The best closers do not wait until the end of their speech to mention their offer. Instead, they start their presentation with the end in mind. In other words, they come right out and tell their audience that there will be an offer at the end of their presentation. Or they may say it in a more subtle way. Regardless of how they say it during their presentation, making the offer during the speech is called seeding. The master closers have proved that if you seed at least twice during your presentation, your sales will double!

Here are some ideas to help you perfect your closing:

1. Study other speakers’ closing techniques closely.
Pay close attention to how they begin their offer, how they talk about the offer forms, and how they invite their audience to participate.

2. Use a prepared script.
Don’t wing it! This can be a costly mistake. Take as much time or more than you did preparing your speech to prepare your offer and call to action.

3. Prepare the logistics.
Prepare your product table before your speak. Make sure you have the right supplies such as credit card forms and pens. Hire someone or get a trusted volunteer to take the orders. Do not try to do this yourself. You need to be available in case someone has a question.

4. Prepare the stage.
If you have a product, make sure it can be seen from the stage during your presentation. While seeding, pick up the product and show it to the audience.

5. Prepare the visual offer.
Your audience must see the offer. This includes bonus items and discounts. Use a whiteboard, flip chart, or PowerPoint so your audience can see what they are going to get.

6. Offer forms.
Your form is a selling tool, so it counts! The color, the way it is laid out, the price-everything matters. Start collecting forms from great speakers and great closers and mimic their forms.

Tip: If you are speaking for someone else, create 3-part NCR forms: one copy for the buyer, one for you, and one for the promoters.

Basically, they want to know that you understand them … if you can illustrate that you do, then they’ll opt in to your list, buy your products and hire your services. But if you can’t show them that you understand their needs, they’ll click away and find someone who does.

So, how does a web page answer this question?

Through it’s words: do you speak your target market’s language? Do you use the same words, phrases and idioms that they do. For example … does a doctor have customers? No. They use the word “patients.” Does a coach have customers? No. They use the word “clients.” Each group of individuals develops their own “group language” … so be sure you’re using the right words to speak to that group.

Through it’s imagery: If you were a woman business owner, which image would tell you that a website was meant for you? A professionally dressed man at a computer, a casually dressed teen at a computer or a nicely dressed woman at a computer? All three people are at a computer, suggesting that the website might be about computers or the Internet or online business. But the person at the computer also suggests the target market.

Through it’s tone of voice: Is your copy perky? technical? subdued? Each tone will attract and repel different kinds of people. Tone can be conveyed through word choice, punctuation and imagery. Make sure you choose your tone strategically and that all elements of your webpage support that tone.

Through titles and headlines: The title of your opt-in bonus will say a lot about who it is meant for … be sure you are using the right title. Also, your headlines … which are written for both scanners (people do won’t read all your copy) and readers (people who will) … will convey a subtle message about who you are talking to.

So, be clear on who you want your website to talk to and then be sure that you are speaking that group’s language both with words and images.

Want to know what all six questions are? Grab a copy of my new book, Home Sweet Home Page: The 5 Deadly Mistakes Authors, Speakers and Coaches Make with Their Website’s Home Page and How To Fix Them! at www.homesweethomepagebook.com. Stop by the website between March 15 and 19, 2010, to join the launch and housewarming party, and download a plethora of free gifts!

Some themes for your business could be one specific topic among many areas of your expertise. Or your theme might be product development or approaching a specific new audience or traveling more for business or staying within your own zip code as much as possible. Those are a few of many choices.

What about the booklet or booklets you’ve already done or the one you are considering doing? View it as part of a bigger picture, fitting into a year-long theme. Is your booklet the first of a new product line for you, or the low-priced smaller addition to an existing product-line? Where can you go with it if your theme is product development? The booklet manuscript has at least a dozen or two ways it can be expanded and modified to be offered for sale. Write it once, leverage it many times. You can record it as an audio CD, make it into a card deck, expand it into a manual, or develop it into a teleclass or ecourse. All of these formats and many more can be offered as both hard copy and as digital downloads. Your mission is to keep developing product this year, to give you a large enough repertoire of products to lead to your new focus the following year.

Is your theme of the year to reach a new population? Boomers are the rage, aren’t we? Re-purpose your products and services for that audience. Do everything you can to reach them, with your promotional efforts, speaking engagements, product offers, and networking with everyone you can.

Are you getting cabin fever these days being in your office or being alone during the week more than what makes you happy? Is your highlight of the day going to the post office or greeting a delivery person? Determine how much time away is good and how much makes you a worn-out road warrior. Visiting prospective clients and delivering workshops can be an hour or two drive or a six-hour airplane trip. Meeting with local consulting or coaching clients in person rather than always by telephone can breathe a different level of life back into your work.

Have you been in motion to the point of exhaustion, not really enjoying all that activity? For you, there are ways to better utilize your telephone and computer as your focus for the coming year. It may mean delivering teleclasses and consulting or coaching from your own office. You can certainly deliver more products online through your own website or those of other companies.

Yes, these can all be amazing grasps of the obvious, yet it’s also amazing how easy it is to overlook what seems like common sense. Give some thought to what has been the greatest joy and the greatest irritant to you in your business. Choose a single theme to focus on in 2006. If you haven’t already written a booklet as part of that theme, which would certainly be an excellent starting place.

While social media allows you to get up close and personal with some or many of the people in your social media network, one thing remains true, the benefits of traditional media just can’t be beat!

In previous articles we examined Radio, TV, Print media to establish their relevancy in your media outreach and now let’s take a look at the deliverables of an Internet media placement. Here are the benefits to you of getting booked on Internet media:

Name Brand Platform Builders & Media BIO Builders

Can access the major players easier than strictly traditional media – they need a lot of content and are open to more experts.

Search Engine Optimization – May Link Back to Your Website

Imagine being the quoted expert on a site with millions of visitors and the site links your name back to your website, thereby potential driving numerous visitors to your site? This is a great outcome and can happen. Some sites will link back to your website and be sure to ask if this feature is offered when booking your internet placement.

Good Building Block to Bigger Media

You can get started on your media bio that leads to the bigger opportunities showing you have experience. It may be a little easier, as the demand for content is very high, to get your name, your book name or your business mentioned in the online version of a big TV network, major newspaper or magazine. And you still get to associate yourself with the big name brand media

Become Columnist or Ongoing Contributor

The demand for content helps experts build up quickly and in some cases, if you are good, you can be asked to contribute on a regular basis which build you are social relevancy and national expert status, leading to more opportunity. Usually the columnist opportunities include contact info so not only can you showcase your wisdom, experiences, point of view and credentials you can lead people back to your site to connect with you and join your community.

Highly Visible Sought After By Major Publishers: Why? They have proven they are active experts, able to sell books by getting out there and getting heard and seen. They have proven they are “in the middle of the conversation” contributing valuable insight and commentary and their opinion matters.

REAL STORY: Client landed a regular columnist opportunity for a mega site and was spotted by a major company in NYC who is flying him in for the opportunity of a lifetime. Client reports that being associated as a thought leader for this well known, name brand site that garners the respect of the industry has wiped out his competitors. He now has the ultimate competitive advantage of having no competitors. When his clients call him, they want him and expect to hire him.

A VA is usually not an employee, which comes in very handy for many home business owners. If you live (own or rent) in a place where the business or city codes say you can’t have an employee in your home – you CAN hire a VA! No employee benefits to deal with either!

Each VA works a little differently. It is important for you to identify the skill-set you are looking for and know how many hours you’re initially looking to contract for before you start the interview process. Below is a list of things to consider when hiring a VA.

1. It is more likely a VA will not live near their clients; although some do live in the same city or state.

2. A VA will work with you when you need extra help but don’t know for how long you’ll need that help. Note: it is usual for a VA to charge a “rush” fee for jobs you want “yesterday”.

3. They might be the missing link in your business and your eyes or ears on the Internet.

4. A VA can act as a sounding board for your ideas or plans.

5. They will coordinate your work, work orders, and/or work flow.

6. A VA is an independent contractor, consultant, and a business owner, too.

7. A VA may charge for time on a task, or by the hour, week or month. In general, they charge you extra for phone calls they make and for supplies, stamps etc.

8. They have a written agreement with you.

9. Some VA’s work individually and others may be part of a larger group of VA’s.

10. VA’s specialize in certain areas or they may generalize. They could be current or former CPA’s, web designers, coaches, executive assistants, personal assistants, etc.

Are you interested in learning more about VA’s? Or are you a VA looking for resources? Enjoy this list of resources http://TheResourceQueen.com