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If you're desperate to grow your business to make a lot more money for all the effort you put in then this may be the most important article you'll read all year long. For some reason, most business owners think that there is some kind of complex, highly technical, almost mysterious solution to this problem.

And maybe technology has a little to do with it, because every other week there's a new gadget out that promises to make your life easier. Direct">All you have to do is buy. The answer to this problem is a lot simpler than you think. More over, it's a lot easier to implement than you think too.

So how can you quickly and easily steamroll your competition and leave them in the dust? While laughing all the way to the bank?

Take a deep breath, and relax, you're about to move just a little closer to your dreams. Ready? Let's go:

1. Work your current customer list ' start with the easiest market to convert. These people have already bought from you before. Studies show that they are twice as likely to buy than a person who's never bought from you before.

2. Work your past customer list - again, these are people who've bought from you before. Start mailing them again, call on them, and make every effort to contact them again with your current promotions. Tell your prospect why they should buy now, how to buy and why they need to do it now.

3. Eliminate spending money on ads that are ineffective ' cut down on the institutional ads. These ads are designed only to keep your name in front of people, and not to make a sale. They are non-trackable and a waste of money. Advertising is pure salesmanship. No matter what medium you use, TV, radio, or newspapers, it's still mass salesmanship. As obvious as it would be, most businesses don't really understand the very purpose of running an ad. The purpose of running your ad is to stimulate an immediate response. This can be a phone call, a visit to your website, or better ' an instant sale. By using direct response advertising, you can help prevent wasting your valuable time and money.

4. Follow up ' after you do a mailing, follow up with some kind of telemarketing effort. Tests have proven over and over again, that by using a telemarketing effort as a follow up enhances your total results by 400%, 600% and up to 1,000%. That's three to ten times more sales, just by following up AFTER mailing a letter.

5. Keep following up ' one of the best examples of good follow up is Omaha Steaks. I ordered from them one time, and they immediately followed up 2 weeks later. Then, another 2 weeks passed by, and again they followed up with a phone call. On the third attempt, I ordered a large family package. People who are strongly motivated in your products and services are more likely to buy. But you have to be tenacious about it. It takes an average of 8 to 9 contact attempts until an interest prospect buys. Keep calling, writing, and calling, and writing. Don't let them slip away once they buy, keep building that relationship.

6. Upsell ' best example is any McDonald's or Burger King drive-thru. When you first drive up, you'll be asked if you want such and such value meal. Then, after you put in your order, you'll be asked if you want fries with that or such and such. This technique is a no-brainer. But the sad part is that very few businesses employ this strategy. For every customer you sell to, you simply upsell them. Instead of letting them just buy one thing, offer them a package or additional services or products that go along with that. Almost any type of business can upsell. Car sales people are really good at this. After they've sold you the car, they add all kinds of neat options to the sale. In some cases your upsell could equal or even exceed the profit from the original sale. But make sure that you create a believable and compelling reason as to why you're offering the upsell.

7. Create affiliate relationships ' this is a host-parasite relationship. Back in biology class, you learned about the little protozoa living inside the termite. The protozoa enables the termite to digest the wood it eats. So both benefit. It's a win-win situation. Businesses can do the same. And because of the affiliate relationship, a result is experienced that one party alone could not capitalize alone on. This is when you enter a joint venture with another business. For example, you could have a customer list and your customers have a good relationship with you. You can fully utilize this relationship with all kinds of ancillary businesses. Let's say you're a janitorial cleaning business and you specialize in the cleaning of industrial buildings, such as restaurants, bowling centers, doctors offices, etc. You would team up with a lawn service company to offer a total package of cleaning and lawn care to your customers. You could also team up with a pest control company to again, offer more value to your customers. Now all three businesses benefit, because now you are sending new customers to these businesses, and they are sending customers to you.

These 7 steps to outmarket your competition are very simple, and should be obvious, but very few people use these principles to the max. And rightfully so, it's not easy to create your marketing funnel and also do the other important things in your business. There just aren't enough hours in the day to try to do it all by yourself. It's like if you have plumbing problems, you call a plumber. You don't have time to try to figure out how to fix it yourself. The same goes for marketing and advertising. You simply hire a professional to help you do it.