What’s your goal in any sales presentation? Isn’t it getting the customer to “invite” you to close the sale?
Getting that coveted invitation is about gaining your customer’s full participation toward a shared objective, says consultant and sales coach Ronald Karr.
Sounds easy but isn’t. For most decent salespeople it happens occasionally. But the very best somehow manage to get “invited” over and over again. How do they do it?
Knowing more doesn’t make you more.
Let’s face it, your obsession with learning every new sales tactic isn’t getting you that far.
If you are like just about everyone else in business, it’s something you’ve been thinking about for some time now.
You are frustrated, angry, and confused about this idea of learning to build more revenue.
For Brad Shorr’s coaching and advising program, he compiled this list of qualities that sales people should develop to the best of their ability. Here they are – please let us know if you have any to add!
1. Prompt
2. Hard working
3. Ethical
4. Always listening
5. Asking the right questions
6. Sincere
7. Creative
8. Full of empathy
9. Positive
10. Organized
11. Attentive to detail
12. Thoroughly prepared
13. Good humored
14. Focused
15. Resourceful
Looking over this list, …is it possible for a person to excel in all these things? Are some of them mutually exclusive? For instance, can one person be a great strategist and a great tactician?
Which are the most important qualities?
By Keith Rosen 
Do you know exactly what to say to a prospect or customer that captures their attention so succinctly and effectively that they want to talk with you and are actually asking for more? If you are being honest with yourself, the answer is probably “No.” [...Continue Reading...]
By Arnold Anderson, Demand Media 
To be successful in sales, you need to identify and refine the top sales characteristics. You may find that some of these characteristics come naturally to you, while others require refinement. Analyze your professional approach and determine what changes you need to make to improve your sales success.
Free E-Book: Understand the dynamics of a cold call and how you can manage those to get results.
Many sales professionals find cold calling difficult and unpleasant, yet the 42 Rules gives them ways to redesign their thinking, approach, practices, and tools, to get the best possible results. The full eBook contains some of the fundamental principles Mari Anne Vanella has developed over the course of her career. Her clients and her own company use this approach to execute the top performing programs in the industry for the past seven years.
By Sharpenz 
What does it take to be successful in sales? There’s no easy answer because the list is long. It’s one of the great debates in the sales community – WHAT does it take to be successful in sales?
One indication of the debate is the response to a recent question posted on LinkedIn. The question asked:
What is more important in sales, great selling skills or expertise on the product?
The more than 250 respondents – sales managers and sales professionals – were split with their answers. Many couldn’t choose one over the other.
TODAY A SALES TEAM must not only be able to sell a competitive advantage; they must 
be a competitive advantage. In most companies it is increasingly difficult to sustain a competitive advantage by traditional means. Traditional factors such as: superior products, scale, and innovative manufacturing technology may provide short term advantages but unfortunately they can be replicated in relatively short order by an increasing number of agile and aggressive domestic and global competitors.
Although a great sales team is difficult to create, it has the potential to provide a significant competitive advantage and, perhaps more importantly, one that is difficult for the competition to copy quickly. So optimizing sales performance matters more today than it did yesterday and it will matter more tomorrow than it does today.
By Shamus Brown, The Shameless Sales Blog 
What are you thinking before you meet with a potential customer, or pick up the phone to dial a prospect?
I ask because what you think before and while you meet or talk with your prospects and customers greatly affects the outcome of your meeting.
By Ken Blanchard, www.SellingPower.com 
Feedback – from managers, customers, and associates – can help salespeople improve their performance. But if the way you give or receive feedback causes hostility or hurt feelings, it may do more harm than good. Constructive criticism is constructive only if its practical benefits outweigh any negative emotions it stirs. The next time you’re on the giving or receiving end of constructive criticism, use these ideas to offer or accept it gracefully – then put the feedback to use.
