Ten ways to attract new business.

1. Be a walking example/demonstration of how effective your product or service is. Being congruent (when people sense that you believe and live what you speak about) is the number one way to establish credibility.

2. Do your homework and discover what your "typical" customer's biggest problem is. Pretend it's your own problem. Now solve the problem. Take the solution to the customer, packaged around your own product/service. If you’re a solution provider, the barrier to entry is harder for a competitor than if you’re a product provider.

3. Polish your product knowledge and presentation techniques until they’re razor sharp. Your stories, examples, jokes, facts, comparisons and closes are your "tools of the trade." Spend a minimum of four hours a week polishing your tools.

4. Make a notebook of your best stories, best examples, most effective closes, funniest relevant jokes and the rebuttals to the biggest objections you face. Have the rest of the sales team do the same. Compare notes, then compile a "best of the best" file of the best stories, examples, closes, etc. Continually expand and add to your notebook each month.

5. Improve your communication skills so that people want to be around you. Learn rapport skills through Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) training, for example. Learn to identify different personality types and communications styles and know how to respond to each. Hone your listening and questioning skills. Polish your speaking and languaging skills until your presentations are very effective.

6. Add value to your current customers by making sure they're maximizing the use of the product/service. Show the customer how they’re saving money by using your product. Be willing to take as much time as necessary to educate and support them, especially after the sale.

7. Turn your customers into your company's R&D department. Get lots of feedback from them. Be so "in tune" with their needs and desires that you can anticipate what your customers will want even before they ask.

8. Ask your best customers for a letter of recommendation or a testimonial letter (on their letterhead). Three or four sincere testimonials can raise your average close ratio by 30-50%. An easy method is to interview your best customers over the phone, take notes (quotes), then email the notes to them. They can easily edit and print them out on their own letterhead, and mail the letter to you. Show the letters to all new prospects - this is more effective than the slickest brochure!

9. Strengthen your personal foundation/reserve levels so that you act like you don't need the money anymore. Then your motivation is based more on creating value, solving the customer's problems and genuinely helping them get what they want or need. This is a much more attractive sell.

10. Master the following six-step selling process until it’s second nature:

- Establish rapport.

- Ask questions to understand the customer and to find their real need.

- Based on the need, determine exactly where the real value is for the customer.

- Link their need to the value provided by your product/service using concise, persuasive communication (don't over-present).

- Assume the sale and conditionally close. If there’s a green light, then close the sale officially.

- If there are any objections, handle them by cycling back to previous steps (find the real need, link it to your product, etc).