The answer is “not much.”

This may surprise most, but it is crucial to having productive conversations that ultimately lead to sales.

Believe it or not, you can tie your product or services into most conversations without it coming across as a crude or a blatant sales pitch. When you really know how to orchestrate a conversation, with your business subtly included, there’s no reason to beat your audience over the head with your standard advertising rigmarole.

Of course, as entrepreneurs, we always have that instinct to sell ourselves whenever we can, to make a pitch at every networking event. But you need to muzzle that little interior voice that screams, “Sell, sell, sell!” and focus on each individual conversation in order to get the most out of it.

As you do, try to keep these tips and strategies in mind.

1. Forget the direct sale.

Never approach a conversation with direct sales in mind. If you do this, you are no better than those annoying spam e-mails that pop up in your inbox, uninvited and irritating.

2. Never speak ill of the competition.

Be sure that you never speak ill of your competitors. Life is full of irony; there’s a good chance that someone you end up speaking with may know one of your competitors personally.

3. Endeavor to solve problems.

If, in the course of conversation, someone brings up an issue that you believe your service or product can help solve, it is okay to mention it. However, a brief mention and a full-out sales blast are two different things. Give the other party the bait and see how hard they nibble. If it isn’t much, let it rest and then remind them of your service at the end of the conversation.

4. Learn more about people’s needs.

If you use the words “me,” “my,” or “I” more than ten times in a three minute conversation, your focus is all wrong. When speaking to people that are potentially in your target audience, you need to be learning more about their needs and how they can better be served.

5. Focus on them, not yourself.

In the event that your conversation is with someone that has used your products or services and is giving you rave reviews, try to deflect the topic to how you are glad that their situation has improved. Make the conversation about them and not your product.

As any lawyer or car salesperson might tell you, there is an art to conversation. In business, knowing these basic tricks and keeping the focus on how you can improve the conditions of others rather than yourself can lead to significant results.

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Bobby Marhamat, a branding expert, is the founder and CEO of readyBUZZ, a collaborative social media marketing agency. Bobby has always been an entrepreneur at heart. He has helped Fortune 500 companies and small business owners look at different ways to make more money by unifying their brand and creating a niche within their target market.

Then he got a call from Wayne, a prospect who introduced himself by saying: “I’ve heard great things about your engineering software package. I saw a demo about a year ago, and was not in a position to purchase it at the time. But since then, it’s become very apparent that I need to integrate it into my system.”

“Wow,” Ryan thought. “This will be easy. It’s about time something went right today.”

Then, Wayne said: “I need to know about the cost, the tech support and how soon it can be installed.”

Ryan immediately went into his sales pitch. He discussed tech support in detail, covered availability and other options, and explained that the price was $12,000, with 30-day terms.

However, Wayne’s response was unexpected.

He then said that $12,000 was quite a hefty price tag and he needed a couple of days to think about all of this more carefully. He’d call Ryan back next week.

Ryan did a double take. “What just happened?” he thought. “This sale was in the bag, a sure thing. He really needs it and now he’s thinking it over? He said he needed the software right away.”

And that was the end of the call.

Sales Assumptions are Bad for Business

So, what happened?

Ryan got lazy, plain and simple. He thought Wayne was sold.

All he had to do was give him the information he needed, then write it up. He got fooled into assuming the sale without doing the work. He never got Wayne to talk about why he was looking now, with what seemed to be a real priority about buying the software. The entire transaction was conducted at the intellectual level, without any real understanding of the true need.

Instead, Ryan was lured into taking shortcuts. He mistakenly thought the prospect’s enthusiasm was as sure as a sale. No matter what, you need the time to qualify the prospect and make sure he’s real before giving out information or making your presentation.

How to Qualify Hot Sales Leads

In Ryan’s case, a couple of questions would have made a world of difference. He might have said: “Before we discuss pricing, help me understand why this software is so important. I want to make sure the application is correct for you. Would you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?”

Of course, you’re digging in to find out what is really going on. It is so important to gather this information before you discuss price so you can truly have an understanding of not only why they want the software, but the consequence of not installing it.

Once you give away your information – whether on the phone, in a presentation or in the form of a proposal – you have given up any form of control and are literally at the mercy of the prospect.

Remember: It’s not about the sale; it’s about the process.

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Greta Schulz is president of Schulz Business SELLutions in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is the best-selling author of “To Sell is Not to Sell.” Greta does corporate training for Fortune 1000 companies and she has an online training course for entrepreneurs.

Let that sink in for a moment…

Now, ask yourself, how many of those blogs are producing hits?

I’m talking about the kind of stuff viral dreams are made of – shares, links, comments, buzz, traffic, massive subscription lists, sales, etc.

The answer? Very few.

Now ask yourself this: How many think theirs has hit potential?

The answer? All of them!

And many are trying to create an online brand. But not everyone has what it takes to create a hit industry blog, which is why you only have a few breakout stars in each industry. And if you’re using your company blog or website to build an influential brand, this is what you are up against.

Sound impossible? It’s not.

Let me tell you the story of Kimberly (me) and her adventures in online branding.

Entrepreneurs: Rebels Without A Clue

When I launched my personal branding website, I was clueless.

Like many online newbies, I made a lot of mistakes and had my fair share of setbacks. But within 18 months:

– The Huffington Post recognized me as a one of the nation’s top personal branding experts
– Online influencers regularly share my blog with hundreds of thousands of their followers
– Respected organizations invite me to speak at their events
– I am repeatedly invited to guest blog, contribute, and be quoted in major online publications
– And, best of all, my pipeline has been full of dynamic clients that I love working with …

I’m not bragging. I’m just pointing out that it can be done. And you can even wear a Beastie Boys shirt while doing it.

So what did I do?

I put in a lot of hard work around a simple brand concept I call “The A & R Perspective”.

The A & R Man Said, “I Don’t Hear a Single”

I’ll get to the details in a moment, but first a quick marketing lesson about the music industry.

In a nutshell, here’s what record labels are looking for:

A talented artist and a hit single.

The talented singer part is probably no shock to you, but why a hit single? Because that’s what leads to multi-platinum album sales, sold out concerts, and legions of fans buying merchandise.

In other words, a musician doesn’t have a brand until they have a hit.

As Socialbrite.org suggests, data is transforming conversations. “These days everyone is releasing it, visualizing it, aggregating it, and mashing it up. And for good reason. Data is so much more than a stack of numbers or a server filled with client outputs. It can justify the work that your organization is doing, help others understand why it is critical, and offer exciting new ways to motivate others to help solve the problems your organization is working on.”

Here are 10 practical steps to help you plan, conduct and utilize market research data in your business:

1. Determine Your Purpose

What do you hope to gain from your research? Do you want to improve an existing product or service? Are you preparing for a new product launch? Start with your main objective  and then predict what you think the data will reveal. This helps you determine next steps to take, and provides a comparison of how you view your offering and how other perceive it in the marketplace.

2. Establish the Type of Market Research You Want to Use

There are two main types of market research. Primary research is taken directly from the source, such as current or potential customers. Primary research, when done right, can be very reliable.

Secondary research is data collected from existing research conducted by others. People usually gather secondary research data from government agencies, trade associations, local chambers of commerce, and other credible sources.

3. Confirm Your Target Audience

Make sure you have a target market in mind. Your target market is the group of people that are most likely to buy your product or service. For example, if you want to develop an eco-friendly baby sling, your target market would consist of mothers of young children, and you would probably want to choose a research method that doesn’t require a lot of time due to their busy schedules, such as a short online survey.

4. Conduct Primary Market Research

There are several different ways that you can conduct your own research. Online or mail surveys, face-to-face or telephone interviews and questionnaires are all effective ways to collect data from your target audience. You can use tools like Qualaroo, SurveyMonkey, and QuestionPro.

Questions may include factors customers consider when purchasing your product or service, appropriate prices, likes or dislikes about current products or services on the market, and areas of improvement. If you do not have the time to conduct it yourself, you can outsource your study to a market research firm.

5. Conduct Secondary Market Research

The bulk of your market research will usually come from secondary research. U.S. Census data, trade associations, professional journals, and community organizations offer data that may be relevant to your study such as: market trends, regional trends and information on your competitors.

Secondary research is easier to conduct because the data you’re collecting has already been analyzed and published. However, all of your data should not come from secondary research. A balanced mix of both secondary and primary research will ensure the credibility of your findings.

6. Determine the Reliability and Validity of Your Data

After you gather your data, weed out data that isn’t reliable. High quality data will be valid (i.e. you can trust the integrity of your data), reliable (i.e. the claims you assert about the accuracy of your data is correct) and be subject to triangulation — cross-examined through the lens of multiple independent sources of data to establish the truth and accuracy of your claim.

So without furthering the hype, what does this mean for you as an entrepreneur? Derived from extensive Hispanic research panel studies and panel, check out these 5 facts that may make you rethink your next product or service offering:

1. Hispanics comprise 16% of the U.S. population

Fifty-two million is the estimated Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2011, making people of Hispanic origin the nation’s largest ethnic or race minority, according to the Census Bureau.  So what does that mean to you as an entrepreneur? If your product or service is not “Hispanic-friendly,” you are losing a big piece of the pie. How big you ask?

2. Hispanic buying power is worth $1 trillion

The Hispanic population is expected to grow another 50% to $1.5 trillion in the next 5 years, according to a new Nielsen report. It also found that Latino households earning more than $50,000 are projected to grow at a faster rate than the total number of households.

I thought that number would grab your attention, but maybe you are still unimpressed because you are an entrepreneur that focuses on B2B sales; not B2C sales. The next figure may interest you, then.

3. Hispanic-owned business generated $350.7 billion in receipts

According to the American Immigration Council, “Latino-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $350.7 billion” in j2007. This is up 55.5% from 2002. So, B2B entrepreneurs, you can’t ignore the Hispanic market either. Are you an entrepreneur going after a younger market? You should be paying to the Hispanic population too — for the following reason.

4. 27-years-old was the median age of the Hispanic population in 2012

This compared with 36.9 years for the population as a whole.  So, if your product or service is going after a younger demographic, you better make sure you are thinking of the Hispanic population. If your product or service is going after an even younger demographic, you better listen up as well.

5. 26% percent of children younger than 5 are Hispanic

All in all, Hispanics comprise 22% of children younger than 18. Thinking of releasing the next slinky? Make sure you have the Hispanic population in mind.

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Mario Xavier Carrasco is the co-Founder of ThinkNow Research, a full service Hispanic market research agency. He is an accomplished entrepreneur and a Hispanic market research expert. His blog has been featured on Huffington Post, Hispanic Business, and Quirks Market Research directory.

There are plenty of viable and creative ways to market your business with relatively low out of pocket expense. So we’ve asked entrepreneurs to reveal their secrets on how to market your businesses on the cheap — here is what they had to say:

1. Actively put yourself out there.

“By joining professional groups and boards, going to events, donating your time to charities, speaking at public events, giving presentations and guest lectures, we make it seem like we are everywhere at all times. The more we put ourselves out there (and are seen) the more name recognition we earn on our way to becoming a household name and gaining that incredibly important third party validation. Even if a potential client has never met you, you have the backing of trusted sources that confirm your credibility.”

- Shaun Walker, Creative Director of HERO|Farm: @herofarm

2. Form smart partnerships.

“No matter what industry you are in, forming smart partnerships is the best way to drive growth. Any company that has access to your prospects is a potential partner for growth. For the low/no income startup, flexible partnerships that trade value in a balanced way, without monetary concern, are very powerful.  We’ve partnered with several brands to trade advertising or access to our base in exchange for something similar on their end, and it’s a win-win for all.”

- Cory Jones, Founder and CEO of DINKlife: @wcoryjones

3. Offer something for free.

“In my experience, marketing my business for free was always best done by offering free things. People love free things. For example, social media contests with a prize for the winner, free ebooks or guides on marketing, setting up a table and giving out free food or accessories, or even giving a free lecture to a business, school, etc. The lecture works especially well as it’s a great way to establish your credibility.”

- Chris Crompton, Owner and Co-Founder of StartSmall Marketing: @startsmallmktg

4. Hangout with your customers.

“To market your online business for free you need to think like your customers. Pinpoint your customers’ interests and hang out where they hang out. Social groups and market-specific forums are great places to start. Establish yourself as part of the community and then people within those communities will listen when you speak!”

- Dave Hermansen, Co-Founder of Store Coach, Inc.: @StoreCoach

5. Utilize free online directory services.

“Add your business to as many websites you can that allows you to do it for free. Make sure you and your friends click on the link at least once per day. This way your information becomes relevant. Also, add keywords that are relevant to your business (where and when allowed) so that search engines find you.”

- María J. Torres-López, Owner of Notary @ Your Door

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“Yankelovich, a market research firm, estimates that a person living in a city 30 years ago saw up to 2,000 ad messages a day, compared with up to 5,000 today,” according to 2007 statistics. This figure has undoubtedly risen as marketers vie for top of mind presence of on-the-go consumers. The result: a hyper-competitive, cluttered marketplace–infused with incessant messaging.

This is why it is important, more so now than ever, to identify your ideal customer (i.e. target audience). Not only can you better determine demand; you’ll also position your small business to improve message relevance, effectiveness, and cost-efficiency. Targeting will hone and deliver your marketing efforts towards specific people who will most likely patronize and make use of your products and services. Because, what good is it to spend your hard earned marketing dollars talking to people who aren’t interested?

Identifying ideal customers can be challenging. Instead you may find yourself “throwing [insert trend here] marketing tactics on the wall to see if they stick.” Regrettably, this hit and miss approach has the potential to drain valuable time, energy and money.

Imagine if your marketing efforts resulted in one fluid motion that allowed you to concentrate fully on your target and hit the mark every time.

Discover your Ideal Customer

Your ideal customer is a targeted segment of the overall population that you want to sell to… what problem are you solving and for whom? Targeting helps you create a clearer picture of this buyer. The best way to start is to create a customer profile, fueled by demographic and psychographic data.

Demographics

Demographics generally refer to age, gender, income, education, location etc.

For example, if you own a prestige skincare line then you may target women at different stages of aging. Example: College Educated Women Age 35-54 with a HHI 75k+ residing in the U.S.

Quick & Dirty Tip: Gather demographic statistics by metropolitan area, county, ZIP code, census tract, and state using U.S. Census Bureau data, then dig deeper using the County and City Data Book.

Psychographics

Next, uncover the personality, values, attitudes, behaviors, interests, and lifestyles of your ideal customer. Demographics alone are too broad, which is why you need to gather valuable consumer insights to zero in on the customers who will drive sales. While demographics tell you who; psychographics can tell you why.

In the prior skincare company example: Based on your research you may target city dweller women with access to financial resources that compliment your price point, enjoy health and wellness activities, are passionate about civic involvement, enjoy wine tastings, read Beauty and Fashion online blogs and magazines and support certain causes, etc. Your research will unearth various types of clues.

Quick & Dirty Tip: Gather abstract consumer insights by visiting online forums, reading competitive product reviews and taking an active interest in customers using surveys and informal focus groups. Then use VALS™ (a consumer psychographing system) to further develop your customers’ profile. Lastly, use Nielsen Segmentation Tool and ZIPSkinny to evaluate market segments by linking consumer behaviors for shopping, financial, media and much more.

Once you complete your customer profiles, you may find that you have more than one “ideal customer.” If this is the case, prioritize each target by assigning weight (i.e. 50%, 75%, etc.) representative of their potential market size and revenue. This can guide your marketing strategy (i.e. where you’ll reach your ideal customer), tactics (i.e. how you’ll actually do it) and spending levels.

CEO branding is the new corporate branding. People want an emotional connection to the brands they are invested in, so it’s important for those brands to have a face — and that’s where CEO branding comes into play.

CEO Branding — The New Corporate Branding

CEO branding is the process of aligning your face with your corporate brand. This process includes public relation activities, media interviews, philanthropy, articles, books, speaking engagements and company culture.

It requires integrating the CEO’s brand DNA into how the company is viewed publicly. In a competitive marketplace, it is a differentiating factor. Though it happens naturally, CEOs need to be forward-thinking when it comes developing their brand — or proactive in managing it.

Consider these survey results compiled by Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s largest PR firms, that illustrate the importance of a CEO’s reputation to the success of the company.

The results indicated that, based on a CEO’s reputation:

95% of those surveyed decided whether or not to invest in a company
93% would recommend a company as a good alliance or merger partner
88% recommend the company as a good place to work

Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx and the world’s youngest female billionaire, is a walking example for the power of CEO branding. In her company’s early days, she had no money for advertising, so she hit the road with her new product. She was the heart, soul and face of Spanx. Blakely took her passion and propelled Spanx to phenomenal heights.

Blakely also stands firmly by her personal beliefs about how business should be done. In the recent CNBC Town Hall Event, “Getting Back to Business,” Blakely responded to venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary’s statement, “Business is war,” by saying, “I have only been focused on my own quality – what can I offer that’s the best and give value.”

It’s not just the words, but also the CEO behind them that the audience responded to so enthusiastically. Her authenticity is noticed by customers, investors, employees, and the general public, and it influences their readiness to connect to the Spanx brand. That’s the power of CEO branding.

I really want to slap them in the forehead and ask, “Why are you even doing it then? Pull the plug! Stop wasting your resources on it!”

Marketing is supposed to influence consumer behavior, but what happens when marketing becomes a two way conversation and the people who are in direct contact with consumers are not thinking like salespeople? The conversation keeps going and nobody buys anything. That’s really fun, but it won’t keep you in business.

There are a million things we do every day that make us feel like we’ve worked hard and accomplished something. Social media is one of them. Today your social media team connected with lots of people, drove conversation and created awareness. Fans commented and you commented back and all this activity can be measured, even.

What about those sales?

Did anything get sold?! That’s when the excuses start to fly:

1. But … social media is only about raising awareness, you know — like billboards.

The difference between a billboard and social media marketing is that if you talk to a billboard it can’t talk back. Billboards can’t have conversations, answer questions or talk you into doing stuff. They can make you aware of something, but then you have to go somewhere else to learn more; like a website, toll-free number, or Google (it if its one of those movie billboards that’s supposed to make you curious about what it is when all you see is a date).

2. But … the product (or service) is crap!

So what? Lots are. Even turds get swarmed by flies. Your job is to sexy up that turd and gather up some flies. If it’s really that bad you shouldn’t have promised social media miracles or dedicated a team of people to manage your social media show. Find the right audience and connect with them. Do your job.

3. But … it’s hard to connect social media data to sales figures.

Then stop trying to do that. Just look at your numbers before you start a social media campaign, promo, launch a video, run a contest, and look at them after. Are you selling more? If not, stop doing it or do it differently. If so, double down on it.

I run an Los Angeles-based digital agency and my two biggest responsibilities include making sure new business is coming in and great work is going out. We rely 100% on social media for our new business development, so each day when I ask myself and our team what we accomplished today, I don’t mean the details, I mean the results. What did we do to move the needle forward for ourselves and for our clients?

4. But … social media is just about building interest and demand.

Yup. Then what? Is some other team supposed to swoop in and take care of the sales part? Are you going to wait for consumers to call or email for more info or ask where they can get what you’re selling?

You have a captive audience. They just need to know what to do next. Make them not only aware of your product or service, but aware of what they can do to get it and reasons why they should.

5. But … it’s what the Client wants.

If you’re managing a Client’s social media and you’re only doing it because they said so — maybe the client is wrong. Listen to what the client wants to achieve more than how the client wants you to do it. If their ideas aren’t working show them the pie charts. People love pie charts. They clearly tell the story while simultaneously reminding them of pie, and everyone loves pie.

A few years back, my agency was pitching a viral video marketing project for IBM. The marketing director asked me “do you have the balls to tell us what you really think, no matter what we say?”

You’re the expert in the room. Start acting like it.

By the way. I said yes and we got the job. Now get back to work.

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For modern startups and small businesses to be successful in the branding of their image, it’s vital for leadership to combine old-fashioned techniques and new wave procedures for maximum return. Society is multifaceted and technologically advanced, and because of this, interdisciplinary marketing is needed to gain visibility.

Below is a list of three really simple ways to market your business this year.

1. Social Marketing

If your company hasn’t already, it’s time to jump on the social media bandwagon. The opportunity to get tech savvy is significant and nearly mandatory for modern progression in the marketplace. Your business should be highly visible on all social platforms including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and LinkedIn. It’s important in marketing to stay on pace with both technology and competition, and social platforms represent new age marketing.

Instantaneous outreach can go viral and reach audiences not reached any other way. Using social media for marketing is a blossoming way to market a product or service. Additionally, social platforms usually provide customers with the opportunity to provide direct feedback.

2. Personal Marketing

Everyone is trying to get their brand to the top. Most businesses send electronic newsletters and other mass-distributed collateral. While this technique has worked and continues to be successful, a personal touch will only enhance efforts when it comes to promotion.

For instance, you could identify top customers every three months. When this list is compiled, you could write send them a personal letter (email) of appreciation. This is a great strategy because as happy committed customers will spread the word. Often an under-appreciated form of marketing, loyal supporters of a business can have a meaningful impact on the acquisition of new clients.

Personalized communications can make people feel appreciated. Mass emails and cold calling work to a certain degree, but advocacy and brand champions are created when the strategy is more personal.

3. Internal Marketing

If you’ve hired great employees don’t overlook their contributions as an organic marketing and branding channel for your company. It’s as easy as giving employees a small gift like personalized tote bags printed with your company logo. They’ll appreciate the gesture, use the product, and market your brand with every use.

This is a win-win scenario. You’re utilizing your internal resources, giving thanks where thanks are due, and helping your company grow without spending a lot of money. Tote bags offer an easy, affordable and functional means to market your brand, delivering a high return on investment. You get to instill a sense of brand loyalty in one of your most valuable internal resources, your staff—they’ll do the rest. Every time they use your tote whether at the store or in the office, you’re increasing your ROI, and expanding your company’s reach.

Thanking your employees with personalized tote bags lets you gain organic brand exposure, and gives credit to valuable employees who work towards bettering your bottom line.

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Hayley Scott is a writer and graphic design aficionado that loves Thai food, specifically green curry. When she’s not sketching a new logo design she writes for HALO Branded Solutions, a leader in custom printed bags and promotional items.