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It's the act of persuading someone to actually buy a product or service. <br /><br />One interesting analogy to the difference between sales and marketing activities explains that if you were at a party, a marketing guy would chat you up. A sales guy would take you home. Daring to carry the analogy a little further still works as it makes sense to see sales as a relationship building activity rather than a one night stand. <br /><br /><h2>Create a sales plan</h2> There's much truth in the old maxim  Failing to plan is planning to fail'. You greatly improve your chances of success in any endeavour by making a detailed plan of what you want to achieve and how you wish to achieve it. Make sure you set out in writing clear and specific targets, how many products, over what period of time. Be specific, set exact dates, number of units, what turnover and level of profit you wish to achieve.<br /><br />Once you have a plan in place, check your actual sales results against your targets to ensure that you are on track. Many companies look at their results at the end of each month. But weekly checks and even daily checks if you can manage them allow you to spot trends and identify potential problems at an early stage.<br /><br /><h2>Look at your customer relationships</h2> Ask yourself the question what's the difference between my  good customers' and my  not so good customers'? Make a list of the attributes of each and compare them. Most likely the one common aspect you'll notice with your good customers is that the relationships are good. You like each other. <br /><br />According to Martin & Colleran in their book  Sold', the three main things that cause  liking' are praise, similarities and co-operation. If you can inject these attributes in a sincere way into your customer relationships you will see a steady improvement in sales. <br /><br />The keyword here is  sincere'. Just throwing compliments out every few minutes or pretending to like the same things as your customer when you don't is going to result in failure. You'll be rumbled and labelled as just another cheesy salesman.<br /><br />Listen to your customers and look for genuine areas of interest on which you can connect and build relationships. You can also use this approach to help improve the relationships with some of the  not so good customers'.<br /><br /><h2>Speaking of listening& </h2> Recently, I was trying to purchase a new mobile phone. I knew what I wanted and marched into the shop ready to hand over the cash and take away the phone. However, as soon I uttered the words  I'd like to buy a phone please' the salesman flew off into his spiel and I was bombarded with a list of available models. <br /><br />I tried to interrupt and explain what I wanted but he was faster than me and listed off 15 features of the model he had in his hand.  Oh, and this one's orange and it's got a camera he said.<br/>  I don't want a camera. <br/>  Well& this one's blue, it's got funky buttons, an aerial cosy and it's got a camera. <br/>  I DON'T WANT A CAMERA! <br /><br />They all had cameras. It was like listening to a technology version of Monty Python's Spam Song. <br /><br />The girl behind the counter in the phone shop next door to them however was much more astute. <br /><br /> Hello, how can I help you? she asked.<br/>  I'd like to buy a phone please. <br/>  Sure, do you have any particular phone in mind?<br /><br />I explained what I wanted. She gave me the phone, I gave her the money. She listened to what I said, repeated it back to me for confirmation and then got the unit I wanted. Simple as that.<br /><br />The great thing about listening is that it makes people feel understood and feeling understood is an essential ingredient for building trust in relationships. Remember, you're trying to fulfil that marketing promise of giving customers what they want. Listen and they'll tell you.<br /><br /><h2>Focus on repeat sales not closed sales</h2> In the film Glengarry Glen Ross, Alec Baldwin's character says  always be closing, always be closing'. Unfortunately, sometimes too much emphasis is placed on this aspect of. Seeing things as a series of one off sales can be counterproductive. You may have gotten a customer today but is that person a customer tomorrow?<br /><br />One of the most common requests received by sales training experts is  can you teach my staff how to close sales?' But in many situations the problem isn't the closing techniques, it's what happened before the close. It's more likely that the relationship wasn't established as well as it could have been and the customer doesn't feel that they are getting what they want.<br /><br />Just like chess there's an opening, middle and end game. Knowing all the best end game techniques is pretty useless if everything you've done beforehand has left you with just a trapped pawn on the board. <br /><br />Instead of just trying to close the sale, focus on building the relationship and trying to help the customer make a more long term commitment. When a customer makes a commitment that they own the sale will come naturally. So will their loyalty and future business.<br /><br /><h2>Useful Resources</h2> <b>High Speed Way to Improve Sales</b><br/> Paul Lanigan of the Sandler Sales Institute has written an excellent article detailing ideas and techniques that can help improve your sales quickly.<br/> <A TARGET='CWViewer' HREF='downloads/1124302272/AHighSpeedWayToIncreaseSales.pdf'>A HighSpeed Way To Increase Sales</A><br /><br /><b>Free Sales Tips</b><br/> For dozens of sales and selling tips and bits of marketing advice visit<br/> <a target="example" href="http://www.salestipwebsite.com">www.salestipwebsite.com</a><br/> You'll find a large collection of tips submitted by business people across many sectors of business. </div></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td colspan=2 class="spacerTD"> &nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td colspan=2 class="footerTD"> <table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0> <tr valign="top"> <td style="padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 3px;"> <img src="userimgs/bits/bni/bnilogosml.gif" width=45 height=27 alt="BNI logo"></td> <td> <div id="theFooter" class="topFooter"><b>BNI Marketwest.</b> A member of Business Network International (BNI). <br/>Email: <a href='mailto:info@bnimarketwest.com'>info@bnimarketwest.com</a><br/></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> <script src='http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js' type='text/javascript'> </script> <script type='text/javascript'> _uacct = 'UA-241515-13'; urchinTracker(); </script><script src='http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js' type='text/javascript'> </script> <script type='text/javascript'> _uacct = 'UA-241515-13'; urchinTracker(); </script></body> </html>