100 best sales & marketing ideas: 71-80

75. Become more persuasive.

If public speaking is a problem for you, join Toastmasters. Then make dozens or hundreds of speeches. Give talks before civic clubs. Talk at church. Volunteer to teach Personal Finance 101 at high schools or local colleges. If I were going to choose a topic today, I might choose Social Security. Become an expert in it. Call the president or program chair of an out-of-the-way Rotary Club. Offer to be a back-up speaker in case someone cancels.  Round up family and friends.  Practice, practice, practice. Now do it. Stay out in the suburbs or even the country for a while. When you are ready, ask one of your club presidents to recommend you to the leaders of some of the bigger clubs. Record your speeches. If you cringe, guess what? So does your audience. If needed, hire a speech coach. 

— Bill Good

74. Craft a killer elevator pitch.

Shorter is better — most business professionals should target 30 seconds for their pitch as opposed to 60. A great elevator pitch is more difficult than you might think and requires refinement and rehearsal. Here’s what I recommend: make it short and simple; minimize jargon; if you focus on a niche (such as group benefits, transportation, construction or PLI), mention this; if you serve a specific geographical area, note it; highlight your two or three differentiators (what really sets you apart from your competition); be enthusiastic.

— Alan Blume

73. Give away freebies.

One of the fundamental truths of life is that people love free stuff. The more affluent they are, the more they love it. The perks don’t have to be expensive; they can even be free. In fact, you don’t even have to give free stuff yourself; you can just help your clients to get free stuff.  Consider providing identify theft protection to your clients, helping them arrange a platinum American Express card, giving subscriptions to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance or even distributing casino rewards cards. There are a million different perks your clients will appreciate. Why does any of this work? Here’s my theory: The financial services you provide to your clients — while enabling their happy retirements, health care, children’s and grandchildren’s futures, etc. — are what they are paying for. At least, that’s how they see it. Perks are unexpected extras: they’re what they’ll tell their friends about, who, of course, will want those free perks, too.

— Angie Herbers

72. Use social media to establish trust.

Share relevant information with boomers via social media, giving free information on timely topics that are of interest to them. I’ve discovered that many enjoy the information but are more likely to talk to you about their individual circumstances when they see you face-to-face in a social setting. This has been successful for generating new business.

— Kurt Jackson

71. Turn clients into marketers.

The real Marketing Revolution rejects the idea that marketing is something companies do and embraces the view that the business of business is turning customers into marketers. Why do so many customers drive past a half-dozen other coffee shops to get to a Starbucks and then queue up in a slow moving line, all the while talking to people they’ve never seen before as if they’re old friends? Starbucks’ Founder Eric Schmidt offers a clue to why this happens, when he states ever so boldly that the company isn’t in the business of selling coffee. In fact, he goes so far as to say that there are plenty of places to get good coffee in Seattle (and elsewhere, we assume). It’s clear that Starbucks is at a different place. Each of the company’s 170,000-plus employees worldwide has the mission of turning Starbucks’ customers into marketers for the company. This happens when there’s consistency between customer expectation and customer experience. There’s no mistaking the fact that it works, since the number of stores keeps growing, as does Starbucks’ annual revenue.

— John Graham