Trade Secrets

You may have a solid sales strategy that works every time—well, almost every time. Or maybe you switch among a few tactics depending on the situation. But what happens when your pitch falls flat? When you're stuck in a sales rut, it can be hard to evaluate where you've gone wrong. Instead of some soul-searching and evaluating on your part, we've done the work for you. Here, seven industry professionals reveal their best-kept secrets for success that will spare you from missing that key sale.

Gregg Emmer
Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Kaeser & Blair Inc., Batavia, Ohio

"My secret sales tip is—stop selling and help your buyer buy!

"Selling can be (and in most cases is) an adversarial environment. You want to sell and your customer wants to resist being sold, so stop that ­process. Find out what the customer wants to invest in, what the outcome is they are looking for and help them invest in that. Do they want to increase productivity, thank employees, improve customer loyalty, lower insurance costs, etc.? Find out the outcome and help your customer invest in that.

"This holds true for print projects, promotional campaigns, used cars or anything else. A buyer always has an objective in mind. Find out what that is and help them buy the outcome."

Kendall Brickweg
Promotional Products Specialist, American Solutions for Business, Glenwood, Minn.

"Try keeping a special calendar to track your customers' annual events, like holiday parties, golf outings, summer picnics, etc. This way you can proactively reach out to customers two to three months prior to the event to help them start planning. This shows your customers that you are organized and proactive. The main benefit to you is you get the sale while saving you the time, expense and headache of rush orders."