Marketing to Women

Eighty percent of all consumer purchasing decisions are made by women. Understand and implement the "EVEolutionary Truths" set forth by Faith Popcorn and co-author Lys Marigold in their book, "EVEolution" and tap into this powerful market.

Here are some ideas:

• Connecting female consumers to each other connects them to your brand. How can you connect one female client to another? Hold a free workshop at your local library and encourage the women who attend to introduce themselves to each other.
• If you're marketing to one of her lives, you're missing all the others. Women wear many hats, so you might design your worksheets to be completed in shorter segments so women can work on them while waiting for their child at one of their many activities.
• Market to her peripheral vision and she will see you in a while new light. Pick a child-friendly bookstore and offer to co-sponsor a brief talk on the careers industry at the same time they offer storytime to kids. Do the same thing at your local library.
• Walk, run, go to her, secure her loyalty forever. Make it convenient for her to work with you. Set up your website to handle requests for services.

Cultivating Referrals

Once you've been in business for more than a year, you should have a solid network of referrers. These can be clients, people in your network, other careers professionals, other business owners, etc.

If you don't have a network, get one! Think of some strategic partnerships you can develop. Be creative -- how about a referral relationship with your dentist? Or hairstylist? Or a divorce attorney? Or a mental health therapist who does career testing? Or a recruiter? An employment lawyer? The possibilities are endless.

Incorporate your request for referrals into your business. Tell clients that you get most of your new clients by referral -- and you'd appreciate, if they're satisfied with your services -- that they tell other individuals about you. Help them understand what kind of clients you're looking for ("Sam, as a senior executive yourself, you may comes across another executive who has been downsized and isn't having much success with traditional outplacement. If you are telking with someone like that, give me a call -- perhaps I can help him/her."

Develop (or enhance) your Reward for Referrals program. At a minimum, you should always send the referrer a handwritten thank you note.

Resources for Older Workers

Thanks to Bill Murdoch for this list of sites offering resources for older workers.

Compiled by US News & World Report, this aggregation of sites will be useful for your clients who are 50+.

Selling Your Resume Writing Business

I was reading an American Express publication today ("Open Book: A Practical Guide for Business Growth") and came across a short piece about selling your business.

Raymond Joabar, Sr. Vice President and General Manager of Lending and Network Development writes, "The sale price of your business will probably be the largest single factor affecting your wealth and retirement."

Yet most resume writers I know don't "cash out" this investment that they've spent years building -- they simply close their businesses. This is a topic that's interested me for a couple of years, ever since I heard a speaker from the Nebraska Business Development Center talk about business valuations. It's a topic I'd like to explore in a future issue of Resume Writers' Digest too. Have a thought on the subject? Drop me an email to RWDigest@aol.com.