[This post is part of our 'Getting Clients' series]

An audio CD (or downloadable mp3) is the second tool in your 'Getting Clients' bag.

This is your educational information commercial, what some consultants refer to as their 'Edu-mercial'

It educates your listeners, while it quietly sells your services. You'll sit back and wonder how you're getting so much business over time, from this little tool doing the rounds for you.

They can be built into the very backbone of your cient-getting process.

Have a think - how often have you tried to explain to someone the value of the services that you offer, only to stumble over the words and forget your 'elevator pitch'? You might even avoid explicitly telling potential clients because it can be quite a difficult subject to help someone understand.

You can guage how well you are doing at explaining your services but the responses you get from potential clients. Do they ask you more questions? Do they request printed information? Do they enquire how much you charge? You must be doing something right. If they appreciate the value you offer (and if they ask how much it costs, that means they don't really care - they'll pay at any reasonable price). So they have calculated how much they will have to give up to get what you are offering.

Someone wants to know what they'll get, before they'll weigh up how much they have to give up to get it. So if you've explained to the potential client what they'll get, and they in turn ask what they have to give up for it, you can consider that you've done a pretty good job of explaining it to them.

But you might struggle to talk effectively and persuasively about what you do when you are put on the spot.

But you probably could, given time, sit down and write about what you do in an accessible and persuasive way. Which, in an ideal world, you'd be able to regurgitate back to potential clients whenever the opportunity arises.

And if they are not responding in the desired way, you might find that an audio CD will do a better job for you.

With an audio recording of your best, most considered presentation on the work (consulting, engineering, dentistry) that you do, you will have a powerful tool to distribute to any interested parties that can persuade them, on their own time, when you are not there.

Even when you're on holiday, some potential client somewhere could be listening to that presentation in their office and wanting to pay for your services the very next day.

That is why you need an audio product. Today's technology allows you to create a professional sounding audio product for pennies (if that!).

But without going into the technical aspects, these are the key areas you will want your audio presentation to cover. [Read on]

[photo: John Hartley]