You treated them well while you were making your business transactions. You gave them a fair price, knew that the quality you put into your offering matched the quality they got out of it. You assured them that service is your middle name. You smiled and used their name when you said good-bye, thanking them for the sale. And then, after all that caring attention on your part, they completely ignored you, never set foot in your business again.

Do you want to know why they ignored you, why it was so easy for them to put you out of their minds? It's because you ignored them.

It's because you made the sale and then made the grave but all-too-common error of thinking that your marketing job was over. That was a terrible error. But at least you've got a lot of company making the same terrible error. Nearly 70 percent of business lost in America is lost due to apathy after the sale. Apathy is the deadliest enemy of marketing. A "love 'em and leave 'em" attitude is usually fatal to profitability.

The opposite of apathy is follow-up. Guerrillas have a "love 'em and love 'em" attitude, marketing to prospects like crazy till the sale is made, then continuing to market like crazy to them after the sale. Apathy never sets in. Customers never feel ignored. Guerrillas do all in their power to intensify the relationship with caring follow-up and loving attention. They know that once they have established a relationship, their product or service is no longer thought of as a commodity. Businesses that offer commodities often lose customers due to competitors offering lower prices. Businesses that form warm relationships transcend being thought of as a commodity and maintain their customer relationships with service and constant contact.

No wonder they don't lose business so readily. People want relationships, want the businesses they patronize to stay in contact, want to feel cared for and not ignored. All guerrillas know that their customer relationships are their most precious assets. They know that if customers purchased from them one time and had an enjoyable purchase experience, they are very likely to buy from them again. And again and again. And to provide many referrals over time.

To nourish these kind of lasting relationships, guerrillas send thank-you notes after the sale -- within 48 hours. They contact customers within a month of the sale to make certain they are satisfied and have no questions. They get in touch with customers once again three months after the sale, this time suggesting new items that may tie-in with the original purchase. And three months after that, they make another contact. This kind of guerrilla follow-up not only prevents dreaded apathy from setting in, but also increases business anywhere from 20% to 300%. That's because customers, in their hearts, silently hope for recognition, acknowledgment, information, advance opportunities to purchase, and new calls to action.

Instead of the kind of apathy that loses customers forever, constant attention and follow-up results in healthy back-end sales. This means repeat sales, ancillary sales and referral sales. And this means big profits to you -- because it costs six times more to sell something to a new prospect than to sell that same thing to an existing customer.

These days, all the true marketing experts ask you to calculate the lifetime value of a customer. If you don't understand the damaging effects of apathy after the sale, that lifetime value is pretty small, probably a few hundred dollars, if that. If you do all in your power to prevent apathy from ever setting it, the lifetime value of each customer may be measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even more. You'll profit from the initial sale, from the repeat sales, from the referral sales and from the long, mutually beneficial relationship. It happens only when you defeat the most deadly enemy of marketing. And now you know how to do that.

There is incredible power and profit that comes from visibility. The more visible you are to your market the more you will be the person a client calls when the need for your product or service arises. Hands down - visibility is a primary aspect of one’s marketing.

Unfortunately, many people either don’t know how to gain the visibility that sets them apart from their competition or they aren’t willing to put the time into creating it. Worse yet, they may have someone who is doing their marketing that really doesn’t know how to position the client for maximum exposure.

So how do you go about gaining massive visibility within your market? Actually, it is very simple. Not necessarily easy, but it is a simple formula. It is all about developing systems and being very strategic in your approach to implementation of the system.

Gaining recognition is about becoming “famous” to a targeted group of people. By famous, I am not referring to world renowned. Fame in the context I am using simply means being visible to those people who make the decision to utilize and purchase your products or services. It is in this fame, or name recognition, the process of selling becomes one of being a problem solver rather than an order taker.

Gaining visibility within your market does not have to be an expensive proposition. On the other hand there will be occasions you will need to make strategically planned financial investments.

Many uninformed individuals assume advertising is all that’s necessary to market their business and gain name recognition. Advertising is only a part of your marketing, not marketing in and of itself. Unfortunately, many people waste countless dollars on ineffective ad campaigns because they were led to believe an ad was all it took for them. This happens both offline and online.

Prior to the use of the Internet in marketing campaigns, I saw person after person taken advantage of by a slick account executive who offered some amazing ad campaign. A campaign that was just too tempting for the uninformed client to resist.

Often, the campaigns were so cheap that the client simply signed on without any research. Unfortunately, many of the campaigns were very ineffective. The primary reason was because there were so many missing elements including who the target market was.

Now that the Internet has become an integral part of many marketing campaigns, the same thing is happening online as has been happening for decades offline. People are buying into campaigns without doing the necessary research.

To succeed, you must take a holistic approach to positioning you and your company. Again, one way to enjoy success is to gain visibility within your market.

However, before you will obtain the name recognition you desire you have to lay a solid foundation. The place to begin is to know your market. A few things to consider are.

 Who do you want to sell to and who would buy your product or service?
 Gender
 Age
 Income level
 Industries or professions
 Education
 Interests and hobbies
 Geographic region
 Association involvement
 Lifestyle

From there you have a number of avenues you can take to gain visibility. One of the most effective is to host a complimentary informational event, seminar or workshop. It positions you as an expert and you are a resource before you are a vendor.

Events can have as few as 6 people in a workshop on up to a 500 person event. Many people miss this incredible opportunity because they don’t think they can present. My response is you are presenting all the time. It’s just a matter of what you are presenting.

With the power of the Internet you can set up a system that allows you to continually host information seminars and costs very little to market. All your marketing efforts should lead people back to your website.

A website is really intended to be more than just an electronic brochure. It should be something that gets people to take action, provides great information, is updated on a regular basis and is something people can use as a resource.

Set up you web site so that people can leave their contact information. Offer something of value to your market such as a free report, an Ezine, an Ebook or anything that creates a compelling enough reason for viewers to give you their information.

This can be done with an autoresponder. The purpose of the autoresponder is to automate the process and develop a database for future marketing efforts. Many people do nothing at all to get contact information from the dozens, hundreds or thousands of visitors to their sites. This is simply missed opportunity.

Develop a list of local media contacts you can send a press release to if the event is open to the public. Find out what their criteria for sending in a release via email is. Many will not open any attachments. So if you are sending an attached document to the media there is a good chance they won’t read it.

Make sure the release is short and to the point. Simply put, the Who, What, When, Where and Why. Many releases do not get read or published due to being poorly written or too lengthy.

Write articles with a topic that is connected to the information seminar you are offering. Send these out to various locations online such as Yahoo Groups. Add a compelling byline that encourages people to visit your website.

You can also send the article out in an Ezine format to those people who are in your database. This is the very reason you want to be able to collect people’s contact information from your website. If they leave you their contact information chances are very good they are interested in you and your products, services and various offerings.

So as not to miss those folks who are not in your online database you will be well served to also send out a direct mail piece. This piece is used to announce the event and should encourage people to visit your website to sign up for the event.

If you are strategic marketing the event you will most like gain some free publicity for yourself and your company.

The day of the presentation you absolutely must make sure people have a stellar experience. This would include the actual presentation being one that is so content filled that even if people never buy a thing from you they feel they have received incredible value.

Within 24 hours of the session send out a thank you letter highlighting key points you made during your presentation. Depending on your market the letter can be sent out via email. Mention in the letter that you would enjoy speaking at either their company or an association meeting. You will be amazed at how many opportunities this can generate if your initial presentation exceeded expectations.

Your success with this process will be determined by how consistent you are in keeping your name if front of your market. I have witnessed time and again people who will try this method once, get busy with other things and then let the system drop. What an absolute waste.

With the system outlined I have successfully promoted events in my market that have cost me less than $50 in marketing costs and realized a return of tens of thousands of dollars in revenue from subsequent sales. However, I have been using this system for years and am very consistent in my process.

As you consider the things you can do to increase your visibility and who you may choose to work with on your marketing, a couple of questions you need to ask are, “Am I willing to put the right systems in place to gain the result I want?” and “Does the person I am considering to help me market my business know how to market their own business?” The answers will help to determine your level of success.

Do you want to gain massive visibility within your market? Kathleen Gage can help you do just that. As a published author, keynote speaker and top rated business advisor, Kathleen Gage teaches strategies that give high impact and high return. Sign up for Gage’s FR*EE Report “Learn How a Salt Lake City base consultant made over $100,000 from one idea” at www.streetsmartsmarketing.com

There's no question that an element of uniqueness in your marketing can make your business more memorable, competitive, and special to your target audience. These are all reasons why being different can be good. But how different should you be?

A student in one of my classes had noticed there were no display ads for management consultants in his local Yellow Pages. "What a great opportunity," he thought, "to make my business stand out to prospective clients." He spent over $200 per month on a large ad for a full year. The result was not a single phone call, unless you count the ones from vendors trying to sell him photocopiers and phone systems.

He had neglected to ask his consulting colleagues WHY none of them had ads in the Yellow Pages. It seemed like a good idea to him, and no one else was doing it, so he pulled out his checkbook. What never occurred to him -- and what any experienced colleague could have told him -- was that companies don't choose management consultants from ads in the phone book.

Sometimes you can be too unique for your own good. There's a lot in sales and marketing that is tried and true. If you decide to forge a completely new trail, you may be attempting an experiment that many others in your field have already tried with no success.

It's not always just your marketing techniques that are a little too different. The same problem can afflict the product or service you are marketing.

I met a fellow while networking who had a "unique process" for helping companies resolve conflicts between employee groups. When I asked him to explain his process, he said I would have to experience it to understand it. I inquired how it compared to solutions like mediation or team building, and he told me it was a totally different approach that defied comparison.

Since I knew a company that needed help with a problem like the one he described, I would have liked to refer him. But I couldn't picture myself calling my friend at the company to say, "Hi, I know someone who says he can fix your problem, but he can't explain how. You'll just have to hire him and see."

Being noticeably different from the competition can help you attract customers and close sales. But claiming that you have no competition is naive. Comparisons to a known quantity can help prospective customers understand where your product or service fits in the range of solutions they are considering. If they can't compare it to anything, it's doubtful that they will be able to see how your offering could work.

Your market, too, needs to be a group of people who already exist and can be readily identified. A reader once wrote to ask me for some advice on getting her new book published. I asked what market category it fell into, and she replied that she hadn't really thought about it.

I pressed her bit, explaining that her book needed to be categorized in order to be marketed and sold. Even something as simple as where to shelve it in a bookstore depended on having a category to print on the back cover. Was it self-help, spirituality, careers, business? Who did she see as the audience for her book?

She asserted that she was creating a new paradigm, and if I was going to help her, I needed to think more creatively. My reply was to tell her I couldn't help her at all. Her idea may have been brilliant, but no publisher was going to touch her project.

Creating the perception that your product or service is one of a kind can help you capture people's attention and make them remember you. But you have to be able to identify the people you want to reach and communicate how you can be of service in words they can understand.

You know those car commercials that go, "Zoom, zoom, zoom?" I had to see those ads dozens of times before I could remember that the car being advertised was a Mazda. "Zoom" was unique alright, but what did it have to do with Mazda? Or with the benefits of owning one? A catchy slogan like "Inspiration Beats Perspiration" may be clever and unusual, but what the heck is it marketing?

Definitely look for a unique way to express the benefits you offer to your clients, but make sure it still communicates what you actually do. It's okay to get creative with your marketing, but don't bet the rent money on untried techniques.

If you really want to make your marketing more effective, cheaper and less stressful, stop re-inventing the wheel. Find models that work and replicate them. I'm not suggesting that you plagiarize your competitors' marketing copy, but when you see someone successful in your field, find out what they are doing right, and follow their lead.

Don't let your business be a victim of "terminal uniqueness" -- the belief that you are so different from anyone else that none of the rules apply to you. Being distinctive is good; being eccentric can be unwise.

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Thousands of business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of "Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You'll Ever Need" at http://www.getclientsnow.com

Owners of thriving businesses know they must develop a solid business plan AND a solid marketing plan to reach their goals.

Yet 90% of small business owners do not have a marketing plan.

Imagine driving from Boston to San Francisco without a map. You’ll easily find your way to San Francisco, but you will be guessing at the distance, the amount of time it will take to get there, and how you’ll navigate the city once you get there. You don’t have a plan.

You may accomplish your goal in hit or miss fashion, but it will be much easier if you define what you want to accomplish, research options, and develop a plan to get there. Yes, it will take more time initially, but you are much more likely to reach your destination. And you’ll experience a lot less stress.

A plan will focus your efforts and provide the blueprint for massive action. And you must take massive action in order to get what you want. Every book, tape, CD, manual, and course that you have invested in is useless unless you take massive action and implement your marketing plan.

Think about it. How many times have you had a great idea and failed to follow through with it? Right now you probably know of at least one tip, idea, or strategy that will increase your earning potential. So what’s stopping you from using that strategy to maximize your profits?

The reason people fail to achieve their goals is not because of a lack of resources or information. The reason people fall short is because they fail to take action. Can you relate?

All of the business building, profit generating information in the world is worthless unless you take action. You need a plan.

Is this the year you'll take a quantum leap forward in your business? Start with a solid marketing plan that empowers you to take massive action and reap the benefits.

Want to discover how to develop your ultimate branding and marketing plan? Log on to http://www.boostyourbottomline to find out how to accelerate your business success.

© 2006 Boost Your Bottom Line

Leslie Hamp, Certified Marketing Coach & PR Whiz, shows small business owners how to blast their business to the next level of success. Find out more at www.boostyourbottomline.com

Marketing Spitfires Holly George and Leslie Hamp publish “Marketing Blast,” a monthly ezine filled with red hot strategies to market your business and boost your bottom line. If you're ready to jump start your marketing, make more money, and stay on the fast track to business success, get your FREE tips now at www.boostyourbottomline.com