It's a common question we come across everyday: why is business getting more difficult now? Well, it all starts with your company's sales competencies. The strange thing is that many companies spend lots of money and time training its people how to sell their products but not how to sell.

Avoid the sales peaks and troughs experienced by the average salesperson by building an individual selling system that will guarantee you results?

Step 1: Goals

Without clearly defined goals, measured over a specific time frame, you will achieve very little. When setting your goals consider your income, lifestyle and requirements.

First aim to improve your last years' income by a specific amount, or, if you are new to sales, aim to achieve as close to the top sales person in your team as you can.

Step 2: Prospecting

The level of success achieved by salespeople will always be determined by the number of customers self generated, that is other than floor traffic or telephone enquiries generated by your advertising.

Put a system in place to regularly find new customers from referrals, past customers etc.

Build up your database of loyal customers that you can sell time after time.

Step 3: Qualifying

Qualifying is the factor, which has the greatest impact on the management of your time. You have to become skilled in sorting prospects. The greatest stress in your career will come from working with unqualified prospects, be it someone who refuses to buy at a fantastic price or someone who is not ready, willing and able to buy at all.

Step 4: The Sales Process

The key to a successful sale is the ability to build rapport and trust with each customer.

Meet, greet and build rapport, settle them on a model, garment or product to demonstrate.

All the time check by asking trial-closing questions then asks for their business.

Remember to sell the benefits of your product speaking in their own linguistic modality. For example talking to an auditory person about a car engine you would say.

"Listen to that engine, doesn't it sound great?"? Or to a visual person your could say, "You see how smooth that engine is"?

Step 5: Follow up

This is the first step to the next sale to your customer or to obtaining referrals from them? First a thank you letter, then a 7 day follow up call followed by a call at least every 9 days. This will ensure a steady stream of referrals? All you have to do is ask

Remember? Do what you most fear to do, and you will have the results you most want to have?

Gordon Goh is author of the free, informative website Simply Motivation offering quality useful tips for Motivation