Reasons for business failure are numerous. But nothing could be more galling than producing new products or services destined to set the world on fire that fail because of inadequacies in sales and marketing.

This section of our site is dedicated to helping you get your products or services to market successfully. More importantly, it's about maximising your opportunities to generate profitable revenue from your customers.

Why not try our online business review?
This quick business focussed assessment of your plans and performance will produce a dedicated set of priority actions, a plan of support and links to an experienced business adviser:

• If you started your business in the last year  - click here for a review of your current performance and plans for the future
• If you have been running for more than a year - click here for a chance to check that you're on the right path

Starting with the basics, we introduce some of the principles of marketing. What do you know about your customers - potential or actual? Do you know who your most valuable customers are and can you turn them into your most loyal customers? Will you do your own market research or will you use market research agencies or publications? These questions, along with the crucial issue of 'pricing', are the topics discussed in Marketing & research.

Having addressed the above, Marketing methods looks at advertising strategies, effective PR, using your database for marketing and considers the important but often underestimated areas of design and creating a brand. Practical advice is also given on using direct mail and writing mailshots and advertisements.

If you find the whole prospect of selling a little daunting, our section dealing with this should put you at ease. We offer guidance on developing a sales strategy, selling techniques, negotiating a sale and, if you have one, managing a sales team. There's also some practical guidance on preparing and delivering a sales presentation and handling those potentially difficult questions.