The southern heat wave is on! The sad part - the worst is yet to come. Just when you think the air conditioner is finally fixed, it goes kaput. Imagine sitting in your house with the a/c on and all of sudden you begin to sweat. You look at the thermostat and in two hours it’s about 8 degrees warmer. Welcome to the Noles House of Heat.

Let’s turn this around to the subject of turning cold prospects into hot prospects. Are you still stuck in the same old mold? Trouble getting clients? Perhaps it’s time to overhaul your marketing "air conditioner" and throw a few new marketing tactics into the mix. Many studies have been done that prove that it takes seven contacts before one can close a sale. What are you doing to close the sale? Or perhaps you are still looking for potential clients to add to your pipeline.

Many businesses are under the false assumption that if they have a website, they will get tons of business. While businesses can be successful at using a web presence as their main marketing tool, it is a good idea to have a few other tricks up your sleeve. In addition to your website why not try a direct mail piece such as a postcard and offer something for free. Try offering a free report or top 10 list to your target market. In order for your recipients to receive this free report, have them give you a call. This can be a great opportunity to showcase you and your services. You just made your first contact.

Warmly,
Dale Noles, President
Becki Jaspin-Noles, Visionary

Of course you're familiar with using *headlines* to call attention to Web copy, brochures, articles, or documents. But *subheads* can be just as effective in bringing out key points for your readers. And they also help make any document easier to read, because they break up long blocks of text into easy-to-digest bits. (Hence my "edible" title. Hmm.)

Subheads Break It Up
Subheads are generally viewed as goodwill gestures toward your readers, since they're most often used to divide lengthy articles into logical breaks. They may indicate a change of topic or simply break up a mass of type. Placing subheads every four paragraphs or so allows readers to skim through your article or document and skip sections without losing their train of thought.
The next time you flip through any magazine, notice how its editors use subheads throughout the longer articles. Readers are very averse to reading large blocks of text, so subheads break it all up into bite-size chunks.

Subheads Have "Idea Power"
Because subheads catch readers' eyes, you should use them to your benefit! Read through your document or article for your main promotional points, then summarize the ideas as subheads. This way your readers absorb your main points in just a few seconds by skimming through all the copy.

For best results, subheads should *not* read like a table of contents. To make your subheads engaging, it's important to include action or selling elements.

BORING SUBHEADS: "Our Story," '50 Years in the Business," "Our Department's Success."

ENGAGING SUBHEADS: "Five Clients Who Saved $10K With Us," "The Most Creative Solutions in the Industry," "Let Us Do All the Work for You!"

BONUS TIP: These types of subheads also work wonderfully for *sales letters* and *proposals*. Experiment the next time you compose a long letter — try looking at it both with and without subheads. You'll definitely see the difference!

Subheads Rule on the Net!
When you're writing copy to be posted online — either in an e-mail or on a Web site — it's even more crucial to use subheads! People don't like to spend a lot of time reading online — it strains the eyes. Subheads help readers skim over your main points and pick up your ideas quickly. And if they're looking for a particular piece of information, subheads help them locate it faster.
If you're writing an e-mail that's longer than one screen length, try inserting subheads every two or three paragraphs, if appropriate. It only takes a minute, it helps you organize your information, and your readers will love you for it!

Subheads Add Interest
Even if your document is a white paper that's about as exciting as white rice, don't be afraid of using 'sum-it-all-up' subheads to retain the reader's interest and break up the copy. Remember, you want people to be drawn to reading your masterpiece — especially when it's a formal document!

Examples: "Great Forecasts for Next Quarter," "Improvements Needed in Management," and "30% Sales Increase Forecasted."

So consider subheads your new best friend — whether you're writing an e-mail, Web copy, brochure, or report!

(c) 2000-2003 Alexandria K. Brown. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” is author of the award-winning manual, “Boost Business With Your Own E-zine.” To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.ezinequeen.com.

1. Knowing Your Target Market
   To get started with cold calling, your first step is getting familiar with who you want your clients to be. What does that mean? Determine the professionals or types of individuals your product and or service appeals to. Who wants what you have? This is your market.
   
   Then take it a step further and determine within that market, who the specific professionals or types of individuals are and why they will most likely to buy from you. This becomes your target market. It sounds much harder than it really is, but keep your focus and you will do fine.
   
2. Knowing Your Services and Relating Their Core Benefits
   The next step to consider is familiarizing yourself with your business. At first glance, this step seems easy, but it isn’t as easy as you might think. You have to think outside of the box. What do you want to offer to your target market? If your target market is Real Estate Professionals (REPs), do you want to coach them to a six-figure income? According to statistics from the National Association of Realtors, 7% of the agents conduct 93% of the business. Or perhaps you are a VA and want to handle their direct mailings, entering and updating listings, produce flyers and sell sheets or handle transaction coordination?
   
3. Top Five Features of Services
   You need to assume that your target market doesn’t know anything about your industry, which may be the case. You have to consider your client’s needs and address them head on. Why do they need you? So you can save them time and headaches, so what? Why should they care? They will care because you care enough about what they want not just what they need.
   
4. Planning Your Script
   Every successful cold caller needs to have a script. Why? When you make cold calls, you control the direction of the call. You need to get your point across quickly and clearly. You have about ten seconds to gain their interest. You want to be sure to include your name, your company’s name, what you do, why you have what they need and any objections that you can think of. Be sure that your message is upbeat. Use words that you are comfortable with. Make it sound conversational. This is not the time to try out five-dollar words.
   
5. Practice
   This is key to making a good presentation. After you have written your script, review it. Does it flow? Are you tripping over words? If you are, you need to revise it. Remember to continue to practice until you feel comfortable with the script.
   
6. Role Playing
   Find a partner that you are comfortable with and ask them to be a role-playing partner. Ask them to get into the mindset of your target market. Start by pretending to make the actual call from the pickup through the close. Ask your partner to come up with objections. Use what you wrote to overcome the objections. If you come across an objection that you do not know how to get around, rewrite the script to incorporate the objection as a selling point in the script. The best objection is one that is answered before it is asked! That tells the other person on the phone that you understand what they want, not just what they need.
   
7. Test the Water
   Pick up the phone and start calling your target market. If you don’t call, you should not expect to do much business, this rings true in most every business with a few exceptions. Stick to your script. Measure your results. How far did you get on your script before you were stopped? Does it flow naturally? Do you sound intelligent? Are you covering all the objections?
   
8. Re-Examine
   After about twenty calls, you will know if you need to rewrite any part of your script. Look at your measured results and see where the objections come and determine how to overcome them before they are asked. It may be necessary to rewrite the script completely and go through the steps again. You may need to change your script a few times until you find the one that works for you.
   
9. Perfect Your Techniques
   Once you have found a script that works, memorize it. Memorize all the objections and how to overcome them. You should be affluent with your script. The person you are calling should not be able to tell that you had a script to begin with. Keep your script close by, in case your brain has a meltdown. The last thing you want it to say is…ah…um…ah.
   
10. Negative or Positive
    Cold calling is a numbers game, the more people that you talk to, the greater your chances are of reaching someone who is interested in what you have. Expect to hear, NO! It is inevitable. Someone will say it. Expect to hear, YES! It is inevitable. Someone will say it. If someone decides that they want to buy from you, be prepared to sell them what they want. A good rule of thumb is to expect a three percent return for your efforts. Think of a negative response as one more “No” out of the way and one more “Yes” is coming soon.