Talk, talk, talk

It's a very simple concept: tell everyone you meet about what you do. Now, I'm not suggesting that you go around boring complete strangers with endless information about yourself. However, it never hurts (under the right circumstances) to drop a few hints here and there regarding your job, service, product, etc.

One of these things is likely to happen:

1. You'll be ignored. That's okay. It's not the end of the world. Maybe the person didn't ignore you, but simply didn't want to talk to you at that moment. But, at least he or she probably heard what you had to say and that person may contact you when you least expect it.
2. You'll be told "no." Well, we've all been told "no" at some point in our lives. It's not a big deal. After all, not everyone will be interested in what you have to offer.
3. You'll be lied to and the person will tell you that he is interested, when - in fact - he's not. We're all guilty of doing that, so we can't really blame him. If you say you've never done this, then you're lying right now.
4. A person you're NOT speaking to will overhear the conversation and be interested. Your next, and perhaps even best, customer may be a couple of feet away.
5. The person you're talking to will sincerely be interested in your product or service and will want to know more. That's when you go into "sales mode." But don't be too sales-y or the person will get turned off thinking that you were doing a sales schtick all along.
6. The person you're talking to will like what you have to offer, but may not be able to use your product or service. However, she'll give you the names and contact info for others who are ideal customers. Leads, leads, leads...I'm guessing that it's a salesperson's second-favorite word, right after, "sold!"

Naturally, there are other scenarios and various outcomes, but more than likely, these are the situations that you'll face. None sounds too frightening, and all have the potential to gain exposure, find a new customer, or make a sale. So go on, and talk, talk, talk...