By Bob Meyer

Here are a dozen principles that, when used regularly, will provide you with that all-important edge.

• Great salespeople somehow deliver the bad news as palatably as they deliver the goods news.
• They openly admit what they don’t know, and make darn sure they learn it.
• Top salespeople are irresistible to most other human beings.
• Always ask for the order and then shut up.
• The truth is, many customers remember the quality of service provided long after they’ve forgotten the quality or cost of your product.
• Product knowledge is an infinitesimal database for closing sales. It enables you to close on specifications as well as price, delivery, terms and relationships.
• Management and motivation are human activities, management and motivation offer boundless opportunities to differentiate your company.
• Uniquenesses are inspired and created by management and motivation.
• Owning a company gives you the right—but not the ability—to manage the company you own.
• Usually the salespeople who complain the most have low, three-figure sales, and waste 90% of their time complaining they can’t sell more because of lousy company quality.
• The greats move in on bad news and face it head-on, both with their customers and their company.

These sales and marketing principles should be embraced regardless of your business, or whether it’s a cash or barter deal.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 18th, 2007 at 7:10 am and is filed under Uncategorized, Entrepreneurs & Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.