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6. Act decisively. Customers want to do business with people who are self-confident and professional. Waffling sends a message to customers that you are indecisive and unsure of yourself, perhaps even confused. Besides, indecisiveness signals vulnerability to the customer and this makes it difficult for you to hold your own.
7. Customize your proposals. Don't underestimate the value of your proposal. Take it seriously. Create propoals for individual customers by getting rid of boilerplate paragraphs and preprinted
sections. Then, to get more attention and to creae a better impression, add color and graphics.
8. Look for new niches. The customer landscape is changing. People want to deal with experts. Look for one or more niches (sometimes the smallest niches are the best because you can own the group) where you can become knowledgeable and the demonstrated expert.
9. Get over just thinking big sales. The big sale is great, of course. But don't ignore other sales. For example, there are an estimated 25 million home-based businesses with one to five employees. Can you figure out how to sell to them? If you can, you'll do a lot of business over the next decade.
10. Communicate warmly. Business letters are generally cold, stiff and dead. They lack the vigor, feeling and excitement that are so important in selling. Write to your customers the same way you would talk to them. Better yet, pretend you are telling a story--let it unfold and then close on an upbeat note.
11. Focus on the right benefits. Even sales pros get hurt by neglecting this one. Rattling off a list of benefits can be as inappropriate and ineffective as trying to sell features. Any benefit must match a customer's need. If the buyer doesn't have a need for 200 copies a minute, purchasing your fancy copy machine doesn't make sense.
12. Educate your customers. Schmoozing is out when it comes to building relationships. Cyberspace is changing the way we look at those we do business with. What counts is not how you look but how you think. The quality of your ideas must be outstanding. So take advantage of the opportunity to focus on educating your customers.
13. Transform yourself into a free agent. Selling is best when it is practiced as a risk-taking business, not when it's played cool and close to the vest. Make a decision to act as if you are the company you work for. Don't settle to be just some company's "representative." Work hard at letting the customer feel that you and your company are one. Make it a powerful combination.
Salespeople who operate using the right strategies have a distinct advantage over their peers who continue working with yesterday's approaches. These 13 ideas can help you get lucky when it comes to making more sales.
About the author: This resource is copyright (c) by, and compliments of John R. Graham, President of Graham Communications, a marketing services and sales consulting firm. Graham is also the author of "Magnet Marketing" published by Wiley. You can reach him at (617) 328-0069, by fax at (617) 471-1504 or by mail to 40 Oval Road #2, Quincy, MA 02170-3813.
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