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This type of marketing is akin to a consignment shop. Merchandise is promoted on your web pages and for this, you will receive a cut from every sale. There’s less work, few overheads, it works whilst you rest, and it is easy to master. First off, you must decide exactly which niche market best suits your business style. To accomplish this, identify solutions to problems a specific market segment is anticipating, and then which solutions will assist them. An efficient way of doing this quickly is to search for unique long tail keywords; there are less internet searches for these in general, but they convert far more into sales.

These profitable keywords can be found by using applications like Micro Niche Finder. The results collected from this computer program or other applications and software packages results in a listing of related terminology providing valuable targets to gain a good listing in an internet search and bring in a good deal of traffic.

Additional info is also accessible by the program, for example search frequency, precisely how many other internet sites who exploit them, and how strong the competition is. Ultimately, Micro Niche Finder data should help in loacting the best domain, help you put together your site, and draw attention to desirable products to market. The next step is to build a website; however it will take more than that. Getting the best placing on the search engines demands the fine-tuning of your website. This is where Seo Elite information comes in. This program automatically analyzes the sites of your rivals and helps you by stating exactly what you must do to have good rankings in the search engine listings. With software such as SEO Elite, information supplied by the computer software tells you where to get links, the best keywords, and details on where and how to upload articles. Concisely, the results obtained are much like to the advice that an SEO specialist may offer. When you settle on your target market sector, have your product advertisements, and your site has been constructed, then it is time to decidedly expand your search engine rankings. Your profits will roll in regularly and wonder why you did not think of this earlier!

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This type of marketing is a lot like an auction house. Your site pushes merchandise for this, each lead brings in cash. There is less time involved, very few overheads, it works 24/7, and it’s simple to pick up.

At the start, you need to make a choice as to exactly what niche market you want to work in. To get this out of the way, determine what a unique market segment is suffering from, and discover the best solution. A good way of doing this easily is to find unique sets of highly targeted longtail keywords and phrases; in general people search for these less often, yet greater proportion of these convert. If you need to find these crucial words and phrases, use Micro Niche Finder or a program like it. The results compiled by this software or similar computer programs and software results in related terms in a list which you may focus on in order to gain top placing on internet searches. Micro Niche Finder information will also let you know the exact number of times every word and phrase is searched for, the number of other sites using the particular keyword or phrase, and how successful the competition is. Last but not least, Micro Niche Finder information should help in loacting the best domain, material for your site, and point out the greatest sales opportunities.

Next you need to construct a website; however it will take a bit more than simply that. It is essential to optimize your site for the search engines. This is where SEO Elite information comes in. Your competitors’ internet sites are analyzed by SEO Elite information which then provides suggestions on improving search engine performance. In SEO Elite the info provided by the computer software tells you where to look for links, the best keywords, and an extensive listing of article submission web sites to refer to. Briefly, SEO Elite information is the same sort of suggestions you might get from an experienced SEO specialist.

Once you find your niche market, have your product advertisements, and your site is ready to go, all you need to do is get your internet site up in the search results. Earnings will roll in on regular basis and you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of this sooner!

Do you find yourself making these kinds of assumptions?

- “I lost the sale because my price was too high.”

- “I know exactly what my customer wants.”

- “I can’t hold a member of my team accountable for the delays in our project because she won’t like me if I do.”

- “I don’t delegate often enough because I know I can do the work better myself. “

These assumptions may be correct. However, they also might only be partially right or they might be absolute bunk.

The problem with assumptions is that we are certain they are true. We unquestioningly believe, for example, that if we ask a customer about their needs, we look stupid (shouldn’t I instinctively know their needs?).

Also, making assumptions can easily lead to a negative outcome in our dealings with customers. For instance, I go nuts when a salesperson starts solving my problems when they haven’t asked me about my situation. I know I am not alone here.

Listen to yourself this week as a mini-test. If you are doing more talking than asking, you’re probably making a lot of assumptions. If your opinion is front and center and you are not curious about what someone else is thinking, then you have definitely crossed the border into assumption-land.

One way to stop making assumptions is to ask a lot more questions.

Here are five powerful questions that can help you check out whether an assumption is true, and, in the process, connect more effectively with your customers.

1. “Tell me more.”

2. “What do you need?”

3. “What about this is important to you?”

4. “How will this make a difference in your work?

Then confirm your understanding by asking:

5. “So, if I understand you correctly, what you’re saying is … Right?”

Notice that you cannot get a one-word answer to the above questions. The art of selling is to have customers explain, at length, what their situation is, and what they want to do about it. It is not about you blabbering on about your products and services.

To develop the asking-questions muscle, start your questions with the following key words: What, why, tell me, describe, explain.

To build muscle, you’ll need to practice everywhere. Look for at least one opportunity a day to engage someone in conversation. You can pick anyone: family, friends, customers, colleagues, peers, superiors, strangers, cabbies, waiters, or the guy next to you on the bus. Try to pick a topic that the individual can address for at least five to ten minutes, and try to keep your opinion to yourself, even if you have strong views.

Just ask more questions, and see where the conversation takes you.

Have fun with it! You will be taking steps toward opening up your mind, recognizing the assumptions you make, and, most importantly, working with customers in a way that they value.

—

This article may be reprinted in its entirety with express written permission from Nicki Weiss. The reprint must include the section “About the Author”.

About the Author

Nicki Weiss is an internationally recognized Certified Professional Sales Management Coach, Master Trainer, and workshop leader. Since 1992, Nicki has trained, certified, and/or coached more than 6,000 business executives, sales managers and salespeople.

Nicki guarantees increased sales performance when sales managers become better sales coaches. Sign up for her FREE monthly e-zine, Something for NothingTM, which has powerful tips and techniques for sales managers who are ready to make this transformation. Sign up at http://www.saleswise.ca You can email her at nicki@saleswise.ca or call 416-778-4145.

A good sales manager needs to train their sales Force to recognize when someone is interested in what the company is offering. A good salesperson should notice this instinctively. If a prospect is interested in what you are selling or what your company is offering then the salesperson should spend time with the prospect and answer all their questions and work on handling any of their objections. There are various ways to determine when a prospect is highly interested and desires what you are selling.

A good sales manager ingrains this thought process into each and every salesperson in their sales Force. This insures more sales for the company. Generally speaking you can tell when a prospect is interested in what you are selling or what your company is offering by their body language and the types of questions they ask.

Folks who are not interested do not ask very many questions about the product or service, even if they need such products and services. You see, people buy what they want and desire and not necessarily what they need. Occasionally a salesperson can tip the balance and get someone who needs their product or service to become interested in it and change the interest to desire and close sale.

However, this takes time and energy and a good sales manager makes sure that their salespeople are efficient with their time. Their time should be spent on prospects, which are interested and have a strong the desire in owning and or purchasing what the company has to offer and what the salesman is selling. Please consider this in 2006.

You may be familiar with the Eagle, Peacock, Dove and Owl from the program that identifies your behavioral social style. This isn’t about any of those birds. It’s about being a Canary – or not!

From the early 1900’s to the mid 1980’s, coal miners around the world used canaries deep in the mines to alert them to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide gas. If the birds stopped singing, it was time to get out of the mine … fast.

After many years of dedicated service, these incredibly effective canaries became obsolete. Technology replaced the singing saviours. Could the canary have done anything differently to keep its job? The short answer is no.

What about you? As a sales professional is there a chance you could become a canary and be replaced? It is still a stretch to suggest technology will replace the face-to-face selling environment. That said reflect on how far e-commerce has advanced in the past five years! What will the next five years bring?

I am a strong believer there will always be a place for proficient, well-qualified sales people. Any vibrant economy needs to have face-to-face selling for a variety of reasons, be they cultural preferences, complexity of information, or simply the consumer’s desire for a relationship based experience. I emphasised proficient and well qualified for a reason. As I speak with many sales reps today, I find it alarming that many do little to maintain, upgrade and advance their selling skills. Don’t go the way of the dodo bird – yes, there really was a dodo bird that became extinct but that’s a different story.

As a professional in any career stream, one needs to stay current with new advances in their field, be they process related, technical in nature or staying abreast of the competition.

Would you want to deal with a physician who obtained their medical degree twenty years ago and has not kept current with medical advancements? I think not.

I run in to some sales reps that say “been there, done that, took the course, got the t-shirt.” They feel they have done all they need to. Often these same people wonder why they haven’t reached their full potential or are slipping gradually down the leader board.

I have worked with realtors who have been in the business 10, 15, 20 years and can’t understand why they are not as successful as when they first got in the business. Some say competition has increased, demographic changes make negotiating commissions more difficult, what ever. When I ask they what they have done in recent years to hone their skills I often get a blank look. When I ask them what they did to be successful when they entered the business, they talk about the marketing, the networking, the door knocking, and following a specific sales routine. When asked if they still do all of this, they admit they no longer do all these activities. Hmmm.

If you consider yourself a sales professional, you have an obligation to invest in yourself. There are many excellent offerings in the market place to keep you on top of your game. If you don’t want to go out and spend the bucks, take that program you went through five years ago and read it again. I’m positive you’ll be reminded of some golden nuggets you had forgotten. Grab a partner and practice some of the exercises you did years before, you’ll probably have fun at the same time.

It is no secret that professional athletes between games still go to events called practices. No mater how proficient one thinks they are there is still the old adage “practice makes perfect.” They employ coaches to instruct on technical and psychological elements of the game. Who is your coach? Is it your sales manager, if so when was the last time you got together for a meaningful coaching session. Maybe you need to be direct and specific in which area your sales game needs help. I was always delighted when someone asked for help. It told me they wanted to do better. Fact is we had something in common, as their coach, I wanted them to do better as well.

In summary, stay current. Do it yourself, or work with others to stay on top of your game.

The canary could do little to ensure its continued utilization deep in the mines. You as a professional sales person can and must do what’s necessary to avoid becoming redundant.

Clayton Shold shares his experience at SalesDialogue Systems Inc. a company committed to assisting sales professionals better understand how their internal conversations affects sales success. Learn more at http://www.salesdialogue.com

In sales, this process is referred to as “closing.” Since “closing skills” derive themselves directly from the sales industry, I’m going to discuss them within a sales context, but bear in mind that these skills are universal in their application and value.

It is typical for a novice persuader to encounter resistance. There are as many different reasons for resistance as there are personalities, so the trick lies in knowing which closing skill to use for which person. A crucial closing concept to learn as soon as possible is that you should actually employ closing strategies throughout your entire presentation. Most people think of the close as the final wrap-up. While this is the sales point where the deal is formally and openly acknowledged as “let’s do it” or “thanks, but no thanks,” the masterful persuader builds the close in stages throughout the entire sales process. The last phase of the selling exchange is only the culminating step of several deliberate but less evident steps that have taken place beforehand. It is crucial, not only for your own good but also for your prospects’ good, to help them through this process. Incrementally moving them closer and closer to agreement is much more effective than springing it on them at the end. There is nothing worse than seeing a shocked prospect with her/his mouth wide open following the close. Waiting to lunge with your close until the very end of your sales presentation could be compared to plunging unprepared into the deep end of the pool versus wading comfortably from the shallow end to the deep end only as you feel well prepared, well informed and well instructed to do so.

The incremental close helps avoid the old hard-close approach of the past. Remember the hard close? Old tactics used such strategies as bullying, pressuring or forcing your prospect into a decision. We’ve all experienced the hard close at one time or another. Unfortunately, some “persuaders” still employ the hard-close strategy, but when they do, they’re really not persuading at all. Even if a prospect succumbs to one of these sales tactics, it is likely with resentment, buyer’s remorse and discontinued business in the future. What’s more, you can rest assured that unbeknownst to the offending salesperson, a prospect who is bullied into a sale will deter all her/his friends and family from patronizing the business where s/he endured such treatment.

Since studies show that how you open a sale is more important than how you close it, think of starting your close earlier on in the persuasive process. Let’s call this “collecting yeses.” We’ll discuss this concept more in-depth later on, but for the time being, what it basically means is that you concern yourself with drawing in your prospects early on. That is, you warm them up in stages until the ultimate conclusion is obvious to them and they decide for themselves exactly what you were hoping they’d decide in the first place.

Because you’re going to focus on closing as a process that begins early on in your presentation, it is important to consider the messages you are broadcasting right from the beginning. Superficial or not, people are going to draw conclusions from their earliest interactions with you, and those first impressions tend to be the longest lasting, too. It is said that the first and most lasting impression is made in about the first four minutes of a first encounter. Hence, be sure those first four minutes are positive ones because the cement dries fast! It is extremely difficult to overcome a bad first impression. Even if you try to make up for it later on, that first impression will linger. The most obvious advice is to be sure you look professional and well groomed in any persuasive situation. In other words, dress appropriately for the setting. Next, exude confidence that is not arrogant but rather is upbeat, positive and encouraging. This positivity in your demeanor will allow your prospects, who hardly know you, to take comfort in your ability to educate them about the product or service they are investigating. Direct eye contact and a sincere smile accompanied by a firm handshake and addressing your prospects by name always help.

I have identified what I call the “Three Rs” for solid closing. After the first impression, your next focus is to effectively weave your close throughout the entire presentation. That is, the three Rs are at work throughout your presentation, aiding your prospect in becoming more and more inclined to buy. These three Rs are reason, resources and representative. Let’s look at the first R. “Reason” must be viewed from two different anglesfirst, from your prospect’s and then from your own. Early on in the persuasive setting, seek to understand exactly what your prospects’ needs are. That is, determine what their reason is for coming to you or listening to you in the first place. Then, you have to give them the reason to buy. Essentially, their problem and your solution match. Do not fall into the trap that many rookie salesmen do of spouting off a laundry list of features, benefits or all the reasons why you think they should buy. This sales strategy is useless because your prospects have come to you with their own reasons for buying already in mind. If you talk too much about what you think the reasons are to buy, you’re going to talk your bewildered prospects right out of the sale. When the sales representative talks too much, s/he sucks the emotion right out of the sale. It is draining and frustrating for prospects to hear a salesperson’s incessant babble about all of a product’s bells and whistles when they just want their own key questions answered.

There is a great story that illustrates the importance of your reason to buy ringing true with your prospects’ reasons to buy. A gentleman by the name of Airman Jones was assigned to the induction center, where he advised new recruits about their governmental benefits, especially their GI insurance. It wasn’t long before Captain Smith noticed that Airman Jones had an extremely high success rate, selling insurance to nearly 100 percent of the recruits he advised. Rather than asking him about his successful track record, the Captain stood at the back of the room during one of Jones’s presentations and listened to Jones’s sales pitch. As he presented, Jones explained the basics of GI insurance to the new recruits and then said, “If you are killed in a battle and have GI insurance, the government has to pay $200,000 to your beneficiaries. But if you don’t have GI insurance and get killed on the battlefield, the government only has to pay a maximum of $6,000. Now,” he concluded, “which group do you think they are going to send into battle first?” The resounding secret to his sales success was that Airman Jones gave the new recruits a compelling reason to buy.

The second R of solid closing is “resources.” Resources cover all those things that factor in to whether or not your product is appropriate for your prospect. Resources would include time availability, financial backing, support from family, physical ability, etc. For example, investing vast amounts of time and energy into selling annual ski passes to nursing home residents would not really be giving wise consideration to such prospects’ resources.

The third R of solid closing is the “representative.” This is where you, as a person, factor into the selling equation. How readily can your prospect feel a strong rapport with you? Is there an instinctive sense of trust? Does your style rub this person the wrong way? Whether you realize it or not, you are a part of the selling package. There have been many times when a prospect walked away from a sale, not because of the productin fact, the product might have been just what s/he was looking forbut because of the rep s/he had to deal with. Be sure you conduct yourself in such a way that your prospect can like you. People buy from people they like. They don’t buy from people they don’t like. It’s that simple.

Kurt Mortensen teaches over a hundred techniques to give you the ability to effectively work with every customer that walks in your door. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! Where do you rank nationally against other persuaders? Take your persuasion iq test at http://www.prewealth.com/iq to find out today!

Many of us in sales are taught to believe that the most important job of the salesperson is to ‘find the need’ of our prospects. If we can uncover ‘needs’ then our job is easy; we just need to show our prospect how our product or service fills that need. Right?

Well, the problem with that approach is that it only addresses part of the pie. Think about it. What do you do when YOU need something? Let’s say you need to buy a new computer; do you sit around and wait, hoping that a computer salesperson is going to call you? NO, of course not; you go out and you fulfill your need.

So, as a salesperson, if people really NEED your product or service they will pick up the phone and call you to place an order. If that’s the case, why aren’t you selling more??? Oh, you say, they’re buying from your competitor. Or, you might tell me, ‘Well, they just don’t KNOW that they need my product or service; my job is to ‘find the need’ and to ‘build their pain.’

Let me give you another way to think about this…suppose, just suppose for a moment, that instead of just focusing on ‘needs’ we broaden our thinking: as a salesperson you want to find out about what people DO. Your job is to find out and understand what they’re doing now, how they’re doing it, who they’re doing it with, when they’re doing, why they’re doing it that way, and then to help them do it better. Makes sense, right?

When you adopt the DO philosophy over the NEEDS philosophy, your thinking and the questioning will become much broader. By asking ‘do’ based questions you get better information from your prospects, which in turn allow you to make a proposal that will make much more sense to the prospect. And the only reason people buy something is because it makes sense to them.

By asking ‘do’ based question you are creating a conversation which engages your prospect. When performed at its best, selling is an extended conversation; it is not an interrogation by the salesperson, and neither is it a ‘product dump’ where you aim to tell your prospect anything and everything you can about your services.

What are some examples of ‘do’ based questions? Well, here are a few:

• ‘What are you currently doing about _______?’

• ‘I’m just curious, what made you decide to do it that way?’

• ‘How did you decide to do that?’

• ‘What are you hoping to accomplish in the next quarter, year, three years…?’

• ‘Tell me exactly what you do here?’ Or, ‘tell me what your key areas of responsibility are?’

• How was this decision made in the past?

• Will the decision process be the same this time around?

Take some time to make a list of questions that you can ask that are relevant to your business. Some of the questions may not seem to have a logical or direct tie to your product or service; that’s OK. In fact, that’s good! By focusing on what your prospects do and how they do it, you are opening up the whole dynamic of your sales call into a true conversation; one that will help you better understand the goals, objectives, and needs of your prospect. By broadening your conversation in this way you are then able to make the proposal or recommendation that will make sense to your prospect.

And, in the end, the only reason people buy something is because it makes sense!

Mark Dembo and Thomas J. Baskind are Managing Partners in DEI/Lexien of Greater New York, a sales performance improvement and management consulting company. They both have over 20 years of management and consulting experience in a variety of organizations. They invite you to visit their website, http://www.lexien.com/, and welcome your comments and inquiries.

What companies look for when recruiting a new sales representative are the characteristics that give you a successful sales career. If you have been hired to be part of a sales team, it’s probably because your manager can perceive that you have these attributes, at least to some degree. Your manager’s main challenge to help you develop them to their full potential. Let’s examine each of them in more detail.

1. Professionalism
   
   Because of the high-ticket products and services we sell, Bowne’s clients expect and deserve to work with men and women who are professional, in regard to their demeanor, their wealth of relevant knowledge, and their ability to manage complex projects efficiently and effectively. Professionalism also assumes well-honed organizational skills that make all contacts with the client a satisfying experience rather than an annoyance. What else distinguishes a professional from an amateur?
   
   
   
2. Commitment
   
   If you are selling a product, your client expects you to be committed to delivering the highest value possible, as defined by their requirements. If you are selling a service, your client expects you to be as interested, even as passionate, about getting their job completed on time and on budget as they are themselves. Commitment to your company is also essential to your success, as again and again your current and potential clients ask you, “Why should I choose your firm over one of your competitors?” You must focus on providing a succinct but persuasive answer that question. Finally, you have to be committed to your own success–committed enough to be highly disciplined in your investment of time, energy, training, and other resources to your own ongoing development. The committed keep growing.
   
   
   
3. Charisma
   
   You may believe that personal magnetism is a gift you may or may not be born with, not a skill you can develop. Charisma, however, is a competence that all sales professionals need, and most are able to learn. It is that seamless combination of vision, empathy, self-confidence, enthusiasm, optimism, and focus that often makes the different between closing a sale and closing a doorright in your own face. It involves the consistent ability to rapport instantly and maintain it subconsciously so that you and your client are never adversarial, but on the same side. Yet if your charisma comes across as contrived or artificial, it will do more harm than good.
   
   
   
4. Work ethic
   
   Anyone who believes that success in sales is mainly good luck should remember the famous words of golfing great Lee Trevino, “It’s amazing! The more I practice, the luckier I get.” Developing and maintaining a good work ethic means that you develop efficient and effective work habits and then stick with them day in and day out. This includes a regular schedule, standard operating procedures for the repetitive tasks you must perform, a simple but effective record-keeping system, and the self-discipline to keep going no matter what. You recognize that your success is not dependent just on the number of hours you work, but on how much of that time you channel toward your objectives.
   
   
   
5. Desire
   
   First, ask yourself, “What do I really want in my sales career?” Once you have established a definite, satisfying, and enthusiasm-inducing answer, keep that goal at the forefront of your thinking all the time. Second, you must ask, “What do I really want for my client?” This second goal should remain your priority in your relationship with the client. That’s what is known as “Customer Focus”: meeting or exceeding the client’s needs and expectations the first time and every time. The answers to these two questions should never be in conflict, but complementary. Desire is seldom a personality trait, so much as it is a developed skill. You think what you focus on, and you become what you think.
   
   
   
6. Attitude
   
   As Zig Ziglar says, “It’s your attitude, much more than your aptitude, that determines your altitude.” Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Are you enthusiastic or lethargic. Do you look at the problems or the possibilities? Once more, contrary to those who say to themselves and to anyone else who will listen, “That’s just the way I am,” and “I can never seem to overcome this personality flaw I have,” the right attitude is something we can develop, improve, and fine tune. Your mind will believe whatever you tell it about yourself. Why not choose to program it for success?
   
   
   
7. Creativity
   
   If you are wondering what distinguishes you from one of your competitors, consider this: to the client your two companies may be indistinguishable, you may both be selling a superior product or service, and each of you may be delivering your presentation and maintaining contact in a truly professional manner. Your creativity might well become the sole differentiator that makes you stand out from the dozen cookie-cutter sales representatives your client has encountered. It may be a remarkable turn of phrase, a humorous leave behind, or an unforgettable story. What ever it is, creativity can easily become a factor between gaining an order and losing one. Creativity can be learned, developed, and enhanced.
   
   
   
8. Resilience
   
   Anyone who has been in sales for very long has felt the pain of losing a close one. You may have invested many hours, days, or even weeks developing a relationship, gaining an opportunity to make a proposal, and earning your clients loyalty. Then the floor drops out, and you find the order has gone to a competitor or has been postponed indefinitely. Your ability on such occasions to bounce back not only to where you were before, but having gained from the experience, is one of the essential keys to sales success. If you are able to learn something from each loss and then put it behind you, your next opportunity has a higher likelihood for winning.
   
   
   
9. Flexibility
   
   Every sales professional knows that success in selling is not simply a matter of following a checklist of do’s and don’ts. You have to learn how to be flexible. In other words, you must develop an outstanding ability to read the particular needs, preferences, and personal idiosyncrasies of your client, and then tailor your interaction, presentation, and closing tactics to custom-fit that client. Employing a “one-size-fits-all,” learned-by-rote sales system is one of the quickest ways you can find to convince your client that they don’t matter to you.

Integrate all of these

Of course, each one of these has a rightful claim to your attention as important in and of itself. The challenge you face is to integrate all of these into your personality as a sales professional to the extent that they are convincingly natural. Only experience–that is, recognizing and reinforcing your successful efforts while identifying and correcting your flops–can enable you to blend all of these characteristics into an outstanding sales persona that nevertheless is really you.

* * *

Copyright © 2005 Steve Singleton. You may freely reprint this article, provided you do not change it and that you reproduce this copyright notice and the information below unaltered.

Steve Singleton has been a book editor, newspaper reporter, news editor, and public relations consultant. He has taught college courses, seminars, and workshops in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his DeeperStudy.com for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Get great bargains on Christian books at DeeperStudy Bookstore. Subscribe to the feed for his blog or for his free “DeeperStudy Newsletter.”

I spent my formative years in ballet class. While other kids went out to play, I went to ballet class. In high school while others attended after-school activities or hung out together, I went to ballet class. By my mid-teens I was taking class five or six times a week or maybe even more. This was a habit that continued till injuries sidelined my professional dancing career.

This habit of taking a ballet class every day was not mine alone. Every dancer, professional or those seeking to become professional, takes class every day. It’s a habit, it’s a reality, it goes with the job. It is impossible to dance professionally without taking class. Even the stars, Barishnykov, for example, take class every day.

In my late teens I had some personal crises that stopped me from going to class everyday. At one of my rare appearances in class, my teacher asked where I had been. I told her what was going on in my life. She said to me, “That’s no reason not to take class. You have to take class everyday, no matter what.”

Sounds harsh doesn’t it? But she was right. Not taking class only gave me something else to feel bad about.

When I started my sales training business, I used that same “no matter what” approach to prospecting. I prospected every day. I started out with absolutely no corporate connections. I was a ballet dancer, I only knew other ballet dancers. I did, however, know how to prospect. On and off for years my “day job” had been telemarketing. I began to prospect the same way I learned to take class, every day, no matter what. Five years later I have a thriving business. Even today I continue to prospect every day, while perhaps not for as many hours. Every day brings some prospecting activity, no matter what.

So how does the busy entrepreneur, busy owner or sales professional find the time to prospect every day no matter what? The answer is simple, put it in your calendar. Schedule time in your calendar every day for prospecting activity. At the scheduled time put aside what you are doing and prospect. Do not take other calls, do not work on other projects, do not allow interruptions. Simply prospect. When the time you have scheduled is over, stop prospecting and go on with your other tasks.

Schedule appointments with yourself to prospect and keep those appointments. We get angry and upset when prospects miss appointments. Ask yourself: Why is it all right to miss an appointment with yourself?

Prospecting success (just like learning to dance) comes over time. In order to keep your sales funnel full you must constantly be on the lookout for leads and prospects. By keeping your funnel full you avoid the boom and bust cycles that so many entrepreneurs and sales professionals experience. To be successful you must engage in some prospecting activity everyday, no matter what. It’s a habit, it’s a reality, it goes with the job.

© 2005 Wendy Weiss

Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling & Selling Success,” is a sales trainer, author, and sales coach. Her recently released program, “Cold Calling College”, and/or her book, “Cold Calling for Women”, can be ordered by visiting http://www.wendyweiss.com Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Get Wendy’s free e-zine at www.wendyweiss.com