Thanks. Great ideas. And I am glad you mentioned that about the cheap paper. I was going to try to get nicer, heavier paper. I thought it might help me look more professional.
The biggest mistake. I say "be professional" look "aspiring".
I have found in business 'professionalism' is lacking and one of the reasons my gardening social enterprise exploded. I drove a nice truck, ten years old and dented, dressed in second hand clothes but good ones, wore work boots even if I wasn't working and conducted myself the same as I had when selling $100,000 computer systems.
"Being professional" is mostly common sense but there are a thousand or more free sites that offer suggestions. I had no such help when I walked away from television producing and reporting and became a "computer consultant". So, I acted the same with clients as I did with interview subjects. I rose to top salesman in this company in 6 months. I had made a friend of their worst customer (he had quit ordering) and brought him back as a top reseller by grasping that my company cheated him out of $20 and wouldn't bend. I was going to hand him $20, but you see the issue wasn't money, it was pride and they were in the wrong. So, I went to the general manger and paid the $20, phoned the bad customer and said "I did my part, when can I expect an order" in jest. He stunned me by placing a large order, my first six figure deal.
Later, at lunch, I asked him why? Why me? So many had tried before and not even go in the door. And he told me. "Because you're a pro. See me in four or five months" meaning he wanted to hire me.
I cannot stress enough how being professional, which includes trust/honesty, will beat a lower price by 20% or more. I sold PC based networks to law firms and did so by making my word my bond, but letting them know getting my word could be difficult as I never bet on anything but a sure thing.
Like I say, check out the internet about professionalism, but don't hesitate to be pro. Feel free to call any businessman (find out as much as you can about him beforehand) and politely ask for a few minutes of his time, at any time for a discussion on professionalism in business. I guarantee you won't make ten calls before getting a yes then and there.
Then you do the most professional thing of any occupation, the king maker, the conquerer of Everest moment, you shut up and listen. I never sold anything in my life, whether it was getting a source to talk to me in reporting or flogging a $100 K system by talking. I have interrupted people in stores and told them "you're loosing me as a customer by talking too much."
One last thing. You're going to get a lot of "no's". This can be depressing and although you may not notice it will show in your voice on the phone. I have a long list of dos and dont's about phone etiquette but another day so you need to set some realistic goals, be careful about mood and know this cardinal rule: in one hundred phone calls you will get 20 "yeses" of interest, of those twenty one will buy. That will mean that at first you're going to get no, and no and no and no until you think its useless. Then the yeses start, first one, then five, then you no longer have the time to make those initial calls.
What makes the difference? Stamina.