55. Write a telephone script for cold calling. Practice and revise over and over until it feels comfortable. You don't want to sound like a scripted telemarketer!
56. Practice (with an indexing buddy!) cold calling a publisher. One of you be the publisher, the other be the indexer, and switch back and forth. This allows both of you to see what types of questions and responses might come up. The other person could toss you some good objections to overcome and it will give you a good idea what questions you want to ask them. You and your buddy must be serious about this, or else you will wind up just chatting on precious business time.
57. Buy a large year-at-a-time calendar and hang on your wall. You can plan your marketing and other business strategies in advance, and keep track at a glance on how you're doing.
BUSINESS ZONE
58. Subscribe to journals, magazines, and newspapers that cover small business or business in general. Also include local journals that cover key developments in your community. In addition, stay informed on events with a major metro paper and your local paper. You can use these trends in your marketing campaign.
Some folks say they just watch TV for the news. That means you spend at least 7 hours a week listening to things that may not affect your business. You can scan a metro newspaper in just a matter of minutes, and a local community paper even faster. When you read this way, it's called "reading with intention." You focus on the important things for your business. You aren't focused when you listen to all the TV news for an hour. This is NOT how to stay informed on current events that affect your indexing business! (This may work for other types of businesses, however.)
If you don't want the expense of this, be sure to go to bookstores and read the periodicals there. You want to be current. The public library may not have the current issue available when you are ready to read it, and it would be a wasted trip. So just go to the bookstore. Most bookstores now have comfortable chairs and benches in the stores for folks to sit in while they peruse the stands. You can combine stress reduction with trend evaluation.
59. Get books (bookstore, library, used book store) about working from home and small business issues such as project management, time management, developing a credible image, business writing, marketing, specialized information such as computer software or professional telephone skills, and more.
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