Have you ever had a conversation with a person who wasn't listening to anything you said?

This one-way communication experience is a big turn-off and many times frustrating to cope with at the time.

Is this occurring in your marketing? Oops, no one wants to think of their business as turning a deaf ear to their market. Yet it can be easy to do since most of us have a jammed packed life already, with little time to spare let alone to listen to what our market is saying. Yet, we can't afford not to, or we lose our revenue. Relying even 40 percent on push marketing turns off the sound to your market. Okay, Catherine, what is push marketing?

Push marketing is when you use brochures, flyers and other material -- including your business card -- and you push them out into the market praying all the time you are doing it, hoping they read them and will take the action you want them to. This is an easy rhythm to get into because it allows you to hide and not feel any rejection. Yes, if you don't know who they are, they can't reject you.

Materials are supporting documentation and should never be used to push what people need to buy from you. Yet, business owners, especially independent professionals and newbie