Ryan Sauers

Elise Hacking Carr is senior production editor for Print & Promo Marketing magazine, and managing editor for PRINTING United Journal.

Amanda L. Cole is the editor-in-chief of NonProfit PRO. She was formerly editor-in-chief of special projects for NonProfit PRO's sister publication, Promo Marketing. Contact her at acole@napco.com.

You may think your sales strategy is flawless, but even seasoned professionals need an occasional boost. This is where consultative selling can help. Consultative selling involves a creative approach designed around the client's needs. To do it right, the salesperson must develop a relationship with the potential client before trying to make a sale.

The indelible Swoosh. The Golden Arches. The bitten apple. Companies with less manpower and lower budgets hope to achieve even a fraction of the brand equity of Nike, McDonald's and Apple.

Believe it or not, there's more to negotiating than having leverage and being "really in into yelling over a guy while he's trying to talk." If you want to win more arguments, sell more products and generally get more for your business, you need to be the best negotiator possible.

Love it, hate it, or hate it so much it's like nails-on-a-chalkboard-as-performed-by-third-graders-hyped-on-Pepsi, studying is still important. It's how you fix your mistakes, improve your strengths, and most importantly, move past your peers and become the successful teacher's pet that everyone envies...

Honing in on the person who makes the buying decisions at a company and establishing a relationship with them is a crucial part of succeeding with a prospect, not only for making the immediate sale, but also for setting them up to be a repeat customer. It may seem like an obvious point, but that doesn't mean it's an easy one.

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