leads you generate. You need to get more people to visit your business with the view to buying from you.

But how will you know you've been able to increase the amount of leads you get if you don't know how many you are getting right now? I find it very interesting that when I ask most businesspeople how many leads they get each week, they say they don't know. They simply have no idea what methods work for them and what don't.

The first thing you need to do is to start measuring the number of leads you're getting. Start by asking people who come into your business or phone in where they heard about you. And keep records.

Start doing this right now. I can't stress this enough. If there's one thing I tell business owners when consulting with them, it's this: If you don't know what's working and what's not, you can't possibly make informed decisions.

And you'll never know which ads to run. You may keep running an ad that never results in a sale.

Customers usually come from many different sources, making it difficult to judge how an ad is working from sales results alone. It could be that you simply received more referrals that week.

You need to find out for sure. Create a tally sheet and include all the possible ways people could hear about you. These could include newspaper ads, television ads, radio ads, referrals, direct mail, flyers, Yellow Pages, or walk-bys.

Every time someone buys, ask the question, By the way, can I ask where you heard about my business? Nobody, and I mean nobody, will have a problem telling you. Make a mark on the tally sheet in the relevant column. Keep at it and ensure that everyone on your team does the same. Then, after two weeks or a month, tally up and get the figures.

You'll then have a far better idea of where your leads are coming from. And you'll know exactly how many you are getting each day and week of the month. You might even be surprised at what this simple exercise tells you.

Here's an example of a tally sheet: 55