Hone your sales and promotion skills!

KnowThis.com has some great new resources that will help you develop your sales and promotion techniques.

The first is an article called "Sales Training is Not Only for Salespeople." I couldn't agree more! In fact, the article even mentions librarians as an example of professionals who need top-notch sales skills: "Librarians face many challenges in getting customers to use their services when Internet access opens numerous information sources previously only available in libraries." Wow! The article outlines self-directed and trainer-directed training opportunities. If you ever have to man a table at a fair or work a service point, then you need to take a look at this!

The second resource is another installment of KnowThis.com's Principles of Marketing Tutorial called Promotion Decisions. This is a must-read for all librarians who need to get a firm grasp of or reminder of the basics. As the tutorial points out, "when non-marketers hear someone talk about "promotion" they frequently believe the person is talking about advertising. While advertising is the most visible and best understood method of promotion, it is only one of several approaches a marketer can choose to promote their products and services." That's a crucial point to remember when drafting your marketing plans! I would also suggest that this be the last thing you consider in your plans and that primary emphasis should be on the product/service you provide. Like a marketing professor of mine told me, nothing gets the word out about a bad product faster than a good promotional campaign.