While most professionals devote the majority of their face-to-face time presenting solutions, giving away valuable information early, and handling objections, the most successful service providers spend the majority of their time collaborating with clients, diagnosing their situation, and building their resolve to actively solve the problem, ” Jeff writes. Unpaid consulting is a service professional’s dilemma. If you don’t offer it, you may not get the business. If you do, you still may not get the business. And, worse, the prospect could “steal” your ideas. This could be paid or free. MORE >>

You can publish your own articles on the web via email broadcasts to your own mailing list, posting them on your website or blog or submitting them to the thousands of independent websites, ezines, and blogs eager for fresh content to inform or entertain their visitors.”. In academia, it’s “publish or perish.” It’s getting that way in professional services, too. Thought leadership” (a.k.a. marketing your expertise via writing and speaking) is probably the best way to find new clients. But it’s not just a great marketing tool. It’s becoming a necessity. Thought Leadership – Why It Works. MORE >>

am active in MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group) and found it a good source of both connections and information. Little Johnny : “Mommy, where do referrals come from?’. Mom: “Well, Johnny they grow on trees. It’s a special kind of tree. It’s called a referral tree.”. Little Johnny:  “Mommy, how do you get the referrals off the tree?’. Mom: “Well, duh, junior….Obviously, Obviously, you shake the damn thing!”. Mom is right. Referrals do grow on trees. You just have to shake the tree. Here is a summary of the results. Referrals from my network. Referrals from existing clients. MORE >>

They come to the content community to find information on particular topics of interest to them.  I am pleased to announce that the Sales Lead Dynamics Blog is now part of the B2B Marketing Zone.  The “Zone” is a site that aggregates b2b blogs and also publishes a daily email digest of blogs. I find the site and the digest very useful. In fact, I get many of my blog ideas from the “Zone.” I urge you to check out the site regularly and subscribe to the digest. My site now proudly carries the” B2B Marketing Official Rockstar Blogger” badge. ve wanted to be a rock star since I was a kid. MORE >>

Come armed with information about the industry and about current events” says Susan. In today’s high tech world we have many ways to communicate. We can text. We can tweet. We can blog. We can email. We can IM. And we can even yammer. But there’s one thing we can’t do electronically. We can’t schmooze. What is schmoozing? It’s Yiddish and it means easy -going, relaxed conversation. It does NOT mean “making business contacts” nor does it mean “sales success” says Susan RoAne , The Mingling Maven® and author of How To Work A Room®. Susan knows a thing or two about networking. conversation. MORE >>