Sales People

1. Duplicate Your Efforts:  Don't waste your time running around chasing down prospects. Times have changed. Don't even bother trying to see twenty prospects face to face every day. Instead, implement a marketing system that consistently educates your target market to the advantages of doing business with you. This allows you to be in more than one place at a time...which is good for business.
2. Make Extensive Use Of Marketing Tools:  Create paper reports, audio CDs, or DVDs that contain your perfect sales pitch. These reports will sell the prospect...because people are seven times more likely to believe what they see, hear and read than what you tell them. Plus, you don't have to worry about how you feel on a given day...just let the stuff sell for you.
3. Make Sure Every Contact Advances The Relationship:  If you call a prospect, make sure you're giving new, useful information... Don't become what I call "the annoying little voice on the other end of the phone..." You know, the one that says, "You ready to buy yet?" and nothing else. Instead have additional, educational information available or additional marketing tools that you can offer to the prospect. If you are selling windows, say to the prospect, "I just read an article in the Morning News about the local power company and their proposal to raise prices by 14%--AGAIN. I'm going to pop a copy in the mail to you... by the way, are you a customer of that power company?" See how that opens the door. Takes more time and effort, but like they say, "they don't hand out large trophies for small efforts!"
4. Show Up Armed With Evidence:  People believe what they see, not what they hear. And that's not necessarily because they think you're lying... its because they know that sales people will stretch the truth to get the sale if necessary. Sales people will highlight the good and ignore the bad. Salespeople will exaggerate capabilities and minimize problems. You may say, "well that's not me," and you very well may be right. But here's the key point: The prospect doesn't know you from Adam, and will assume the worst until you can prove otherwise. To compensate, don't rely solely on verbal pitches; back up everything you say with hard-core evidence presented in black and white (okay, color is fine too).
5. Look The Part: Wondering what the appropriate attire is for that big sales call? Here's a tip: if you're debating between one level of dress/attire and another that is "more formal," always go with the one that's more formal. It can't hurt to look a little BETTER than the prospect expected. A business suit is almost always appropriate unless you're selling hay to farmers, and even then the suit would get you remembered! Polo shirts are acceptable in many situations, but personally, I wouldn't take a chance on "acceptable."  Never forget the axiom that "You never get a second chance to make a first impression