Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, asked himself this important question several decades ago. His answer: employee nametags. So, he rolled out an initiative that required all of his employees to wear badges, the purpose of which was to “help the customers get to know the people they bought from.”

But helping customers “get to know you” isn’t just about names, it’s about information. In other words, it’s about self-disclosure, which is the process of revealing your personal information to another.

This process starts with a small piece of information, i.e., your name. Then, as the relationship develops, it progresses into more intimate territory with the sharing of opinions, preferences and experiences. What’s more, because of its reciprocal nature, self-disclosure has incredible power. It creates comfort, establishes rapport, helps discover the CPI (Common Point of Interest) and builds trust between you and your customers.

I once worked at a mom-and-pop furniture store in Portland, Oregon. More so than any business I’ve ever walked into, the owners of City Liquidators leveraged self-disclosure to its fullest extent. You couldn’t step five feet into their store without seeing pictures of their family. The walls donned clippings from nostalgic newspaper articles and various personal memorabilia that brought the store to life!

As a result, shoppers who walked in the door felt like they personally knew the owners. Engaging conversations about children, families and growing up in Portland were frequent among the customers. And, the emotional connection sparked by these interactions helped the customers feel more comfortable while shopping – which ultimately secured their loyalty.

Not to mention, self-disclosure actually helps YOU get to know your customers better as well! Here’s another example. My friend Dennis is a doorman at the Ritz Carlton. He is a master of using self-disclosure to establish relationships with guests.

If a family with young children pulls into the front drive, Dennis always gets excited. (He has a young daughter himself.) And as soon as he extends his warm welcome to the arriving guests, he doesn’t hesitate to share information about his own family. Sometimes he’ll even show guests a picture! But Dennis knows that an effective way to learn about his customers is to educate them about himself first.

How well do your customers know you? Here are some ways you can use self-disclosure to create comfort and build rapport with buyers:

What’s Your Story?
How did you get your start in business? Did you “fall” into your line of work? Perhaps there’s an interesting anecdote or event that caused the birth of your business. If so, this is called “Your Story,” and it’s a fundamental tool for helping your customers get to know you.

Write it out. Practice saying it aloud. Make it funny. And tell it to everybody. Publish it on your marketing materials, and especially your website. Create a special page on your website called “Our Story,” or “My Philosophy” that shares this personal anecdote. On my website you can even watch a video of my story!

Start Blogging
A popular new medium through which to share your feelings, experiences and emotions is with a blog. I recently started HELLO, my name is Blog for my business, and it’s become a valuable tool to stimulate personal dialogue with potential customers. A blog is an online journal on which you can post comments, links, stories and articles. A blog is free and easy, and also a great way to let your customers know what’s going on in your life. And the best part about it is: they can post their comments too! Talk about self-disclosure!

For more information go to www.blogger.com; or do a search for any of the various blog providers in Google.

Recommend Resources
In your newsletter, on the phone or in person, recommend books, CD’s and other resources. Tell your customers how much these things have changed your life, your business and your relationships. If they take your advice, they’ll be more inclined to share their own experiences with you, not to mention you’ll soon have more things in common!

My friend Ed who works for Cornerstone Financial does this all the time. He spends a few hundred dollars a year buying copies of his favorite books for his customers. He tells them how the books improved his life in the hopes that his customers will reciprocate their similar experiences – which they do.

Your ability to educate your customers not only about your products and services, but about yourself, is critical to your success. If you follow these principles of self-disclosure and reciprocation, your customers will get to know you better than ever before! So, remember what my friend Jeffrey Gitomer says: it’s not what you know; it’s not WHO you know – it’s who knows YOU.

© 2005 All Rights Reserved.

As a business buyer you want to use the most creative means
possible to position yourself to get the first shot at a viable
business that can be purchased, preferably a purchase
opportunity where you have no other purchase competition.
Herein lies the most noteworthy justification for working
trades shows within industries you seek acquisitions.

10 Reasons Trade Shows are “Fertile Ground” for Business Buyers

Any proactive business buyer will tell you that finding viable
companies that can be purchased for reasonable terms is a
“numbers game”. Thousands of company candidates, that lead to
hundreds of contacts, that lead to tens of acquisition
conversations, that hopefully lead to one company acquisition.
Trades shows offer an unparalleled opportunity to streamline
the business purchase qualification process because trade shows
are:

Industry Focused:
Only attend shows in industries you prefer

Geographically Biased:
Regional, National or International, take your pick!

Time Efficient:
You can visit with hundreds of companies in one trade show day

Cost Efficient:
For the cost of a plane ticket and a short hotel stay, you can
qualify thousands of companies and many related trade
associations.

Personal:
There is no better place to get face to face with a company
CEO, who can say an immediate “yes” to a purchase inquiry, than
a trade show

Interactive:
You can see, touch, hear, taste, smell company product and
service offerings first hand – watch them demonstrated by
experts

Sales Personnel Intensive:
Sales personnel talk and talk … not only will they keep
Answering ALL your questions about the company, but they give
you insights into how best to approach key management and
whether they are viable acquisition candidates

Lead “Rich”:
After “bonding” with booth personnel in a matter of minutes
they will pass on other company acquisition candidate leads and
refer you to specific people industry trend insightful: There
is no better place to define the current status of a targeted
industry. New products/ services and countless conversations
tell all!

Relationship Starters:
Since you meet so many people face-to-face, you are able to
start memorable dialogues, long term relationships, with key
business decision makers. If reinforced with timely follow up
after the show, these relationships can lead to eventual merger
or acquisition discussions

When you are pursuing companies to purchase, you never know
where your next deal will come from. Introducing yourself to
hundreds of people, passing out business cards and company
introduction booklets to trade show booth participants, can and
will be passed onto other people not in attendance at the show.
Your exposure to others can be exponential.

An excellent technique to guarantee your expressed interest in
purchasing specific types of companies is proliferated among
others NOT in attendance, is to offer a reasonable financial
incentive, or “$ referral fee” to sales personnel working the
booths. If they refer you to a company you eventually purchase,
offer to cut them a check at purchase closing or to donate the
referral money to their favorite charity.

Remember, sales personnel typically have hundreds of customers,
probably also within the same industry you are interested in.
They personally know many business owners who might be
interested in selling. This referral technique can get you in
front of many business owners in a very short period of time!

Don’t Forget the Other Trade Show Attendees!

If you attend a trade show with the objective of also “working”
the attendees for leads on company acquisitions you’ll be
amazed at who you meet and where those conversations eventually
lead you to.

Be keenly aware of conversation dialogs between other show
attendees and booth workers that are already in progress within
the show booth. You can quickly determine who the booth visitor
is and from what company they represent…name tags are
priceless! If you hear something you like, or may
be to your benefit, introduce yourself to the person upon their
booth departure. This technique can generate many referral
opportunities for you.

Other opportunities to interact with trade show attendees are
conference seminars, luncheons and talks, and best of all, at
the show snack bars. Be observant, read name tags, listen to
and start conversations. Don’t be bashful – introduce yourself,
give them your business card and company brochure. These
conversations are typically amazing because people in
attendance at these shows see you as a “fellow show warrior”
and often embrace an opportunity to share show and industry
perceptions, unique experiences at specific booths, or better
yet, suggest individuals you should meet at a specific company,
at a specific booth … and they will encourage you to use their
name when you introduce yourself!

Like in most selling situations, any business purchase lead you
get from a trade show needs to be followed up in rapid fashion.
Time is your enemy here. Be sure to re-contact your most viable
leads within five days after the show.

Finding a viable company, that can be purchased, sometimes takes
being at the right place at the right time. Working trade shows
effectively will give you countless opportunities to be at that
right place with the right person. Make this technique one of
your primary methods to find quality company acquisitions.

About the Author:

Mark Smock is President of http://www.business-buyer-directory.com, the
FIRST international business buyer directory of its kind.
Business Buyer Directory provides a non-traditional means for
worldwide that meet their exact registered purchase criteria.

Well, because this became a serious issue in our company, where we had many regional accounts with nationally known companies who wished to use our services in each market we expanded into. In some cases they wished us to travel to faraway markets just so we could serve their entire fleet. It is for this reason that I added this clause below to our franchise agreements;

4.8 National and International Accounts

To the extent that Franchisor enters into an agreement to provide The Company to any National or International Account which has a location within the Marketing Area, Franchisor may offer Franchisee the right to service such account at such location at the terms upon which Franchisor and the National or International Account have agreed. In the event that there is more than one Franchisee licensed by Franchisor in the Marketing Area, Franchisor may allocate opportunities to service National or International Accounts between such Franchisees, as Franchisor in its sole discretion deems appropriate. If, for any reason, Franchisee elects not to service a National or International Account that is offered to Franchisee, Franchisor may, in its sole discretion, service such account or appoint any other party to service such account.

- — — —- — — -

It is recommended that all franchisors who runs service companies or sell products to large government agencies, corporations or national organizations that they get with their franchise attorney and ask them how best to address this issue for their strategic marketing plan. I hope you will consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

This definitely applies to managing call centers, and especially to overseeing telemarketing units.

For example, we know from experience:

(1) Louder voices sell better than softer ones.

(2) Callers are more robust, extroverted, and successful pitching from a bullpen than a private office.

(3) Informal leaders, usually your top reps or those with the longest tenure, will be more influential than the formal supervisors and managers in the phone unit.

(4) Scripts are inevitable, but to succeed they need to be enforced, strictly.

(5) Turnover is part of the telemarketing beast, that can be tamed, but usually isn’t.

If you want more information about these ideas, please see my articles that provide details.

In this piece, I want to bring up a sixth piece of knowledge: If you want peak performance from your telemarketers, keep every seat in your center occupied.

A full room is necessary for these reasons:

(1) Voices are louder and the collective loudness emboldens every individual in the group, creating peer pressures to perform.

(2) A full room means you can and will replace every vacant seat, immediately. Nobody’s seat is sacred. Only performance will secure it for the occupant.

(3) This is a desirable job, and there’s competition to come aboard.

(4) If you like the people around you, and want them to make it, help them whenever you can.

(5) Per capita achievement is raised in a full room; you’ll get disproportionately more sales than when fewer seats are occupied.

So, keep recruiting until you reach 100% capacity, and keep recruiting after that, to maintain it, dropping the worst achiever when you need a desk.

Anything less than 100% occupancy means you’re not doing your job as a manager!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone®, You Can Sell Anything By Telephone! and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

It would be great if life were that clear in sales. Salespeople are better off with clear answers from prospects and customers. When salespeople don’t get a definitive answer, they pin their hopes on wishes and dreams. These hopes and dreams are later listed on prospect sheets that never become deals. We should be saying, deal or no deal to our prospects and eliminate the half truths.

When a prospect doesn’t say YES, the sales time table extends. This time extension creates a real challenge for the salesperson. Each time the deal is extended, the chance of getting the deal is reduced. If the salesperson doesn’t have a follow-up system, they will lose track of the opportunity and it will fade away.

Motivating Buyers To Make Deals

What is often odd about the decision process is that buyers are just as motivated as salespeople to make a decision of deal or no deal. Ironically, the buyer is often looking to the salesperson for assistance in making a decision. Unfortunately, many salespeople don’t get this truth. If a salesperson decides not to extend the opportunity and forces the question of deal or no deal, they often get the deal.

Everybody wins when a decision is made by the buyer. If the buyer accepts the deal, you don’t get stuck in limbo. If the buyer says “No Deal”, the salesperson has two choices. One option is to move on to the next deal and don’t look back. The other option is to put the buyer in a “Not Now” mode and remain in contact with them until the buyer is ready. In each case everyone is better off and time is not wasted by not making a decision.

Steve Martinez implements sales management strategies with a focus on automating sales for printing organizations. Selling Magic teaches businesses how to automate and customize ACT or Outlook with the best practices of sales management while integrating email marketing and technology for greater profits. http://www.sellingmagic.com

These survey companies use software that is intelligent meaning that they know what IP address you are using and their questions are set up so that you will be found out if you are making the answers up Getting Orange-Wing Amazon Birds For Sale and Battery Laptop Computer Acer is simple. These companies look for the feedback from their customers to improve their business, read on more about Orange-Wing Amazon Birds For Sale. All you have to do is answer all the questions on the survey and email it back to the company. Also see Battery Laptop Computer Acer. The reason my wife and I have used the companies is that they tell you which companies pay real cash instead of sweepstakes entries.

You can get honest info about scam surveys and high paying survey sites in many places nowadays but big forums are full of this kind of knowledge. Read on to find out more about Orange-Wing Amazon Birds For Sale. Most of the time the screening process include questions about your shopping habits or if you’ve tried a particular brand. Find out more about Orange-Wing Amazon Birds For Sale and Battery Laptop Computer Acer. They are terrible at providing you with a decent list of places that have surveys to take. Today the incidence of online paid survey scams is nothing new.
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“Good morning, sir. How are we today, sir?”
“Fine. And you?”
“Radiant, sir. Radiant. Woo that is a lovely suit, isn’t it sir?”

“Yes, it’s nice.”
“Suits you, sir, suit like that, Ooh! Do you want one off the peg or do you want one made up?”
“Well I’m looking for something a bit smart; I’m starting a new job.”

“Ooh, congratulations! Will you be having your own secretary, sir?”

“Yes, yes I think so”
“Will you be giving it to her, sir?”

A persuasive sales technique if a little off-the-wall! But what effusive enthusiasm. It strikes me that this is what is missing from modern business to business sales. We are so caught up on professionalism and image that the emotion has gone.

OK, I am not suggesting we need to ask customers whether they were serviced by their partner the previous night, but we can build so much better emotional ties.

Contrast Ken and Kenneth’s approach that with a recent encounter I had with an Ikea customer service representative over some tables my partner and I wanted to buy.
Me: We wanted to buy two white bedside tables but we came down to the warehouse and the bay is empty
Ikea: Then it is out of stock
Me: I see, when will it be in stock?
Ikea: [silent spends 2 minutes tapping on computer, I expect him to look up and respond "Computer says 'no'"] 3 weeks
Me: do you have any other white bedside tables?
Ikea: Look in the catalogue [hands me catalogue looking around store but not at me]
I spot 3 others and ask him to check if the are in stock. Lo and behold they are out of stock. At this point I think that I could settled for another colour but life is too short.
We bought the bedside tables in MFI 2 days later.

Don’t get me wrong, not all companies have missed the point. While I passionately hate Vodafone for the appalling service they gave me last year, a recent encounter with one of their call centre staff mellowed by attitude. Julie had been with the company eight years and she passionately felt that my attitude was misplaced and she personally vouched for the company and pleaded that I give them another try (and it worked). What would you do for staff that put that much emotion in retaining and winning customers?

Kevin Roberts has written a book, Love Marks – the Future Beyond Brands. He should know, he is the chief executive office of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide.

Kevin rightly points out that human beings are powered by emotion, not by reason. The neurologist Donald Calne explains ‘The essential difference between
emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions.’

How many times have we gone into an electrical store – you know, one of those ones with the red logo and white letters and a spotty youth has asked if the can help us? Let’s assume it is one of those rare occasions that we have not taken the opportunity to answer that closed question with a “no” and we let them make their presentation. And we marvel how they read off energy ratings, cubic capacities, freshness coefficients and other riveting statistics. And then they stand there and are surprised when you look at them blankly, thank them and part ways.

Aside from the inability of these staff to ask questions about your requirements – I actually think it is a phobia on their part – it is the lack of emotion in the presentation that kills the sales opportunity. Frankly we get the same service and better prices if we go online.

Time and again I ask friends why they bought the car from the dealership they eventually chose. What is the most common answer? They were offered the biggest discount? Best servicing record in their group? Most local dealership? Or the most awards? Of course not – they liked the salesman. And this emotional decision is made over the second most expensive asset most of us ever buy.

In the words of Maurice Levy, Chairman of the French division of advertising group Publicis: ‘Consumers who make decisions based purely on facts represent a very small minority of the world’s population. They are people without feelings, or perhaps people who put their heart and emotions in the fridge when they are leaving home in the morning, and only take them out again when they go back home in the evening. Although even for these people, there is always some product or service they buy based on impulse or emotion.’

I mentioned before I thought that the modern sales process was devoid of emotion because most business are more focused on improving the process. This ignores the vast swathe of businesses that do not recognise even the flaws in the process. I am biased because my company focuses on sales training, but why is it that the majority of businesses that we prospect have never even considered structured sales training for their staff?

Most business find it easier to spend large amounts on image make-overs, expensive advertising, revamped marketing or more prominent premises. Often the most expensive and most adaptable asset is ignored – the customer-facing staff. So look at yourself and the people the sell your product and service. Could they be telling prospects more, “suits you” with passion and emotion?

Andy Szebeni is director of sales training and telemarketing company A&P. For more information and free tips and hints go to http://www.a-and-p.com.

I had also spoken about how most people actually “want” to be sold on your product or idea, so long as they can see that it falls in with whatever issue or problem that they have that they are seeking to solve. I had made the statement that I would come around to that later. I feel that now is the time to do that.

When I said that, some people might think that idea is a falsity, a misnomer in the world of off-line, or on-line marketing in general. I can assure you, that this is not true.

How? How can you assure me? I can hear that question, so I will get right into it.

There is allot of buzz about the net, about principles of viral marketing, the ability to increase traffic exponentially and with a decent product, sometimes, even a crappy product, but with good content attached to it, i.e. an excellently and written and crafty sales letter, combined with methods and automation which allows you to draw more and more traffic, and with some other methods such as one time offers, which I won’t go into here, one can apply the RIGHT type of pressure to make sale after sale after sale.

Now, let me ask you this:

Do you HONESTLY think, that if someone did not want to purchase, that they would?

Do you HONESTLY think, that if that sales letter didn’t speak to a customers needs, didn’t solve their problem, either emotionally, physically or mentally that those marketers out there would be making the many 100’s of Thousands of dollars that they are making??

I put it to you like this. Of Course NOT!!

There is ONLY one reason that this methodology has been so successful. That reason is plain and simply the principle of increased desire, for a product, and therefore, for the potential customer to take the necessary action to complete the transaction and take delivery of the product which will fill their needs.

They WANTED to be sold. Plain and Simple. If this were not the case, they would not have bought whatever product, no matter how free, cheap or expensive it was.

There is also another portion to this odd little aspect to the human psyche. This portion is plainly the fact that once someone finds good content, there is a perception built on that, that if the content of the sales letter is good, then it stands to reason that the content of the product will be just as so, that when they buy that product, that it will contain the answers that they seek. So, they look specifically for the key elements that will allow them to make the favourable decision to buy.

When you apply this to your marketing, you will notice that if you haven’t been paying attention to your grammar, your spelling, the finish of your web-pages even, the image that you put to your customer, your conversion rates will be lower, but they will still be in existence. In other words, this is due entirely to the fact that people want to be sold. I have heard of many web-sites that convert REALLY well, simply due to this one principle. People WANT to be sold. Not so much sold, as they are eager to find, quickly, the person that will help them the most in whatever situation that they find themselves in need.

Do use this idea wisely. Do not abuse what you have been given. Really, it doesn’t seem like much, but this one principle is extremely powerful and it is the one principle, the one piece of knowledge that has propelled me to the front runners of the leader boards in quite a few organizations, which sold a myriad of products in the off-line world.

Remember, Off-line Marketing and On-line Marketing are essentially two halves to the same coin. There are very few principles that don’t cross the line between the two.

This is a principle, that when you put together your product, your product package, if you combine the energy of the idea, with the right information to make the sale, you will have quite a bit of success, though really, there are other things, online, that must be done to make things easier and quicker for you. One should take advantage of all the opportunities they are given. Of course, that belief, which is instilled even as children in the human psyche is also another driver of the principle of increased desire of attainment.

It is the belief that if we pass on opportunities, that we will not achieve the success that we are seeking, in whatever endeavor that we have set out to do.
This one idea is why human’s would rather be sold. They do not wish to fail.
They also, for good or bad, will carry some individuals to success on their backs, IF those individuals have learned to apply the principle of increased desire for attainment. Plain and Simple, Human’s LOVE to be sold.

Of course, this is also why human’s have a real bad habit of getting taken by scam artists and con-men. Scam artists and con-men have an inherent understanding of how to sell near anyone on any idea that they might have, then take the money and run, never truly delivering on the promise. Don’t be like this.

It is essential to build trust in your online business to become truly successful. When it comes to online business, the ideal scenario is to attain a repeat and ongoing residual income and customer base. Without those repeat customers, eventually you might slow to a crawl, in your chosen market. This principle of course has more application in the off line world, but none the less, if you wish to attain true success with whatever business you run, then apply this principle ethically. One of the best ways to do this is to examine your own mind, your own emotions and remember what it was that was so great about what it was that someone else sold you, why you were happy with the product, what enforced your decision to buy, what justified it to you, and why you may have been disappointed, if at all applicable.

To understand why YOU yourself are someone that WANTS to be sold, you will then be able to apply the principle of Increased Desire of Attainment in your own sales pages and other site features.

Remember, they want to be sold. That means it IS up to you to SELL. So do it ethically, do it properly and deliver a good product. Always justify that desire in your customer to want to be sold by “Over-Delivering”.

An entrepeneur in this day and age, especially one operating in the faceless world of online marketing has at their disposal a HUGE host of weaponry to take to the field of battle and to make their sales and to make the customer that comes to their sites happy. Even if all you are trying to do is build an Opt-in list, that list is still people that want to be sold. This principle applies especially to e-mail marketing. They are on your list, just waiting to be told that one piece of information that will give them the justification to buy, which, to me, is clear evidence of their willingness to be sold your product, but they are waiting for a good reason, and at that point, what you want to do is deliver, and over deliver a reason for them to visit your site again. Especially that portion that contains what you are attempting to sell. Therefore, give it to them, over-deliver and justify their Increase in Desire to Attain what you are offering.

As I stated before, use the information wisely. Take your time and examine what the principle entails for you, and you will have a good start. It will take practice to perfect, but you will achieve the results that you are seeking.

Till next time, Rooting for your success!

Jamie Davidson is a content publisher and Affiliate Marketer, writing for Tigers Den Marketing Group. He is also President and Cheif Executive Officer for Tigers Den, bringing news, tips and techniques to those that will listen in the form of educational articles on marketing, direct sales and how to build a business with low to ZERO overhead costs on the internet. Please visit http://www.tigers-den.tk for more information. Brick & Mortar; 180 Calle Del Oaks Place. Del Rey Oaks, Ca. 93940 Phone; 831-394-2822 E- mailto:Shujin.Tora@Gmail.com

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They cold call complete strangers to judge their business decisions and make them feel sorry and stupid for choosing their current provider. They feed on every negative emotion to get the only thing that matters: the sale. They treat their prospects like numbers, instead of living, breathing people.

Unsurprisingly, people find salespeople annoying, pushy, and rude. Nobody likes them, and nobody likes buying from them.

People buy from people

The only way to connect with your prospect is to act like a person instead of a salesperson, and treat them like a person instead of a sale.

Like you, your prospects have emotions, which are often overlooked by salespeople who use old world techniques like sales scripts and automated messages. By addressing these human emotions and using them to create a positive, personal atmosphere, you can create an experience that is best for making the prospect your friend and your loyal customer.

Salespeople believe that making a prospect angry about their current supplier will somehow make themselves look good.

They try to find the pain that the prospect is experiencing in their current situation, and think that exposing that pain will make the prospect want to switch suppliers.

It doesn’t work this way!

Pressing the prospect’s hot buttons and stirring up negative emotions will make their experience with you negative. You’ll succeed at making the prospect angry, but they’ll be angry with YOU!

All the painful emotions they experience with you will actually push the prospect farther from the sale. It will also make the status quo look pretty good. The prospect will choose to do nothing and you will lose the prospect and the sale!

The key to connecting with your customer is in creating an emotional situation that will lead to change. Show your prospect that it is better for them to change than to remain with the status quo. Creating this emotion is a bit more complex, and is not as easy (or overused) as the old world technique.

It requires being less abrasive, and allowing the customer realize (on their own) the painful reality of their situation with their current supplier. If they are unhappy with their current supplier, they will find the pain on their own. They don’t need your help exposing it!

Salespeople put their reasons for selling before a customer’s reason for buying.

Let’s be honest, your customers don’t get as excited about your product as you do. In fact, most salespeople sell things that are pretty ordinary and not very interesting.

Because of this, the only way to sell your product is to figure out what could motivate your customer to buy it! Through intriguing questions and engaging conversation, you can learn about your customer personally and determine the specific benefits they would gain from purchasing your product.

Your job is to get the customer to visualize these benefits. Your creative and engaging visualization will create positive emotion and make their experience with YOU a good one! When they visualize how rewarding your product is, they will find the motivation needed to create a change and buy from you!

Salespeople don’t consider their prospect’s fears.

Any important decision is often accompanied with fear. Before your prospect can act on their motivation to buy from you, you must first eliminate their fear of changing the status quo.

The only way to eliminate fear is to identify it, and the only way to identify it is through engaging conversation. You must make every effort to truly understand your prospect in order to help them overcome this fear. Change can be hard, but your prospects will look forward to it if you make it seem appealing and worth their while!

By understanding and responding to your prospect’s emotions, you can create a positive atmosphere. This will motivate and encourage your prospect to be unafraid of change and to buy from you!

Tom Richard is the author of a weekly ezine on selling skills. To subscribe to this free ezine send a blank email to subscribe@tomrichard.com

Think about it. Isn’t it true that when you first meet someone new that your impression of them is based on how they look and sound? Even after you’ve known a person for a long time, you have a tendency to believe someone’s body language more than the words that are usedand if the words don’t match his or her body language, you may reject what is said altogether.

Remember, it is impossible to talk a person into having a great first impression of you or your company, no matter how hard you try. Also remember, how you look and act, rather than what you say is what gives you “an edge” with your customers, clients or prospects. A firm handshake, good posture, self-assured smile, professional manner and the way you dress are what people tune into. Sales representatives who try to talk or persuade a prospect into buying are totally ineffective. It appears that in selling, listening skills and not speaking skills are more important than the words that describe your products.

From the studies cited above and your own common sense, you can see that if you truly want to build a trusting relationship with a prospect, client or customer, you need to say as little as possible and get the other person to do most of the talking. When communicating with another person, always keep in mind that your words just don’t compute!

To acquire a system where people talk themselves into buying, just click on http://www.thesellingedge.com/manual1.htm and then apply the techniques outlined in this unique self-directed learning manual in each of your sales transactions:

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. a firm specializing in sales, customer relations, and management training and development. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Deloitte & Touché, Bank One, Jefferson Pilot, and WalHMart to name a few. Virden is the author of Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and the best selling Building & Closing the Sale, Fifty-Minute series books and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications, Inc. Menlo Park, California. He has also authored a Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching & team development, telemarketing, and personal productivity training guides.

Virden teaches for the Center For Professional Development, Texas Tech University at Lubbock, Texas and in the School Of Entrepreneurship, J. Willard And Alice S. Marriott School Of Management at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. You can contact Virden at: Virden@TheSellingEdge.com. or learn more about him at: http://TheSellingEdge.com.