Something that I learned, out of dire necessity, was to create a special package deal so that I got to the transaction faster with new prospects in my marketing business. I called it the Zerald Marketing Audit and Turnaround Plan. My motivation was to avoid Proposal Hell!

Proposal Hell is where a prospect calls in response to an ad or a letter or referral wanting to meet. So far so good. I'd meet them. And boy oh boy we would have a great chat! They'd like me a lot and see that I really knew what the heck I was talking about and that I had a passion for marketing and was eager to please. So of course they'd ask for a proposal. That was their way of saying: "You seem to know what you're talking about. I'm seriously considering working with you."

At one time, the opportunity to present a proposal was exciting for me! Imagine, you get to work for several hours for FREE, giving away great ideas with no assurance that you'll ever see dollar one. And, worrying that the prospect will take your best ideas and run with them which of course many did.

Sometimes the first deal with a client would come only months or even a year later. Often not at all.

Many times I sat licking my wounds, wondering what I was doing wrong. I had "all these proposals out there" and no business. Finally I admitted to myself that proposals out there would never convert to satisfactory cash flow. So I decided to create a "package". Up to this point my services were like a spool of thread. "How many feet would you like?" Instead of selling an intangible, I would create a hard benefit-laden product off the imaginary shelf of my imaginary workshop. You could say I was re-positioning my service. Now I had a "thing" I was going to promote and sell.

The first time I tried the new positioning, it worked so well and so immediately that I laughed out loud -- AFTER I hung up the phone with the prospect. I felt like I had unlocked a secret door.

The owner of a small company called from my Yellow Pages ad to ask about my marketing services. I asked her a couple of questions and then recommended as a first step the Zerald Marketing Audit and Turnaround Plan. They would pay $500 up front and I would guarantee the moon and stars.

Think about this for a moment. This meant that the client would have to write a check for $500 as a condition of the first meeting taking place!

Another thing I added to the mix along with my promising the moon and stars was a requirement that they provide five quality referrals upon acceptance of the Report. Nobody ever refused, not once.

And as to the guaranteeing of the moon and stars, if that makes you nervous, there's a fairly simple technique that more or less guarantees you'll never have to give a refund. Only once did I have a sticky situation and the technique I'm about to describe bailed me out.

All you have to do is "future pace" them. You simply present each idea in such a way that they must consider and visualize the implementation of it and then give you feedback as to how useful they think it will be. "Let's see, if you simply made that one change and we measured it over a year, what kind of bottom line difference, speaking conservatively, would you expect it to make for your business?" Whatever they'd say, I'd ask them to write it down and we'd go to the next idea.

Usually each idea represented a multiple of their investment and so the idea of them invoking the guarantee was completely obliterated from consideration early in the Report delivering process.

I no longer saw it as a benefit that I would get to put on a suit, drive to their office, sit and chat for hours, drive back to my office, write a Proposal, jump into a different suit, hop into the car again, deliver the Proposal -- and all for free.

The only real difference in selling the Marketing Audit and Turnaround Plan was positioning. After the first information-gathering, check-collecting meeting, I would take a few days and come back with a document -- The Report. It's like a proposal in disguise. Instead of hiding all the great ideas I have for them, it bombards them with great ideas which they are free to implement to their heart's content.

Of course they'll need help implementing those ideas. And of course they'll turn to you. And when they do, they are already sold on you-they've already paid for your excellent services-in advance (which secretly amazed them).

My first "Audit" client was a small potato. But they loved the Report. It really benefited them. Subsequently, I was able to do a little bit more work for them and refer them on to others they're still working with. That $500 covered my driving, Report writing, suit cleaning, gas and self-esteem costs. And of course, I learned.

In the ensuing months I offered the product at $695 and $795 and then $995. I created a number of ways to generate Marketing Audit opportunities, including classified ads, fax blasts and endorsement letters from others. Now I rarely do it, but when I do, it's $1595, and the Report has become very concise.