Sales Blog for Sales and Sales Management

Tony,
Informative article. Here are my keys to sales success....
Listed below are seven practices which will help you serve others and increase your income:
Power of Reputation. One of the greatest sales practices has nothing to do with selling! Your reputation can cause people to buy from you without you having to sell them. Establish a reputation in your marketplace for high quality, exceptional service and integrity and you will increase your profits.
Develop real passion. Selling involves creating emotional connections. When you are passionate about your offering, the enthusiasm will transfer to your prospects. Passion is contagious and will engage your prospects. The passion can be around the actual product or service or it may be a component of that offering. People tend to light up and become energetic when they speak of something for which they have passion. Identify what makes you excited about your business and share it with others.
Do your homework. It is important to do your research before meeting with a prospect. One of the most powerful tools in business is the ability to ask the right questions. To ask the right questions, you need to understand your prospect. Your questions should lead them forward in the process and uncover their needs, wants and preferences.
Establish rapport. The entire sales process is based on developing rapport with your prospect. You are seeking to build a relationship and engage your prospect. You want to establish rapport at the conscious and subconscious level. The goal is to engage your prospect and create a connection that enables you to build upon that foundation.
Manage your resources. To maximize your income, you must have systems and processes in place to manage your time, resources and your pipeline. The ability to manage your universe of opportunities is the key to maximizing sales.
Be resilient. Rejection is inevitable in selling. There may be dry periods when you are not selling very much. You must not become discouraged and give up. You will not close every customer. When you face rejection, get up and come out swinging. Consider every "no" as putting you one step closer to "yes." Evaluate your rejection, learn from it and use the knowledge to improve your skills.
Create Relationships. Selling does not end once you have closed. Turn your customers into collaborative partners by creating long term relationships. Seek ways to serve them at a higher level and you will not only create life long customers but life long friendships and partnerships.
Thoughts? ...
Other good resources here...
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Not a comment but a question Ron. Of the seven if you had to pick just three which ones would you pick. Here are my three:
Establish rapport or as we call it 'develop effective communication'. Without that process then anything else you may try to execute relative to making a sale based on a relationship is frutless.
Next I would agree with the homework. Each time you have a meeting or discussion you should go through a pre-call strategy session to make sure you are prepared to ask questions, respond to questions and deal with the unexpected.
Third I would say is focus on the partnership instead of the sale. Find out what they need in all areas of the business and address all that you can within your resource tool kit and introducing others.