Being a successful sales person or business owner means using one's time wisely. Choose to spend your time with people who have shown a history of purchasing your product or service in the past. Generally speaking, your best clients are already using your product or service. Would you try and sell somebody who is a vegetarian, hamburger? Would you try and sell someone who drank water as a general rule, a soft drink?



Know who your market is, know who the decision-maker is, know why they would buy your product or service, the specific problems that you address, know how often they buy, when they by, and what their buying criteria is.

As a general rule, these of the five qualifying questions that you and your prospect should know the answers to.

1.Why am I here? Can you answer it? Can the prospect answer it?

Your prospect, should be looking forward to your visit. Your relationship should be based on trust. The best way to begin a relationship based on trust, is to start with all of your cards out on the table. Meeting prospects under false pretences is not a good way to start a healthy relationship based on trust. Additionally, what are the stresses, challenges and concerns of your client to be? What as an organization are they trying to achieve?

2.Besides yourself Tom, who else is involved in the decision making process?

If there others involved in the decision ? you might say something along the lines of, Do you mind if we can arrange a meeting where Mary can attend as well? I would actually be interested in her input as well. It's extremely important, that all the decision makers are present during your sales call. Generally, when one or two decision-makers are absent, this is used later as a reason to put off the decision.

3.On a scale of one to ten, ten being the highest, how much of a priority is this for you right now?

You should know the answer to this question before you sit down with your prospect. When I am talking to my prospects over the phone and setting up the appointment, a question I like to ask is; "Just to give me a rough idea, when are you thinking of moving forward with _____________" In order to make the best use of your time and your prospects time, meet with prospects who are motivated and interested in making changes or solving their problems right now, not three months from now.

4.What have you set aside for as a budget?

Whenever discussing any type of project or business interaction with your customer or prospect it's in your best interests to ensure that your prospect or customer has the budget to pay for it and any additional costs that a buying decision may entail. The majority of objections that you will encounter, will generally be around the pricing issue. Most salespeople and business owners who get pricing and other objections fail in presenting their product or service as a good value or a good investment for their prospect or customer.

Good questions you might want to ask, would include; What are you comfortable in spending? What have you set aside in past years for projects like this? When is year end?

5.Where do we go from here?

Always as a salesperson ? ALWAYS ? know what the next step is! One of the elements of a successful presentation is when your prospect or customer can feel comfortable in your presence. You can do this by being well-prepared, knowing when you can ship, when you can deliver, and having all of your forms ready. From my experience I have found the best time to close the deal is today. Studies show that your chances of making a sale drop dramatically after your first or second visit. Make the best use of your time, and remember first impressions are lasting impressions!