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Editor's Notes

1. This is the first in a series of “the art of…” by justin spratt
2. 2 types of sales:“flat” – if you can sell it on a website, do so. People don’t want a relationship with a sales person if they don’t have to, not matter what the product. There is increasingly just to much information in people’s lives“deep” – this is sales that requires a solution, usually because it is complex. In these instances, relationships count a great deal and only emerge through engagement, delivery and time
3. The buyer and the buying decision is not rational! Ever.
4. If you don’t believe your products change the world, even in a small way, get a new job. Without this passionate belief you will never succeed at selling
5. Great salespeople save their clients. Those clients end up becoming walking billboards for the company if the salesperson has done their job. There are only two ways to save business people: take away pain or save them money. Everything else that is part of the value proposition is second to this. And a great sales person is evangelical about how they do this. A deep religious zeal is needed to be a great salesperson.
6. Goliath is waiting to fall. Always be the David in business and position yourself as that. David is smarter and faster. The small guys always win in the end. Read up on Joseph Schumpeter’s “Creative Destruction”. If you are the bigger company, try and find humility. Remember that big guys have everything to loose and little to gain. 75% of the Fortune 500 didn’t exist more than 50 years ago. Even in war, Arreguín-Toft recently looked at every war fought in the past two hundred years between strong and weak combatants. The Goliaths, he found, won in 71.5 per cent of the cases - What happened, Arreguín-Toft wondered, when the underdogs likewise acknowledged their weakness and chose an unconventional strategy? He went back and re-analyzed his data. In those cases, David’s winning percentage went from 28.5 to 63.6Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell#ixzz0brgXTxXW
7. Repeat after me: the act of listening is more important than the content of the listening. I cant emphasise this enough.Most of the times the buyer is *not* aware of the root cause of their pain, that is the salespersons job. They may think they do, but more often they describe symptoms, which is why a strong ability to listen is paramount.Build a series of trigger questions that you ask each and every client that help you both connect and determine the root issues. My rule-of-thumb is that they are either a sports fan or a history nerd (rarely both). You need to quickly establish who the client is and engage on that level. A great salesperson is broadly read and can talk on every subject. But before you talk, listen and listen hard. All buying decisions are done by emotion, trust being the paramount emotion.
8. Understanding how a client makes a decision is crucial to winning business. Often this process is flawed and irrational. By emerging yourself in the clients position, with deep empathy, you will understand how they make their decisions and pitch accordingly
9. Unfortunately we live in a world that is superficial. Actlike the salesperson you want to be. Be slick at every point. Be obsessively quick to respond to clients. Be neurotic about pitches and proposals. All of these are signals of success.
10. Memorable moments define relationships – every relationship. Be sure you create these soon in Really successful salespeople are always establishing and deepening relationships with people. Doing so earns them the right to engage in a different form of conversation, namely selling.And don’t forget:It is 6 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than keepingan existing one. Love your clients.