The Sales Diet for FAT and Happy Results

Forget about what you know about diets. In sales you want to be fat and happy! Unless you have a very limited market, you have an opportunity to capture as much business as possible and gorge yourself with sales. It’s true isn't it? So, why do salespeople limit themselves through self imposed diets?

Leave Only the Crumbs on the Table In outside sales we never want to diet. We should fill the largest plates we can carry so we won't leave anything for anyone else. We shouldn’t care if the next salesperson gets anything except for the crumbs we leave behind. Leaving the crumbs is acceptable because it represents the business we don't want.

Why carry a small plate to a buffet? This would be like only asking for a pretzel when a double chocolate triple layer cake is on the menu. We limit ourselves by not probing for new opportunities and expanding customer impressions of our services. We can stretch this thought if we think of all you can eat buffets. While you might not eat everything at one sitting, you will want to go back for more and sample everything. The easiest way to expand the sales menu is to ask good questions.

Expanding the Sales Menu to Match Customer Needs If we expand the menu with customers they will fill our plates with orders so we will never go hungry for business. By embracing and expanding our products and services we develop stronger strategic partnerships. One of the best questions to ask an existing customer is "when you think of me and my company, what comes to mind? By asking this question you will discover what the client really believes you are capable of doing for them. Although you may tell customers what you do, they often don't put two and two together and this question reveals the truth.

Our sales role is to ask good questions to determine customer needs and insure customers know what we can do for them. Growing and developing our knowledge and understanding of our customers business and vice versa will prevent our plates from getting too small. Next time you visit a customer, take a large plate and forget about self imposed diets. Enjoy the sales buffet.

Steve Martinez is the Founder of Selling Magic, a sales revolutionary company dedicated to teaching businesses how to increase sales by automating the best practices of sales. You can reach Steve at http://www.sellingmagic.com.