I can fit my entire foot in my mouth. . .

Recently, the telephone books showed up at our house. I immediately tossed them into recycling. Much to the dismay of my partner. “I use those!!,” he cried. "Really?" I just assumed we had all moved online for any such search.

The next day, I conveyed the story to a class I was teaching on business planning. I received blank stares. Apparently, over 70% of the room still used phone books as their directory of choice.

Obviously, I had assumed everyone had followed the same path I had chosen, but I had never actually tested that theory or even bothered to ask. While in this case the fall out was minimal – the books were retrieved from recycling and placed in their proper place of honor in the cabinet. But, if I was advertising to my clients using pay per view on Google or Yahoo! And they were looking for me in the phone book – I never would reach them and I would be tossing money down the drain.

It is important to understand how your clients find you. And the best way to find out is to simply ask. "How did you hear about us?"