Books and Articles by Tom Hopkins

With the right selling skills in your arsenal, you’ll have more happiness and satisfaction in all areas of your life, not just in your selling career (although your selling will certainly benefit, too).To start down the road to sales success, you need to know how to make a good first impression, ensure that your prospective clients need what you have, give fantastic presentations, address client concerns, and close sales.

When you first meet with prospective clients, you need to qualify them — in other words, you need to see whether the product or service you sell meets their needs. To help you remember what to ask during this stage of the selling cycle, use this creatively spelled acronym — NEADS: N: What does your prospect have now?

Your presentation of your product, service, or idea requires the most preparation. In your preparation, practice your answers to common questions with a family member or fellow salesperson. Make a list of the benefits you think are your strongest persuaders in placing your product. Then figure out a way to work those points into responses to the common questions asked by potential clients.

Today more than ever, your selling vocabulary matters because of the phenomenon of trade talk, or jargon. Jargon is defined as words and phrases particular to a given field of work. If you sell medical supplies to doctors, you need to know the jargon medical professionals use and use it yourself, liberally. But if you sell medical supplies to the general public, limit your use of technical terms to the bare minimum until you can determine your client’s level of knowledge about the product.

Did you know that there’s not a whole lot of difference between the activities of an average salesperson and a great one? They both work to find potential clients. They each qualify clients, present information and products, handle concerns, and close sales. The main difference is the point where they give up when the going gets tough.

Why do you need to research your prospective clients and their businesses? So that when you’re getting ready to close the sale, your lack of knowledge won’t trip you up. You do all your research simply to build to that final moment when your buyer gives you the okay to deliver your product and to start building a long‐term relationship with her or her company.

The second step in the selling cycle is making that first contact. You’ve found the right people as potential buyers. Now you actually get to meet them. To persuade another person to give you her valuable time, you need to offer something of value in return. For instance: To gain entrance to someone’s home, you may need to offer a free estimate or gift in exchange for her opinion on the demonstration of your product.

If you’re in a career sales position, you probably have to sell other items in the product line that may not be your favorites. As in any area of life, in the world of selling, if you have the wrong attitude, you can end up being your own worst enemy. Many people in selling situations have a challenge with their own likes and dislikes — they tend to sell only what they like and mostly to the people they like.

When you work with companies, a key concern is discovering who the true decision‐maker really is. It may be the office manager, a purchasing agent, or a department head. You can usually find out simply by asking the receptionist who is responsible for the area of business to which your products or services apply.