000,000 in sales Mr. Loufrani could buy himself a fabulous website and a somewhat sober content editor.

Many are not aware of the fact that the issue of business ethics is a happening and on the rise topic these days. This could be because we do not see headlines of business corruption or scandals on the local media that often. However, the former so-called boring subject of studies has become a major and important interest recently. With corporate scandals and multibillion dollar bankruptcies on headlines for more than a year and giant companies that were once considered as successful such as Enron and Worldcom on litigation, making business ethics a matter that have to be looked upon to in detail.

In the case of Enron Corp for example, they have failed to follow the basic principles of accounting for the sake to provide a false healthy view of profit generation in their organization. They had been using inappropriate accounting techniques to an elaborate use of special purpose entities to hide liabilities through off-balance-sheet accounting. This is indeed only one of their schemes. There were more that were obviously misleading and clearly providing only up to their own benefit and not the stakeholders.

On the surface, this topic could be view as universal at first; nevertheless there are still conflicting ideas of what should govern the solution to all business problems. There are parties that states although that the studies of business ethics is undeniably effective and relevant, the business and the internal control should be more focus on the what drives the business and understands it, in order to overcome many business conflicts and problem. In one way or the other, this should not be the issue because business ethics clearly states as an ongoing subject and deals with conduct directly. It is not merely a proxy of guidelines. It has its own grounds and value.

Besides further explaining the importance of business ethics in business organization, it is crucial to confine clearly and state the advantages of business ethics and how it works to combat many business problems. Thus, building the fact that business ethics should be the main tool in reducing company frauds and to restore the confidence of the public.

One issue that could be closely related to business ethics is fraud. The result to the research in the United States by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) in 1996 and 2002 shows that the estimated losses from fraud and abuse to be 6 percent of annual revenue, approximately about $600 billion. This figure may have increased over the years until today. The truth is that the actual figure of the loss is difficult to quantify due to reasons such as not all frauds are detected and even if it is, not all are reported. There are many other reasons that contribute to this problem. It is believe that fraud is a hazardous problem that occurs in all firms without exception, whether it is direct or indirect. Fraud is indeed an inevitable constantly occurring problem. Fraud is a matter of moral issues, and it can resolve to business ethics for solutions. Hall (2004) stated that:

Fraud denotes a false representation of a material fact made by one party to another party with the intent to deceive and induce the other party to justifiably rely on the fact to his or her detriment. Fraud in the business environment has a more specialized meaning. It is an intentional deception, misappropriation of a company's assets, or manipulation of its financial data to the advantage of the perpetrator. In the accounting literature, fraud is also commonly known as white-collar crime, defalcation, embezzlement, and irregularities. (p. 126)

The most substantial issue here is the relationship between fraud and business ethics. There are claims that stated frauds are of nature and occur nonetheless with or without the existence of business ethics dues to many enduring external factors. These factors are described as opportunities which place a person in a situation that enables them to commit the intended fraud. These opportunities too are of external in nature. Likewise, meaning to say that fraud is something that is out of a person's control and anyone could have done it. However, come to the main concern that fraudulent activities and business ethics are of close relation because both have dealings with moral aspects. Also, moral aspects is part of the build of a person's personal characteristics and in one way or the other, effects how deep a person could be dragged down through situational pressure that may be caused by the external factors mentioned before.

The bottom line is that business ethics initially outline the best of an individual personal integrity as well as ways to overcome business related pressures and influential opportunities. As suggested by Witzel (2002), “That the virtuous businessman was a virtuous man in general.” (p. 4). From his words, it can be extracted that a person who has good grip of business ethics and cautiously monitors his conduct to ensure his own integrity is most unlikely to be committing frauds. Indeed, business ethics may not be able to eliminate thoroughly the issue of fraud. Rather, it is the key feature as a set of control for reducing fraudulent activities in an organization.

Business ethics may have deals with a lot of other matter besides frauds and another importance of it is in its potential in restoring back the confidence of the public. Public confidence is a crucial matter and essential element in the existence of many firms. It is the survival factor of firms and without or lacking of it could cause catastrophe in any business entities.

One factor that has the tendency to erode the confidence of the public is internal conflict. Four main ethical conflicts confront leaders and managers in business as stated in a journal titled why discuss international business ethics? (2001) are:

Conflict of interest: an individual may be able to achieve personal gain from a decision he or she makes. Loyalty versus truth: an individual must decide between loyalty to the company and truthfulness in business relationships. Honesty and integrity: an individual must decide whether to be honest or lie, and whether to take responsibility for decisions and actions or blame someone else. Whistle-blowing: an individual must decide whether to tell others (media or government authorities) about the unethical behavior of the company or institution. (p. 40)

A company with a lot of internal conflict of interest will definitely affect the confidence of the people towards the company itself. Because of the term used is "official duty", the issue of business ethics is able to come into the whole picture. Business ethics deals directly with misconduct in the company and it is usually of the misuse of official rights in the company as well as irresponsible actions taken by the officials themselves. For example, you work for government and use your official position to secure a contract for a private consulting company you own. Another instance is using your government position to get a summer job for your daughter. Thus to say that conflict of interest is in direct relationship to the issue of public confidence and business ethics.

Some parties do question how business ethics could promote public confidence by saying that the matter of people's confidence is very much related to the company's performance itself and not to what extend business ethics they have adopted. But technically, business ethics deals with good ethical behaviours and thus good for a business in overcoming conflict of interest align with the objective of restoring the confidence of the public towards the company. In other words, it is to say that the best medium in promoting and restoring confidence for a company is by properly adopting business ethics.

Business ethics is not merely a current topic since it was discussed about way back hundreds of years ago. There are parties that maintained their bias ideas with regards to business ethics. These groups of people just could not accept business ethics as a solution to any business problems due to the nature of "business" itself. Even to this day, there are parties that feel that business ethics should be looked at as oxymoron; some ideas that is expressed contradictory to what is really happening. In other words, it is to say that business ethics is dysfunctional proxy of morality per se. This is due to their claim that said all commerce involves the exploitation of mankind by mankind. This can be seen from the system that governs business itself. For an example, take capitalism for instance, which promotes free market business that uses monopolizing and manipulating as their tool to gain wealth. it is argued that business ethics itself has deviate from its own purpose, and this is because of the business itself is unethical in nature. In short, business ethics is unable to prove anything as true and fair, what more than to reduce fraud or restore the public confidence.

But, this is simply a wrong assumption. It is true that business ethics can be seen in many different dimensions but to say that business ethics is immoral because business itself is unethical is somehow a shallow conception. There is no immorality in business but rather the acts of human could change it to be immoral. Ethics is needed in controlling and well as reducing these faults, such as fraud. In addition, a person with good moral conduct and ethical in behavior will surely win the trust of other people. That is why, a company that imposes and follows a good set of business ethics is look upon to and trusted by others. Besides that, business ethics is a dynamic subject because it adapts to what is current and what is past. The issue of whether business ethics could or could not be trusted should not in the first place be questioned. However, since there were so many groups of people trying to make business ethics look bad, people should go back direct to what is basic. Business ethics is used as to maintain ethical behavior in business dealings and should not be lop-sided in any case, as in the stakeholders' case. A company, by adopting proper business ethics will surely be able to maintain the stability of their company's existence, and along the way, comply with human values in life.

More often, real estate agents are also referred to as property “salesmen”. However, compared to the work of typical door to door salesmen or street peddlers, the job of a real estate agent is a little bit more complicated. The product that they offer is not some tiny package which can be placed in a box or delivered by mail. They are not selling consumables, such as food products and drinks which can be easily sold with little sales or marketing skills. The product that real estate agents sell demands more commitment from a customer. For example, buying a house is not an easy decision. Before a prospective customer can make a decision to buy a house, he or she must be fully aware of the features, advantages and disadvantages of the house. He must be fully convinced that he is making the right choice in picking that house, or else the time and money he intends to spend will all be wasted. It is therefore the real estate agent’s role to guide the prospective buyer into making the right choice and eventually reach a firm buying decision.

For the reasons mentioned above, the real estate agent should be highly trained, knowledgeable about what he sells, updated about the developments within his industry, and most importantly, should be skilled at face to face selling. This aspect of face to face selling is very essential because to be able to sell high priced items such as houses, lands and properties, a greater amount of buyer-agent rapport is necessary. While retail sales can be very impersonal, real estate sales is a lot more different. One sales transaction may take one week, one month or even one whole year, depending on the nature of the real estate property being sold. This would mean that it is normal for any real estate agent to meet the same prospect over and over again before they both reach a buying agreement. It is thus important to develop a friendly, positive relationship with the customer.

The real estate agent must be an aggressive salesperson and he must be flexible to different kinds of buyers. He must be able to talk on the same level with his prospects, instead of acting servile and inferior. There are many sales jobs that literally demote people from salespeople to mere order takers. In real estate, agents are not just order takers. They initiate the sale, meaning, they ask questions that probe and uncover the buyer’s needs. After discovering those hidden needs, the real estate agent puts himself or herself in a commanding position by giving the customer various options to choose from. He or she may also recommend options that best fit the client’s needs.

Perhaps the most difficult and exhausting job of a real estate agent is prospecting for new customers. Prospecting is simply the process of finding new prospects for the business. Without prospects, even the most skillful real estate agent will not make a single sale. While the company often provides good advertising to gather prospects, it is still the real estate agent’s responsibility to generate leads on his own. He must be familiar with various lead generation methods and be able to develop a huge list of potential customers. At times, a real estate agent may also opt to do his or her own advertising campaign.

There are a variety of available prospecting methods and strategies to choose from. According to Tom Hopkins, a great real estate salesman, there are two basic categories – referral and non-referral prospecting.

Referral prospecting is a very effective method because it allows the real estate agent to get referrals from his existing buyer’s list. The referrals are already qualified buyers because they belong to the same income bracket as the existing customer. Each time the agent makes a successful sale, he asks for referrals from the happy satisfied customer. The customer then gladly gives the names of some of his friends or relatives who might also be interested in buying a similar property that he has bought. He may even introduce the real estate agent to the referral. Most veteran real estate agents don’t do prospecting anymore because they have already built a huge referral base.

For starting or rookie real estate agents, there is no substitute to non-referral prospecting. This is the act or process of finding and approaching prospects that are not referred to the real estate agent. In this prospecting approach, the chances of making a sale are lower and the risks of rejection are higher. The real estate agent will have to deal with total strangers, which is the main reason for the high probability of failure.

One example of a non-referral prospecting method is “cold calling”. In this prospecting method, the real estate agent either acquires or buys a list of prospects and starts calling them one by one. This method is sometimes called “cherry picking” (Good, 1986), because it requires an agent to make a lot of calls before generating a single prospect. To be able to do an effective cold calling campaign, the agent must be determined, aggressive, has good phone skills, not a quitter and he must have a good list of qualified prospects. For example, calling a list of people who are looking for a house is much more effective than simply calling people from the yellow pages or the national street directory.

Another prospecting method that real estate agents often use is the “ten foot rule”. This means that the agent finds ways to talk to any person who comes within ten feet of him. With the use of personalized calling cards and leaflets, the agent initiates conversations with the strangers that he meets everyday. To enhance the agent’s chances of meeting someone who is qualified to buy a house or property, he makes himself available in places where his ideal customers will likely be found. Attending conventions, social events and joining clubs or organizations are all useful to the real estate agent because it gives him an opportunity to meet different kinds of social contacts who might someday become buyers, or may at least give a referral or two. In Tom Hopkins’ book entitled How to Master the Art of Selling, he said that to be able to constantly generate prospects on a regular basis, a good salesperson should be able to “talk to ten people belly to belly everyday”. (Hopkins, 1982)

There are hundreds of other prospecting methods. Modern technology has given the 21st century real estate agent a great variety of prospecting options. The internet and other such means can all be useful for anyone who is trying to generate new leads for real estate.

Finding prospects is one exhausting job, but approaching and making the initial contact with them is another task! Once the real estate agent finds or meets a good prospect for real estate, he must smoothly guide the prospect to the realizing the possibility of buying property. Using many possible approaches, the agent finds ways to settle an appointment with the prospect with the intention of showing him a sales presentation. To be able to do this, the real estate agent must uncover a specific need of the buyer, or if the buyer is not aware of the need, the agent must make him aware of it. If this need is not present, it is the role and responsibility of the agent to create that need and convince the prospect that he needs to own a real estate property. Qualifying, or the art of finding specific information about the customer with the purpose of determining whether he is a qualified buyer or not, is very important. There is no use of selling to a person who is not qualified. Some factors to be considered during the qualifying stage are ability to pay, ability to make a decision, size of family, and compatibility of the need to the product or service being offered or sold. Finding this information and putting them into consideration are still part of the difficult task of a real estate agent.

It is also the role of a real estate agent to stimulate buying desire. This may be done by presenting what he is selling in such a way that it appeals to the needs and wants of the buyer. It is the responsibility of the agent to magnify the strengths and weaknesses of the property he is selling, and to minimize the problems and disadvantages in the eyes of the prospect. In some cases, the prospect may not know exactly what kind of house he wants or needs, or he may have trouble in making a decision. At any event that a prospect finds difficulty in choosing what’s best for himself, the real estate agent is in a position to recommend a house or property that best suit the needs, buying capability and preference of the buyer. To be able to do this, the agent must be extremely knowledgeable about the various options that he can provide to the customer.

Familiarity with basic laws, policies and rules that apply to real estate will also be helpful to a real estate agent. However, he is not required to be an expert at these laws, policies and regulations. His main expertise should be the ability to close sales. In many real estate companies, the total revenue heavily depends upon the monthly sales turnover generated by real estate agents in the field. Simply put, applying mastery of the sales process is one of the greatest and most important roles of real estate salesmen.

What the Media Kit Usually Includes

• Cover letter
• Business Cards
• Press Release
• Company History and mission
• Brochure
• Information on key personnel

The information provided can also be used in introducing new products for distribution to new distributors. Information about the company will still be contained in the media kit.

Other Information to Include

• Brochure on item
• Prices with suggested retail

If the information is for a retail store, important information like selling a specific product can also be contained in the media kit along with a price list and information about suggested retail and the benefits of the distributor selling the specific product.

Other information, which should be included, should be customer information such as age and interests so that the distributor knows the customer to target. How the product works, and depending on what the product is, how to demonstrate it.

In this case, you also want to make it easy for your distributor to contact you if there are any questions that they or the customer may have. You want to give them as much information as necessary so that they may close the sale easily. The easier it is for them, the easier it will be for them to sell your product.