HIGHLANDER CLUB

December 2002, Volume 7 – Issue 12 “Great fortunes are made through Fellowship, Knowledge and an Abundance of Opportunities”

Set Your Business Apart from all the Rest: Shoot for the
Cream and not the Coffee!
Just the other day, I was listening to a radio station with a “classic rock” format when a
series of callers telephoned the station solely to criticize rap music – the music style of
choice among many of today’s younger generation. The consensus of the 40-something Michael Newman
New Chairman
listeners was that rap music was nothing but an insult to the ears – a music style that Highlander Club
delights in highlighting various problems – most notably, bad parents, drugs, and gangs.
Now, I don’t know how true that is, since I’m unfamiliar with rap lyrics, but, in a nutshell, those uptight
listeners were implying that “all these topics have already been milked to death, and rappers should move
forward and get on with their lives!” “Instead,” they were saying, “These new artists, should quit whining
and do something different!”
That got me thinking. Hasn’t everything been done already? What new inventions do we really need? We al-
ready have every convenience you can think of, as well as technologies we don’t really need or understand. But,
with every gadget known to man out there on the shelves, are we supposed to throw in the towel if we do have an
idea for a new product or an improved version of an older one? Of course not. However, if we do have a unique
product or service that we believe in, we have to be better at marketing it than our competitors by taking a dif-
ferent approach. Basically, we need to learn how to smash our competition!
Not everyone is a natural born salesperson, which is too bad, since most of us have to suffer with trying to beat
our competitors right down to the wire. It’s not easy to beat the competition, and it takes careful planning. Thus,
it is safe to say that the first rule of thumb is that salesmanship has and always will be a very important skill. If fun-
damental sales skills don’t come to you naturally, then sign up for a course on sales techniques or browse through
your local library where there is sure to be a section on Sales Tips and Techniques. Losing a customer because
of poor salesmanship is a reality none of us wish to face. It’s true that you always have to sell your talents, human
qualities, ambitions, and personality to your partner, family, friends, colleagues, and contacts. Relationships
aren’t a “one time buy.” You must strive to keep the deal alive.
To smash your competition you must put customer service at the top of your list. For instance, if you are sell-
ing a product on-line, you should always e-mail your visitors with a few words of thanks. If you are selling on-line,
it’s your computer that is electronic. Not you. Beware however, that, if you are sending the same letter to different
addresses, you should hit the BCC button before you hit the send button. BCC stands for blind carbon copy.
The recipients of your mail won’t know that your letter is being sent to anyone else but them. It’s no different
if a prospect spends some of his/her valuable time visiting your physical store – he/she still deserves a thank you
(most notably, in the form of a coupon offering him/her a 10% or 15% savings on his/her next purchase).
Make sure he/she knows that you hope he/she will do business with you again.
Do you think all business people are willing to give the same personal care and attention that you are willing to
give? In this high-speed, high-tech world, customer service has most definitely fallen by the wayside. A simple thank
you letter or discount coupon will give you that strong competitive advantage. Show your clients that you are hu-
continues on page 2
man and that there really is a person behind the product.
Another way to smash the competition is to scour
the Internet in search of any and all web sites related
to your product or service. When that happens, e-mail
the webmaster saying that you have a great money-
making opportunity that will benefit both of you. Ask
him/her to mention your name and address on the
web site, and tell him/her that you will do the same.
Better still, add a link to your site that takes visitors to
the other site, and the webmaster, in return, should add
a link to his/her web site that takes visitors to you. This
is known as an “associate program.”
Keep a mailing list of customers who have bought
CHIEF COUNCIL
Michael Newman Chairman
Nina Walters Executive Director
EDITORIAL
Pam Clavir Editor
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Contact Us
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© 2002 by Highlander Club, 777 S. Flagler Drive, Ste. 800W,
West Palm Beach, FL 33401-6163, USA. All rights reserved.
The Club is not promising or guaranteeing that you will be-
come wealthy because of the information in this newsletter
or our special reports and programs. There is no guarantee
of future profits. Copying any of the Club’s published infor-
mation is strictly prohibited. The ideas expressed herein are
the opinions of Highlander Club only. That said, we believe
you’ll discover vital money secrets and wealth angles not
available anywhere else.
The Executive Staff, Research Department and the
Editors of Highlander Club are proud of the reputation
we’ve built since our inception in 1991. Simply, we believe
the advice presented to you in our published resources and
seminars is the best and most useful available to you, the
global entrepreneur.
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from you before. Send them information about new
products or services and special events. Remind them
that you are there. Doing so can provide you with a
constant revenue stream. First, collect names and ad-
dresses from the order forms you receive. Then add
the contact information of those requesting more in-
formation from you. If you have a store, ask people to
join your mailing list, reminding them of the benefits
of doing so. Get all the contact information you can:
e-mail address, phone number, fax number, etc. Put to-
day’s technology to work for you. But be sure to save this
mailing list. Make extra copies. Update it frequently.
Store a copy of it in a safe place, such as a safe deposit
box. Your mailing list is one of the best ways to reach
both potential and satisfied customers.
It is also important to remember that undercutting
your prices will have serious ramifications to everyone
in your field, including yourself. Lowering your price
will only push the profitability bar down right across
your industry. Rather than dropping your price, why
not price your product competitively and add a bonus
for anyone who purchases it? If you can promise some-
thing for FREE to someone buying from you, you will
leave your competition biting the dust. The word “free”
is a big attention grabber! Let’s say for example, that
you sell pocketknives. If that were the case, you could
call up every sportsman’s magazine you can find, and
ask the marketing manager if he or she would agree to
mail a free six-month subscription to all your clients. If
he/she agrees, you can promise six free magazines to
all your buyers. If the marketing manager hums and
haws, maybe he/she would consent to your plan by
shipping just one free magazine instead. Needless to
say, the publication itself would also benefit, since your
client may eventually become a subscriber to the maga-
zine (although you may have to point out that fact in a
very friendly way). The easiest way to go about this is to
slip a small order form in with your client’s shipment.
He/she will have to take the initiative and fill out and
mail the order form to the magazine. This means that
you won’t have to do any additional work. The maga-
zine handles everything from there. Plus, if you have a
web site, you can promise to cite the name of the maga-
zine on it, which would bring free advertising.
It’s true that a little effort can go a really long way
and put you miles ahead of the competition. To cre-
ate some excellent free advertising for your business,
head to your nearest library and then to one of those
super large bookstores. Once there, you will peruse
the magazine section and gather up all the publica-
tions you can that contain content that would match
your business. If you carve canoes for example, you
would look for nature-type magazines geared toward
campers, hikers, hunters, and the like. Observe how
the stories are written in terms of style and length,
and then jot down the publisher’s name, address and
phone number as indicated on the inside cover. Then,
compose a one-page press release describing what you
do and where and how you can be contacted for inter-
views. Before you know it, the press, always hungry for
new material, will be calling you to arrange an interview.
When that happens, make sure you tell him/her that
you want your web site and phone number (and/or
store location) listed in the article. Usually, the writer
and publisher will oblige.
Along the same lines, you can also try submitting a
well-written article to any of the publications you have
selected. That will definitely help you drum up some in-
valuable publicity. Before you do that, however, you may
wish to phone up the editor and request the publication’s
Writer’s Guideline booklet. This will help you compose
something very close to what that magazine demands (in
terms of length, style, first person, third person, etc.). If
you can send a photo with your story, chances are good
you will be paid for submitting that photo (provided the
magazine uses it). Avoid writing on the back of the pic-
ture. If writing articles is not your strong point, a small
marketing firm would be happy to take on the job of
publicizing you and your business. It won’t take it long
to whip up an impressive press release. It’ll even fax or
mail it out to various TV and radio stations and to any
talk show hosts that could devote a section of their pro-
gram to you and your business. Before you know it, you
could be on the rubber chicken circuit speaking about
your product on Oprah, Sally, Jenny Jones, and all the
rest. Don’t forget to give yourself a plug as often as pos-
sible by mentioning your web site and e-mail address.
There are many writers out there anxious for story
material who, for a small fee, will write the story and
submit it with him/herself as the writer. This is not a
bad route to go, since a story praising you would ap-
pear much more credible if written by someone other
than yourself. Don’t you agree? Plus, if the magazine
pays your writer directly (and many publications hap-
pily pay for freelance submissions), the writer you
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hired may even waive the fee you offered him/her.
This is something the two of you will have to work out.
Any journalism student would jump at the chance to
interview an entrepreneur and then submit a story to
a newspaper or magazine. Very often, students don’t
care about getting paid; rather, they benefit more by
being given a by-line (which looks great on a résumé).
Don’t forget about contacting your local newspaper
editor who is hungry for news with a local slant. Even if
the newspaper is on the small side, you could instantly
receive celebrity status in your very own hometown.
The Perfect Business: Is there
Really Such a Thing?
The perfect business sells to the world, rather than to
a single neighborhood or even to a single city or state.
In other words, it has an unlimited global market. How
many times have you seen a retail store that has been
doing well for years – then, another bigger and better
retail store moves nearby, and it’s kaput for the first
store? Likely, you’ve seen it happen more than once.
The perfect business offers a product with an “inelas-
tic” demand. Inelastic refers to a product that people
need or desire – almost regardless of price.
The perfect business sells a product that cannot be
easily substituted or copied. This means that the prod-
uct is an original or at least it’s something that can be
copyrighted or patented.
The perfect business has minimal labor requirements
(the fewer personnel, the better). Today’s example
of this is the “virtual corporation,” which may consist
of an office with three executives, where literally all
manufacturing and services are farmed out to other
companies.
The perfect business enjoys low overhead. It does not
need an expensive location; it does not need large
amounts of electricity, advertising, legal advice, high-
priced employees, large inventory, etc.
The perfect business does not require big cash outlays
or major investments in equipment. In other words, it
does not tie up your capital.
The perfect business enjoys cash billings. In other
words, it does not tie up your capital with lengthy or
complex credit terms.
Rule #2: People buy things for emotional, not
The perfect business is relatively free of all kinds of rational, reasons.
government and industry regulations and strictures
(and if you’re in your own business now, you most defi-
nitely know what I mean with this one).
The perfect business is portable or easily moveable.
This means that you can take your business (and
yourself) anywhere you want – Nevada, Florida, Texas,
Washington, S. Dakota (none of which have state
income taxes) or hey, maybe even Monte Carlo or
Switzerland or the south of France.
Here’s a crucial one that’s often overlooked: The
perfect business satisfies your intellectual (and often
emotional) needs. There’s nothing like being fascinat-
ed with what you’re doing. When that happens, you’re
not working - you’re enjoying yourself.
The perfect business leaves you with free time. In
other words, it doesn’t require your labor and atten-
tion 12, 16, or 18 hours a day.
Super-important: The perfect business is one in which
your income is not limited by your personal output. In
the perfect business, you can sell to 10,000 customers
as easily as you sell to one (publishing is an example).
Three Fundamental Rules of
Selling
1. People don’t like the idea of being sold.
2. People buy things for emotional, not rational rea-
sons.
3. Once sold, people need to satisfy their emotional
decisions with logic.
Rule #1: People don’t like to be sold.
People like to get things, but they don’t like to be
forced into buying things. So remember this: Whether
your selling a used car, writing a sales letter, or simply
4
trying to convince your friend to go to a concert, don’t
apply pressure. Offer to give something but never
force it. Tempt it. You tempt people by appealing to
their emotions. You don’t bully them with force… or
bore them with reasons.
If people acted rationally, you couldn’t sell chocolate
cake. There’s no logical reason to buy it. It’s not nu-
tritious. It makes you fat. It can stain your clothes. It
screws up your metabolism. And, it’s a luxury item that
we don’t really need, which makes it seem like a colos-
sal waste of money.
So why is chocolate cake a billion-dollar industry?
Because it feels so good to eat it! To be a great salesper-
son, you have to appeal to your prospect’s emotions. To
do that, you need to know what those emotions are.
With that being said, let’s start with the Seven
Deadly Sins!
Fear! Greed! Vanity! Lust! Pride! Envy! Laziness!
These emotions are very powerful. And, although they
seem “negative,” they are actually positive from a busi-
nessperson’s vantage point. Once a business owner
understands his/her customers’ emotions, they will
become a very important part of the sales game.
It’s important that you understand the basic con-
cept: Sell to the heart, not the head.
Like it or not, the first thing to beware of is that peo-
ple are more inclined to buy something they want in-
stead of something they need. So, when you write copy
to advertise your business, you have to write it so that
it appeals to your potential customers’ desires, senses,
needs, fears, and weaknesses. In other words, appeal
to their emotions and not to their logic. When people
make impulse purchases, they are buying on emotion
and not on underlying principle. It’s easier to sell to
people through emotional appeal than it is through
logic. If people desire profit, tell them how your prod-
uct will actually save them money. If they want to lose
weight, promise them a new fat-melting lifestyle. If they
desire security, promise them financial advice that will
protect them until they die. You get the idea.
When you are writing your ad, keep in mind the
tried, tested, and true formula for ad writing, the AIDA
formula.
“A” stands for attention. Your best chance at grabbing
your readers’ attention is by using action words. Verbs
add a lot of pizzazz to just about any written material,
be it headlines, advertisements, or articles. They create
movement and a sense of importance.
“I” stands for interest. Be sure to maintain your read-
ers’ interest by supplying realistic facts about the kinds
of things your product or service offers. For example, if
you are writing a newsletter specifically for high school
teachers, then don’t advertise your newsletter as being,
“Perfect for all teachers.” When an elementary school
teacher subscribes to the newsletter, he/she won’t be
too impressed to see that the newsletter has nothing to
do with them. You’ll just be creating more hassle for
yourself by being deceitful.
“D” stands for desire. This category means that you
must let a buyer know how he or she will benefit from
doing business with you. If there were no benefit to the
consumers, why would they even remotely consider
spending their hard-earned money on whatever it is
you are promoting? The trick is to make them desire it,
and desire it greatly. So (looking at the newsletter exam-
ple), if subscribers can learn how to better inspire their
students, mark tests faster, and create assignments with
greater ease, tell them. You want them to believe that they
need your information, and they need to want your
information badly enough to pay for it.
Finally, “A” stands for action. You must now inspire
your prospect to take action, which means buying
from you, or at the very least, contacting you for
more information. How do you inspire people to
take action? Obviously, you need to let your potential
customer know how to contact you. Do you have an
800-telephone number he/she can call? If you do, be
sure to include it in your ad. An 800 number stimu-
lates someone into taking action because he/she has
to pick up the phone to contact you.
Rule #3: Once sold, people need to satisfy their
emotional decisions with logic.
Think about TV commercials for cars. How do they
work? First, you see a stirring image of the car itself
- beautiful, stylish, and brand-spanking new. The back-
ground says something too: There’s a mountainous
landscape for the prospect who wants to see him or
5
herself as rugged and able to overcome any obstacle.
Maybe there’s a five-star hotel trying to target the pros-
pect who wants the vehicle they drive to enhance his
or her image. A beautiful woman in the background is
telling a male viewer that if he drives that car, then he’ll
end up being a ladies’ man.
Next, you see an interior shot to make you believe how
luxurious your life will become by driving this car. You get
to listen to the state-of-the-art sound system (the music
depends on the emotion required). Then, there may
be a shot of the car driving alongside the ocean. Put it
together and you have an effective 20-second movie that’s
designed entirely to appeal to emotion.
But car commercials don’t stop there. They usually
give you numerous bits and pieces of information such
as engine size, statistics on fuel economy, speed, extra
features, interior space, and more. All this data isn’t
meant to sell the car per se, but to make the prospect
feel good about the decision they’ve already made.
And, in the final analysis, this is almost as important
as the emotional appeal. Though the “information”
doesn’t sell the car, it does justify the sale.
Learn these fundamentals of selling and you will be
much more powerful in terms of throwing a line to
and hooking in a wealth of new customers.
One of the Most Important Rules
for Running a Small Business
It’s critical that you understand the point I’m about to
make. If you do, neither your business nor your life will
ever be the same…
The point is this: Your Business Is Not Your Life
Your business and your life are two totally separate enti-
ties. At its best, your business is something apart from
you, rather than a part of you, with its own rules and
its own purposes. An organism, you might say, that will
live or die according to how well it performs its sole
function: To find and keep customers. Once you rec-
ognize that the purpose of your life is not to serve your
business, but the primary purpose of your business is to
serve your life, you can then go to work on your business,
rather than in it, with a full understanding of why it is ab-
solutely necessary to do so. This is where you can put the
model of what I call the “Franchise Prototype” to work
for you. The Franchise Prototype lets you put other
people in a position to run your business… so you can
get back to the business of living. Here’s how to do it.
The Six Secrets of the “Franchise Prototype”
Pretend that the business you own (or want to own) is
the prototype, or will be the prototype, for 5,000 more
just like it. Not almost like it, but just like it. Perfect rep-
licates. Clones. In other words, pretend that you are
going to franchise your business. The key to working on
your business, and not in it, is to pretend that you are go-
ing to step away from your business and let other people
run it. They need to know what your expectations are...
and how to operate the business exactly the way you
want it operated. Furthermore, now that you know what
the game is - the franchise game - understand that there
are rules to follow if you are going to win:
1. Your Business Must Offer Consistent Value Beyond
the Expected. Value is what people perceive it to be,
and nothing more. It can be an unexpected gift sent to
your customer in the mail, a word of recognition for a
job well done, and it’s also the reasonable price of your
products, or the dedication you show in the process of
explaining them to a customer who needs more help
than usual. The point is, value is essential to your busi-
ness, and the satisfaction you get from it as it grows.
2. Your Business Must Be Able to Operate with the
Lowest Possible Level of Skill. Yes, I said lowest level of
skill. If your model depends on highly skilled people, it’s
going to be impossible to replicate. Such people are at
a premium in the marketplace. They’re also expensive.
That’s not to say that people are unimportant. On the
contrary, people bring systems to life. Great businesses
are not built by extraordinary people, but by ordinary
people doing extraordinary things. For this to happen,
a system - a way of doing things - is absolutely essential.
3. Your Business Must Be a Place of Impeccable
Order. In a world of chaos, most people crave order.
Alvin Toffler wrote, “Individuals need life structure. A
life lacking in comprehensive structure is an aimless
wreck. Structure provides the relatively fixed points of
reference.” A business that looks orderly says to your
customer that you know what you’re doing. A business
that looks orderly says to your customer that he/she
can trust the results delivered.
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4. Your Business’ Work Must Be Documented.
Documentation says, “This is how we do it here.” It’s
an affirmation of order. An Operations Manual - the
repository of the documentation - is best described as a
company’s How-To-Do-It Guide. It designates the pur-
pose of work, specifies the steps needed to be taken
while doing that work, and summarizes the standards
associated with both the process and the result. Your
prototype would not be a model without one.
5. Your Business Must Provide a Uniformly Predictable
Service to the Customer. In my first psychology class, I
recall the professor talking about the “Burnt Child” syn-
drome. This is where a child is alternatively punished and
rewarded for the same kind of behavior. This form of be-
havior in a parent can be disastrous to the child; he never
knows what to expect or how to act. It can also be disas-
trous to the customer. The “Burnt Child” has no choice
but to stay with the parent. But the “Burnt Customer” can
easily go someplace else. And he or she will. Do what you
do the same way, each and every time.
6. Your Business Should Use a Uniform Color, Dress,
and Facilities Code. Marketing studies tell us that all
consumers are moved to act by the colors and shapes
they find in the marketplace. Believe it or not, the
colors and shapes of your model can make or break
your business! In one test, it was shown that a triangle
produced far fewer sales than a circle, and a crest out-
produced both a triangle and a circle by a significant
margin. Imagine, sales increased or lost by the choice
of a seemingly meaningless shape!
Your prototype must be packaged as carefully as any
box of cereal. The model must be thought of as a pack-
age for your one and only product - your business!
Four Easy, Free Ways to Make
Even More Money with Your
Product or Service
The easiest way to make more money with your busi-
ness is to get more customers. The easiest and least
expensive way to get more customers is right beneath
your nose, and you may not even know it!
It’s called “referrals.”
You see, it’s much simpler and cheaper to develop
repeat sales from satisfied customers than it is to find
new ones.
Referral marketing is no secret. Many businesses
do it, including magazines, on-line services, and mail-
order companies. In fact, it can be quite effective for
you and quite damaging for your competition. MCI’s
“Friends & Family” promotion offered extra long-dis-
tance phone discounts to those who successfully signed
up their friends and family. It created such a surge in
MCI’s market share that it took AT&T and Sprint years
to recover. You can do the same… here’s how:
Keep in mind that referrals can also be a double-
edged sword. Those who sing your praises can easily
wail your failures too. It’s estimated that one person’s
bad experience with a company will be told to approxi-
mately 22 people.
Know – and Act Accordingly
Throughout the course of our business lives, we
have conversations with customers. And, during
those conversations, there are a number of indica-
tions that the customer has finally made the right
decision – he/she is going to reach into his/her wal-
let and buy your product!
The point at which the customer finally decides
to buy is called “transference.” In other words, the
customer has transferred ownership of the product
or service from you to them. If you listen carefully to
the language people use during the selling and buying
process, you will clearly hear when someone has been
through the transference process.
If you can identify when this is happening, you’ll
know when to stop talking about features and benefits
- and when to ask for the money. I’ll show you how the
language takes on new words, how the tonality chang-
es, and even how body language gestures are altered.
You’ll soon be a better salesperson -and you’ll make
more money, much faster!
How Transference Works
Let me give you a couple of examples. Let’s say that
you and I are in the office equipment business, and we
are having a conversation with a prospective customer,
talking about his/her potential purchase of a series of
filing cabinets for the administration department in
the office in which he/she works.
While we are discussing the size, the color, and
number of drawers of the filing cabinets desired, we
7
would be asking the customer questions regarding the
possible location of the cabinets. At the start of the sell-
ing and buying process, the customer would probably
use such words as “might.” For example, the customer
might say, “Yes, I might be able to put them along
the back office wall.” As the customer starts to move
through the transference process, then this word
“might” may change to the word “could.” For example,
the customer may say, “Yes, perhaps the cabinets could
fit on the back wall of the office.” As he/she gets even
closer to transferring ownership to him/herself, then
you may hear words such as “would” and “will.” For
example, the customer could say, “Yes, the cabinets
would fit on the back wall of our office or... yes, the
cabinets will fit on the back wall of our office.”
The Language Changes
Once transference has taken place in somebody’s
mind, then words such as “might,” “perhaps,” “may-
be,” and any other non-specific words will disappear
from their language. These words will be replaced by
“yes,” “definitely,” “will,” “can,” and similar positive,
ownership-type words. Perhaps the clearest indication
that transference has taken place is when the words “a”
and “ the” change to “my” or “mine.” When there is a
change from the neutral position to possessive, then
it’s obvious that transference has taken place.
The Three-Stage Process
We can think of this process, the process of transfer-
ence, as running through three stages. To start with,
the “customer” may act negatively. Then, they may shift
into the neutral stage, and finally move into the posi-
tive stage. As the customer moves through the positive
stage, you may also hear trigger words that indicate
that transference has taken place, such as talk about
your product or service in conjunction with things the
customer already owns or uses. You may also hear the
customer refer to the use of your product or service,
and name the end-user. Listen carefully to the lan-
guage used by the “customer.” Whether that customer
is your internal customer, in other words a colleague
or other member of staff, or an external customer, you
will clearly hear when transference has taken place.
The purpose of understanding when transference has
taken place is so that you can change the language you
use in response to the customer’s change in language.
There is little point continuing to talk about the
features, benefits, and advantages of the “filing cabi-
nets” or any other product service or action once the
customer has transferred ownership in his/her mind.
This is the time to close the sale or request that the ac-
tion takes place.
In life, one of the biggest sales and purchases you
will ever make is your home. Very often, when we are
selling our home, we can hear the process of trans-
ference taking place. The potential purchaser starts
to use expressions regarding his/her ownership
of the house and in particular may refer to which
members of the family will occupy which rooms. I
have certainly had the experience of the potential
purchaser telling his children which rooms they
would occupy. Obviously, this is not a good negotiat-
ing tactic from the purchaser’s point of view, since
the owner can hear how much the potential buyers
want the property. That gives the buyer less room
for negotiation and the owner the power to demand
more money – and not a penny less!
When we listen actively to the people who connect
with us, they will tell everything we ever wanted to know.
Speak Like a Successful Salesperson
• What a great idea
• That’s an excellent idea
• You are absolutely right
• That is a very good point
• I’ve heard that before from many people
• Many of my clients have said that exact same thing
• Many people feel exactly as you feel
• I’m glad you brought that up
• That’s a very good point
• A point well taken
• I’m on your side
• I agree with you
• That is a good way of looking at it
• I can’t argue with you there
• That is very true, however…
• Very true
• Now there’s an interesting idea
• That’s an interesting point
• I see what you’re saying
• I couldn’t agree more
• That makes sense
• I feel the same as you do
• I couldn’t have said it better myself
• I see we’re on the same wavelength
• You’re right when you say that
Now’s the Time to Get an 800
Phone Number
To increase your business, think about obtaining
an 800 number. If a 900 number is what you had in
mind, you likely won’t be able to list it on a free ad
web site, as many of those free sites stipulate that
900 numbers are not allowed. With an 800 number,
however, you can leave a voice message describing
your product or service and how it can benefit the
customer.
You Have Reached An Automated Voice Service …
Make sure the voice on your message is audible. An
effective voice is a voice that takes no effort to un-
derstand, so speak loudly and clearly, while sound-
ing friendly and professional. There are numerous
companies (listed in the yellow pages) that special-
ize in telephone voice messaging where professional
announcers are used to read the script. Professional
writers will write your telephone script, and, usually,
you are given the choice of either a continuous loop
cassette tape (the message plays over and over again
non-stop) or a compact disc. Also, check with your
phone company when ordering your 800 service to
learn its rates for professional voice messages (sup-
plied by its own cast of writers and announcers).
Avoid a Tax Audit
Worried that the taxman is going to come rapping at
your door? To avoid a tax audit, you are encouraged
to hire a professional accountant to fill out your tax
return. If the IRS discovers something questionable,
it will be your accountant who is going to have to
face the music. You, the innocent taxpayer, will be
off the hook, more or less. Just remember to pro-
vide accurate accounting details to your accoun-
tant. The money you pay your accountant is usually
tax-deductible, so you’ve got nothing to lose and
everything to gain. You’ll feel better and sleep bet-
ter, which makes having an accountant a worthwhile
investment. After all, an accountant may keep the
auditor away - from you! n