Put down the book and pick up the baby! Everything you need to know about selling, on one sheet of paper.

• Author: Wiesner, Pat
• Position: [on] MANAGEMENT - Viewpoint essay

If you sit down over a beer and ask a salesman or saleswoman how it's done, they will pretty much all tell you the same thing. They will say that a top salesperson gets to be very good friends with his customers, helps them solve their business problems and therefore is very much on the inside when it comes time to buy. It's not that you get something for nothing, it is that somehow you have earned the right to have a chance at the business.

I always had a goal that went something like this: When my customers got to know me I wanted them to say, "Pat, we are going to use your products this year as you have probably guessed, but I want your advice on how to spend the rest of my budget on the things we have been talking about all year."

Now, I didn't always get this, but having it as a goal kept my mind on the target of "just how can I help this guy." It helped me limit the times I made the worst mistake that salespeople make, and that is talking incessantly about myself and my product. Many of us don't realize just how boring and how damaging it is to our cause.

Most of us know we should be spending most of our time trying to help our customers solve their problems, not telling anyone who will listen how great we are and how incredible our products are.

So here comes the biggest problem that salesmen face:

WHAT IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE CLIENT?

How do you say, "If you will just let me into your inner circle today I'm sure I can help you make some good decisions." Or, "I know more than you think I do."

IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO EARN THE RIGHT TO BE SOMEONE'S FRIEND!

The best advice I can give I got 40-some years ago from a book I had to read because we were having kids. It was "Baby and Child Care," by Dr. Spock. I think we wore out three of these books because we had a lot of kids. But one day I read somewhere that Spock had said, "There comes a time to put down the book and pick up the baby!"

So when you're making cold calls...