Associations and non-profits are a powerful resource for building and expanding networking and business opportunities. Associations hold conventions, print reports and literature, promote their cause, and use your services!

The Directory of Associations is a comprehensive source of information on associations and professional societies including business and trade associations, 501c non-profit organizations, chambers of commerce, and other charity and community associations.

Available on CD-ROM, in print, and on mailing labels -- or search online and download results using our powerful search interface.

For more information or to order, call 800-575-5369 or go to http://www.marketingsource.com/associations.

If you've never done a postcard mailing, you're probably wondering, "What should I budget for?" Here are three items to account for:

1. If you're a designing woman (or man), then you'll need to get that great postcard design out of your computer and into the hands of the postcard printing company. If you have a high-speed Internet connection, you're in luck. You can just upload your files to the printer's website.

Dialup people, you'd be better off sending your files to the printer via an overnight courier. It's easy to experience dropped connections when you're on dialup, which means that your digital file can get corrupted, and the printer won't be able to print from it.

2. Printing and delivery of the cards to your business or to the company that will be mailing the cards for you. (These outfits are called "mailshops" or "mailing houses.")

If you're on a tight budget, you can use your desktop printer to print your postcards. However, please be aware that this can be quite time-consuming, especially if you're doing hundreds of cards. That's why I prefer to outsource this job to a postcard printing company.

3. Postage. This could mean that you're buying some stamps for your cards. Or you may be outsourcing the card mailing to a mailshop, which will charge you for bulk mail postage, and assess a handling fee.

If you'd like to delve deeper into the realm of budgeting, and tracking your results, page 14 of my Postcard Marketing Secrets e-book shows you how to use Microsoft Excel to calculate postcarding costs and ROI.

Postcard Marketing Secrets is also included in the Postcard Marketing Value Pack, which consists of four postcard marketing e-books in a ZIP file, or on CD.

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Martha Retallick, "The Passionate Postcarder," hails from Tucson, Arizona, USA. She is the author of Postcard Marketing Secrets, a downloadable PDF manual will show you how to put postcards to work for your business—profitably. Learn more about it at: http://www.PostcardMarketingSecrets.com

Concept Marketing Group, Inc. introduces a postcard product offer that, unlike any other in the market, allows your business to conduct direct mail promotions as easy as 1-2-3 (Designed - Printed - Mailed). Reach 5,000 prospects or customers today for as little as $0.33 each, including postage costs!

Our services include:
• Business and Consumer Mailing and Phone Lists
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Call 800.575.5369 to learn more about our services and plan your direct mail campaign!

After months of trying, you land an appointment with a major account who uses your competitor's products. Like many reps, you probably feel an overpowering urge to cram as much as possible into this one meeting. You need to tell them about your company's new directions, latest technologies, state-of-the-art products, competitive advantages, top-notch service, and more. So much to cover and so little time.

The Speed Backlash

Whoa! Slow down. Prospects who receive massive information dumps unconsciously erect barriers to slow or even derail your sales efforts. How? They tell you everything is fine, even if they're dissatisfied with their current vendor. They rule out doing business with you if your product lacks a minor capability. Your pricing is never good enough. Or they simply thank you for the update and promise to contact you when the need arises.

Sound familiar? It's the result of trying to convert long-standing vendor relationships in one sales call. Prospects distrust motives when they perceive a lack of concern for their needs. And that's exactly what happens when you spend most of your time doing all the talking.

Slower Strategies for Faster Results

Top sellers realize that replacing an incumbent is a slow, deliberate process. They understand it takes time to demonstrate value and develop strong relationships. Knowing this, they put together a one-step-at-a-time account entry strategy that actually advances the sales process much faster than if they tried to do everything in a single call. The steps:

Do your homework. Learn as much as you can before your meeting. Review your prospect's annual report and website.

Look for gaps between where he is and where he wants to be. Identify his primary initiatives. Figure out how your product helps him achieve his objectives or ties in with his critical business drivers. For example, if "Earning Customer Loyalty" is mentioned repeatedly, determine how you can contribute.

Think and talk results. Your product is a tool - nothing more. People buy it because of what it does for them; make sure you know what that is. Talk about the business results customers achieve when using your product. Explain how he can reduce time to market, increase operational efficiency or improve sales.

Establish a logical next step. Before your meeting, determine how you want it to end. A successful advance might be an information-gathering meeting, an analysis of current work flow or a presentation. Most sales to large accounts require multiple calls, so build this into your planning right from the beginning.

Plan your questions. Questions are key to your success. They demonstrate interest and concern. Prospects feel you are more knowledgeable when you ask good questions. Questions provide valuable insights into customer needs and the decision-making process. They are the basis for developing a strong relationship. Plan at least ten questions ahead of time.

The sales process can't be short-circuited.
If you go too fast, problems are guaranteed to arise.
Your opportunity will evaporate into thin air.

The Big Meeting

At last it's time for the big meeting. Get down to business fairly quickly, minimizing chit chat. Start by stating your purpose. It's enough to simply say, "I'm here today to understand your organization better and see where we can improve your business results." Next share a short story about how your company helped another client and the specific results they attained. Talk results, not products!

Explain your process in working with accounts. Tell your prospect it's essential to fully understand his objectives, needs, issues, and challenges in order to determine the value you can provide.

Transition to questions and spend the bulk of your time investigating. Ask about the current situation: "Tell me about your workflow." Find out about any problems, challenges, or difficulties he has. Explore his answers by asking about the ramifications of these problems and the value of eliminating them.

Even though he asks, don't be tempted to talk about products. If you get caught in this trap, your chances of sales success decrease significantly. Graciously explain that product discussion is premature until you understand their needs better and get back to asking questions. Before you leave, share a few key benefits and suggest the logical next step.

This is what the top sellers do. They don't rush the sale and, as a result, they get the order. And quicker. Follow their example and you'll soon be enjoying the same success!

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Jill Konrath, President of Selling to Big Companies and Leapfrog-Strategies Inc., helps sellers create value, differentiation and demand in competitive markets. For info on speaking, training or consulting services, please call 651-429-1922 or email us at jill@sellingtobigcompanies.com.