Business to business sales

Whether we realize it or not every one of us is selling to every other one of us. Consider this; you are trying to get a better job. What you will have to do is persuade that company to take you on. Sell them on your qualifications. You want to get your child into the proper school. You must point out your childs' attributes to the person in charge. Sell those attributes. You are an executive in your company and want to take that company in a certain direction. You have to first convince your coworkers of the validity of your position. Sell them on it.

Pause and think of your daily activities and you will realize how many of them involve convincing someone of your point of view. Selling them on your point of view.

Take this one step further, if you are in any type of sales like retail sales or in home sales; or business to business sales, and it involves selling something to someone, should not you be adept at it? Should not you be good at it? Your livelihood depends on it. Take a selling course. Read as much as you can about the art of selling. If you have salespeople as friends; practice with them, talk selling with them. Make selling a part of your life. Hang around with some seasoned salespeople they have great stories to tell and you will learn quite a bit.

Selling is the only discipline in business where someone will give you a product or service that you can make a living from and it does not cost you one red cent not one thin dime. It is like being in business for yourself. Where else can you get a deal like that?

The friendly talkative prospect can be the nicest person you know -- easy to get along with, and agreeable to a fault. He or She is so sociable that it is almost impossible to get the sale going in the direction you want it. They talk endlessly about everything but the sale. So how do we get them on track without injuring this nice set of circumstances and making them feel uncomfortable?

Let these nice people talk until you find a good opening. They are relaxed so you be relaxed do not be overly aggressive, but take advantage of any pause they allow you and lead them into the sale. Be firm but subtle. Each time they stray bring them back, say something to the effect of "I agree" or "As I was saying" and lead them back into the sale. (Refer to my blog July 1st, under interruptions)

Try to tie the prospects own words with the sales story. "You said something there which ties in with exactly what I know will be of benefit to you". Then make the correlation. (Remember it is always about benefits for the prospect) Make sure what you say then holds their interest and attention.