I despise scammers. Whether they’re pitching phony boards of directors, needlessly re-registering website domains or hawking invention marketing services, I find these leeches to be despicable.

The inspired marriage with Carly Simon’s song “Anticipation” cemented Heinz’s identity as a premium ketchup brand while showcasing the power of combining popular music with advertising. The yearslong marketing drive is universally considered one of the most iconic campaigns ever.

Once a customer goes online, the chances of losing them tend to be higher because of the ease of comparing prices, distracting ads from competitors and a 70% chance they’ll abandon your shopping cart.

Once a customer goes online, the chances of losing them tend to be higher because of the ease of comparing prices, distracting ads from competitors and a 70% chance they’ll abandon your shopping cart.

Always double-check contracted work yourself. As Harry Truman famously said: “The buck stops here.”

Even if you just write a book to give out to people as a gift or a premium for signing a contract with you, you will still want to make sure it’s as readable as possible.

You can’t assume everyone knows who you are, what you sell, and if potential customers appreciate whether your offer is a good one.

Tomorrow’s success depends on investments you make today, whether it’s in people, technology, or vendor relations. And as my friends at Winco reminded me, cutting corners can easily drive away the very sales you’re looking to make.

Your company should always be looking for strategic relationships to help expand your audience and improve chances of making a sale.

As the most obvious stopping point for area guests, your visitors center’s doing a poor job. That awful woman had us wondering if choosing Santa Barbara was a mistake.

Effective selling is all about your attitude. Recognize going in that you have nothing to lose. Then go for it anyway.

Nobody will want to do business with you because they feel sorry for you. They’ll want to do business with you because they believe you’re successful, and they want some of that success to rub off on them.

Given that the contents of both small and large packages were the same, the larger package should have cost less than two smaller packages. And it didn’t.

That's just SCREWY!

Recognizing we all need to sell ourselves on some level, I see this column as a vehicle for helping you try and sell your message, regardless of the business you’re in.