Amazon Superior Selling Skills Category:  Marketing Publisher: Booksurge Publishing ISBN-10:  0976891859 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 166 Copyright: October 29, 2007 ISBN-13: 9780976891857 Everybody Sells... either their products or ideas. Learn how to sell your ideas, becoming much more personally effective and sales productive. Selling is the mutually satisfying transfer of goods, ideas, thoughts and solutions from one person to another in order to meet a particular need or desire on behalf of all parties. Sometimes this transfer involves the physical movement of goods from one location to another, but the actual sale actually happens in the minds’ eye of buyer, long before he actually takes physical possession of a good or begins to utilize a service. What the purchaser is buying is the perception and expectation that a relevant need will be satisfied if he or she moves forward at this time with an affirmative purchasing decision. The last statement is a critical one, especially for the person who is selling their ideas, attempting to influence others to their point-of-view. The customer is interested in solutions, whether they are emotional or tangible is often irrelevant. We must always keep in mind that our prospects want to have their needs satisfied and are thus likely eager to hear of a pending solution, as long as it benefits them. We need to speak the language of our prospects or audience. That particular thinking goes far beyond verbiage alone; it must include an understanding of their very philosophy and beliefs. We must get inside their heads to effectively understand what drives them. It is only after examining our prospects and customers at such a deep  level that we can effectively communicate with them and possibly interest them in our message. If we present a great message that misses the mark because we selected the wrong audience, we will have failed in that effort. This is especially true when attempting to gain someone's trust, or convincing them of our point of view, for selling intangibles like insurance and safety products and any other situation that requires them to adopt our paradigm as their own. It is quite an undertaking, but can be successfully completed only if we pay particular attention to learning what makes them tick. It is also important to be genuine, not self-serving, as any perception on their part that we are conning them will eliminate any opportunity we may have to interact with them and achieve our objective. We only win when our customers win.       Excerpt "Always be working on becoming a better, more effective “you” and you will be gratified, satisfied and successful in everything you do." Professional selling is usually perceived as an extroverted activity, a career choice for those with a particularly outgoing personality, well suited to that profession. While this may be generally true, there are countless examples of successful salespeople from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines with an even wider variety of personalities that are hardly traditional with regard to the typical stereotype of a salesperson. Selling requires a skill set, hence it is an art that must be successfully learned, developed and perfected. Yes, while it is true that some persons are predisposed to a career in sales because of their extroverted personality and charm, there is far more contributing to their sales success than mere congeniality and charisma. Successful selling requires learned skills, ongoing study, practice and experience. Selling is definitely a learned profession. While qualities such as integrity, confidence, positive attitude, patience, persistence, effective listening, a sense of purpose, established goals, planning, knowledge, questioning skills and countless others typically combine for an individual's sales success, there is often one single trait that is evident among successful salespeople across the board. It involves the most important sale each of us will ever make… that is selling ourselves that we are good enough, capable enough and able to successfully sell to our prospects, converting them into repeat customers. A successful career in sales begins with that first sale: Selling you on yourself. Everything else will follow. That initial sale propels you into the world of successful selling and prepares you for learning every other skill that follows. For without that first sale, you will be unable to sell your ideas to anyone else. You must be sold on yourself first. The development and mastery of your superior selling skills demands that first sale. There is no arrogance or conceit to be found here. Fooling yourself is not an option, for the subsequent measure of your sales performance will surely reveal it. Your initial sale is indeed a private one. While it is the most important sale you will ever make, it will also serve to establish your personal belief in yourself, thus planting the seeds that will germinate in later confidence under duress. Your resulting level of confidence will create your selling platform for all subsequent skills and resulting successes that will be built upon it.

Brian Tracy
"This book is loaded with great ideas you can use immediately to sell more, faster and easier than you ever thought possible." - Brian Tracy

Jill Konrath
"In a hypercompetitive market filled with look-alike products & services, this book shows you how to become the differentiator. Learn these success meta-skills and you're guaranteed to stand out from the crowd."
- Jill Konrath, author "Selling to Big Companies"