Many sales are lost because salespeople assume they know what the customer wants. Sales people like to made assumptions of knowledge about what the buyer wants and needs, or sometimes more important why the buyer might be motivated to buy. Using one’s instincts and sixth sense is fine in the equation of success, but it should be only part of your expertise.
Consequently, through unorganized, hit-or-miss methods, his cost of selling is high simply because his methods are not as efficient as they should be.
This does not mean you shouldn’t use …

The average salesperson is overly eager to begin actual selling, and in this ambition he or she is encouraged by the average sales manager.  In selling, as in many other activities of life, it often is true that less haste makes more speed. It does not pay to rush the preparation steps, for the result is bound to be a lot of stumbling afterward.
The importance of the preliminary preparation of the salesperson in knowledge of his products or services has already been emphasized in the preceding posts on this blog. …