Mention the word sales or salesman and two out of three people get a little clammy under the skin. "I hate sales people and I could never do what they do!" is what many say at the mere thought of having to sell something. How wrong they are. Here is the cold hard fact: From the time you are born to the time you die, you - regardless of your profession or what you do - are in sales. Appreciate that when a baby cries for the first time for its mother's milk, he/she is attempting to close the new mom on the importance and benefits of doing what the child wants....

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Too many sales letters are shaped into paper airplanes and flown into trash cans because freelancers write sales letters that sell their services. These freelancers have never listened to the quietly - whispered secret that says their sales letters should sell solutions, not services, to yield the best results. Solutions are jewels; they shimmer in sales pieces. Prospects will peruse your sales letter if they discover you have a solution (or solutions) to their existing or future problem or problems....

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After working for a little over a year in the sales manager's position, Mark more than doubled the number of sales over the previous year, even though he had let one of his sales representatives go for poor perform-ance. After two years, he tripled yearly sales levels and had to ad several more routes to cover the increased business. His route sales were up significantly over the previous reporting period and customer retention levels were at an all time high as well. With literally no selling back-ground or customer contact and little opportunity to manage a large group of people in the plant, how did Mark achieve the success levels that eluded the previous sales manager, who had nearly twenty years of sales and sales management experience?...

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Today's manager lives in a world where change has attained Mach speeds. What holds good when you go home may not apply when you return in the morning to work place. Such a tremendous pace of change takes a heavy toll in terms of a dispirited and de energized workforce. World class products and services can only be produced by workforce which is highly energized. And a high level of energy is derived by a skilled and knowledgeable workforce with the right attitude. In this scenario keeping pace with the knowledge and skills for himself and of his people is the key to managerial success....

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One of the questions I often get asked as a sales coach by sales people and business owners alike is, "How do I close sales better? What closing techniques would you recommend?" In my experience, closing is one of the three most feared areas of the sales process. The other two are fear of canvassing and fear of objections. But the real question is, what is it about these three that creates such a fear? Especially, when even some of the most successful sales professionals face challenges in one or more of these three areas....

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In my youth I landed a job selling encyclopedias door to door. I worked for commissions. If I didn't sell anything, I didn't get paid. Trying to sell a high ticket item such as encyclopedias door to door was no small task as you might imagine. I was desperate to make a sale and I'm sure my desperation showed in my rehearsed sales presentation. I told my potential prospects all about the features of the item, but I didn't tell them how the product could benefit them specifically. Needless to say, by using these sales tactics, I didn't sell one set of encyclopedias....

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There is a new trend in the way wood decks are constructed; composite decks and railings. Recently had the opportunity to go on a bidding job with a deck cleaning contractor to bid on cleaning and treating a large deck. When we got there we found out the deck was not made of wood at all; it was made of composite. There was nothing to treat unless of course you want a spray with armor all. It did clean rather nicely kind of like washing a plastic fence. The new trend in composite railings has come about because the final railings do a better job facing down the elements and therefore owners and contractors often decide to put in the composite railings even though there are slightly more expensive because they look great for much longer....

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Before I am told that they probably were sold something that they didn't want, lets examine the motivation for buying. If you were looking at purchasing software to run on a Windows based platform maybe it would be important to ensure that it worked with every release or version of the software. Some companies still have Windows 98 and have not (for whatever reason) upgraded to XP. If this particular prospect came through and presented the company with an order and found out later that the software was incompatible with Windows XP it is my belief that they would have expected the seller to let them know prior to purchase....

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It's a rainy afternoon on a typical mid week afternoon and the telesales team isn't firing on all cylinders. Cedric really isn't pulling his weight at all. He's been pushing papers around his desk for most of the afternoon and is having a miserable time. His sales figures are below target, his call statistics are below average and he knows that winning the lottery is as likely as him turning it around before the end of the month. John the sales manager also knows that Cedric isn't performing and decides to run a coaching session with him to try and sort things out....

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If you've driven yourself crazy trying to figure out why so many customers get away, relax. You can't figure it out because... It's not logical. The impulse that makes people buy from one business instead of another is no more logical than the baying of an elk's mating call. In fact, it works exactly the same way, through the limbic system. The limbic system is instinctive--older than language, faster than thinking. It controls trust. It controls attention and desire. And logic must stand aside until the limbic part of the brain decides something is trustworthy....

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To be totally in tune with the needs of your customers or prospective customers you have to listen to them. Listen to them - it sounds easy enough to do but not everybody gets it right. What you must always bear in mind when you are selling something is that you are not selling an item or object - you are selling a feeling. I was taught this particular lesson whilst working for a friend who was very much into NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) which studies the structure of how humans think and experience the world....

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Mastering the "art of selling" is simply knowing how to present whatever it is that you're selling, to the buyer in such a manner that he feels buying it from you will solve his problems or fulfill his dreams. Selling online is really no different than selling in person, face to face with your prospect. Really, it's just a way of making sales calls more efficiently and economically. You've got to get his attention - you've gotto appeal to his interests - you've got to make him understand how his purchase of your product will benefit him - and finally, you've got to close the sale by causing him to reach into his wallet for money or to write out a check for whatever it is you're selling....

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I am writing this at the Philadelphia Airport on my way back from meeting with one of my clients. Three weeks ago, we offered a training program for their staff in basic selling skills. She reported that they saw an immediate increase in sales after the program. Since these are all telemarketers, she listened in on their calls to see what had changed. To her pleasure they were asking good, open-ended questions. They were taking time to listen to the client's responses and using their comments to match them with the right product....

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First and foremost are you thinking Strategically? "Do you have what it takes to do what it takes?" 1. Did you achieve all of your personal goals in 2004? 2. Did you achieve all of your professional goals in 2004? 3. Did you have double-digit sales growth in 2004? 4. Are you expecting to achieve double-digit growth during 2005? 5. If not why not? (You'll need some QUIETIME for this one) If the skills you used during 2004 weren't sufficient to enable you to over achieve your sales plan what makes you think last year's selling skills will enable you to achieve your sales plan during 2005?...

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Tired of sending out sales letters that generate anemic response? You could blame your list, or decide you just didn't send out a high enough volume to get the replies you were looking for. Or, you could face the truth: Your sales letter just didn't have what it takes. Here's how to make the next one better: 1. Ditch the "professional" tone. Too many businesses think they need to sound professional and businesslike in their sales letters. They come across as reserved and dignified. And they get no response....

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