Effective marketing can take a lot of practice, but then look effortless, like two accomplished dancers. It’s also more about technique than spending. So, before you invest hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on focus-group-approved plans to ratchet up your sales, consider some ways to do it for next to nothing … all offered to the tune of your favorite dance step:

• Do the Tie-With-the-Suit Cha Cha Cha. McDonald’s made this a cliché with their “would-you-like-pie-with-that?” offer, because it can kick up sales by 10 percent or more.

Example: When I buy a suit for, say, $250, I’m ready to hit the register when a savvy salesperson suggests three shirts and two ties to go with the new threads. Smugly, I pick one shirt and one tie, and still end up kicking in another $25 or $30.

Do something similar twice a day, five days a week, for the next 50 weeks, and you will jack up your sales by between $12,500 and $15,000 a year … just by recommending a few additional products to an already-sold customer.

• Guide and glide with the Customer-Assist Waltz. I was in an Arby’s in Escanaba, Mich., this spring. It was late and I was tired. I stood at the counter staring blankly at the menu board when a well-trained teenage counter worker asked if I would like a recommendation. Albeit skeptically, I said sure, and he suggested one of their market sandwiches. Not only did he lower my stress level on what to buy, but the sandwich was a winner. Result: The next time I see an Arby’s, I’m likely to pull in.

• Do the Freebie-Lock-in Hustle. A parochial school in Two Rivers/Manitowoc hangs out a sign in the summer promoting a tuition-free offer for first grade. Makes sense. Give away year one and lock in families for grades two through eight. I’m not so sure this will work for every business and product, but when positioned right, it can be a high-profit relationship builder.

• Sell the sizzle with the Customer-Service Rumba. I hate getting stonewalled by powerless clerks who tell me it’s “company policy” or “it’s out of my hands.” That’s why I get a foot-tapping tingle when I encounter the ones — yes, even the faceless strangers online — who take up my cause like we’re family.

Example: I occasionally buy discounted restaurant coupons on restaurant.com. There are times when they offer $25 coupons for as little as $2. After a recent purchase, I noticed that the price was higher than expected. (Looking back on it, I suspect I failed to push the right button to get the discount.) I sent an email pointing out the problem and received a reply, complete with a real person’s name and phone number, within an hour … and this on a Saturday. Within two days the discrepancy had been corrected. Trust me, I will continue to use — and strongly recommend — restaurant.com again.

• Swing to the beat of the Surprise-Service Jitterbug. On a recent road trip, I was fueling up at a gas station, pumping my own gas. While doing so, I noticed an elderly woman pull up. It was a slow moment, and there were only the two of us at the pumps. As she began to get out of the car, the clerk came out and offered to pump the gas for her. He even cleaned her windshield and then came over and cleaned mine. If I was local, that would be the ONLY place I’d buy my gas.

The point: Great marketing (and, yes, customer service is marketing) need not cost a fortune. Just find what works, get the steps down and keep on dancing to the beat that builds business, customer base and sales. Cha cha cha!

By John Ingrisano

John Ingrisano is a small business owner and the author of The Back to Basics Book of Selling: A Guide to A Successful Sales Career. Contact John at john@ TheFreestyleEntrepreneur.com.