Guest Contributor: Shannon McCaffery
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The key to your future riches in closing your prospects, is knowing their hot buttons. If you're a big business looking to work with smaller businesses and help them with specific aspects, you better know their lingo and be able to speak their language. You see the more you know not only about who your prospects are, but what's their emotional hot button, and what keeps them awake at night.

Here's a terrific exercise for you and the first big step to getting at their hot buttons. Take out a sheet of paper and start writing.

Think about who your top 10 clients are right now. Then I want you to answer these 5 questions about them:

1) What kinds of advertising do they respond to? Is it direct mail, phone calls, personal visits, irresistible offers, or maybe a combination of these.

2) What do they read and where do they get this stuff? You need to check out newsletters, consumer magazines, industry newspapers, trade publications, and community newspapers

3) What trade shows do they go to? Do they go to local community events, national conventions, state fairs, local consumer shows, etc.

4) How did your past clients hear about you? Was it word of mouth, a flyer, direct mail piece, telemarketing, internet, email or an ad stuffer

5) What clubs, groups or associations do they belong to? Write down any associations, clubs, business groups or networking groups they attend.

After you've answered these questions, I'd suggest you sign up and maybe attend some of these clubs, associations or trade shows. I'd even say you might want to subscribe to the publications and maybe even contribute to them with writing an article or placing and ad. When you immerse yourself in their world, a light bulb will go off, and you'll know how to appeal to them in a much more meaningful way. The more you know about your prospect and us it in your advertising, the more you will attract the right prospects and be able to close them.

To Your Success
Shannon