A few months ago, we had a landscape designer come to our home and give us an estimate. He had good reviews and was focused on a water-wise landscape. While his price was pretty reasonable, he did not do any sketches of his designs before installation. We decided to not use his services, because we were not sure what we would get. While this is an extreme example, it is a common challenge for many service-focused businesses. People buy your service without being able to see

Are most of your prospects ready to buy when you first meet them? Unless you offer something that people only think of when there is a serious problem, such as a tax defense specialist or plumber, then the majority of prospects you meet are just considering your service. Of course, we all want “hot prospects.” However, if you only focus on these prospects, you are missing a big opportunity. First, these prospects are probably looking at more than one provider who offers sim

This past weekend, we were in Valle de Guadalupe. It is a lovely wine area in Baja where fantastic restaurants are also springing up. We had a lot of wonderful food and wine while we were there. The first restaurant we went to was an outdoor affair. The six available tables were underneath the trees and the kitchen was an open-air grill. The chef actually waited on us. She explained each of the dishes in detail, even when the English was challenging for her. She told us how

After 8 years in business and many iterations of my marketing message, it finally occurred to me that I needed some marketing help. Yes, I was a marketing consultant hiring a marketing consultant to help me refine my marketing message. It felt like a failure and a relief at the same time. My realization was that I was too close to my own business to be able to explain it well to others (even though that is what I do really well for clients). That was eight months ago, and I