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So you have decided to go into sales, first you need to make yourself a very important question: do I really want to do this for a living? On the answer to this question depends your future as a salesman. Know the eight key factors that will help you discover if sales really is for you.

1. Determine why you want to be a salesman. If you were in a conversation with someone and you were asked: ‘Why do you want to go into sales?’ what would you answer? A lot of people answer that money is their motivation, and quite frankly that’s not the best answer. If this is your case, be careful! If all you want is money and you’re not doing something you really like, it’ll be twice as difficult for you to get the economic rewards you want. Remember: money is only a consequence, a byproduct. If you set yourself to do something you really like, something you fell passionate about, then everything you see, read, listen to, study and do you will do it with joy, hence you’ll be very good at it and money will find its way to you.

2. Can you easily reject other professions? Don’t be distracted and focus. What would happen if in this very moment you were faced with an alternative to perform a professional activity other than sales? Would you take it? If your answer is ‘no’ then you have taken the best choice. Commit yourself to what you like to do. Don’t waste your time in other activities you’re not really interested in.

3. Know your strengths and exploit them. It’s always better to develop a person’s strengths than trying to complement his or her weaknesses. Try to identify your strengths and devote yourself to develop, grow and perfect them. If selling is your vocation, this is the most effective way to become a notable sales professional with excellent economic results.

4. Dedicate yourself to what you really like. Where there’s joy there’s success. Consider how satisfied you are with the professional activity your performing now and evaluate if this is really what you wish for. If it’s not then it might be worth it to change the path. Many times we can have what we want right under our noses, but we go out some other place looking for it. Ask yourself: what I do right now, is it really what I dream of doing?

5. Learn the secrets of great salesmen. There are four characteristics that define the best:
* Passion for selling. This is the inner strength generated by a person when he or she is motivated and commitment to his or her activity. Passion and conviction go hand in hand.
* Persistence. You must be able to achieve what you want and avoid giving up at first sight of hardship or failure.
* Ambition. A salesman who is not ambitious is not a winner. You must have the profound desire to discover, keep and broaden prospects and clients.
* Preparedness. A salesman who does not know how to sell and doesn’t know his or her product will definitely not be successful. He or she might have passion, might be persistent and ambitious but if the client asks for a comparison with a competing product and the salesman doesn’t have enough information or doesn’t possess the skills to do it then the previous traits will be of no use.

6. Recognize in yourself a successful salesman. Successful salesmen are successful because:
* They have clear, honest and ethical ambitions.
* They know the best techniques and have the necessary skills.
* They take interest in the success of all three: the client’s, the company’s and his own.
* They don’t have to be salesmen, they want to be salesmen!
The causes salesmen fail can be found in the following five:
* They are not doing what they want to do.
* They feel obligated or forced to be in sales.
* They lack interest in the well-being of his or her prospects or clients.
* They are not prepared and are not honest to themselves.
* Because they have to be and don’t want to be.

7. Are you willing to have a 24×7 workweek? If you’re willing to be ‘in touch’ with your clients 24 hours a day 7 days a week then you’re on the right path. If you’re not then you might be better off doing something else, not sales. Dare to seize every opportunity you get to contact new prospects but don’t just forget about the ones you already have. New prospects can help generate new sales, but if you are careful and build relationships with your current prospects and clients they are sure to generate sales after sales month after month.

8. The power of professional and economic rewards. Remember that when you love what you do, success, fame and fortune become natural consequences, not the objective. If this is not your case, look for you passion, your vocation and pursue self fulfillment in that field or activity, If you do then life will be more fun, more prosperous and with less visits to the doctor.

When composing sales copy for an online business there are certain guidelines for writing in a persuasive manner that will serve you well. The first thing you need to realize is that people scan more than they read when viewing any copy writing online. With that said a copywriter needs to get their attention and fast in order to be effective at their craft.

Here are 3 very simple yet effective tips on how to write persuasive sales copy that will be viewed on the internet.

Make Your Point Quickly

People normally scan instead of reading online. They may read the first few sentences to get the gist but after that they go into the ‘scanning’ mode. If you do not make your points quickly you have likely lost the reader! A copy writer needs to ‘move’ to the point of the message almost immediately. Anybody reading sales copy has already landed on the page fully aware something is being promoted so there is little reason to delay getting to the point.

‘Clip’ Your Sentences

Use as few words as possible in each sentence. Readers can quickly develop a ‘subconscious’ attitude when they are being ‘sold something’ online. They very often are looking for a reason to simply leave the page. Do not let your sentences get too long or you may very well give the reader the ‘excuse’ they are looking for to leave!

Be Persuasive

Do not ‘play’ and try to ‘romance’ your readers but instead use plain and direct wording to make your point and persuade them. As a copy writer your objective is to persuade the reader and not to ‘dance’ around the issue with frivolous and useless adjectives and compliments. Getting a reader to take the desire action you want them to take in as few words as possible is how to write persuasive sales copy.

When composing sales copy for online viewers there are certain guidelines for writing in a manner that will quickly capture a readers’ attention. Since people tend to scan most copy writing more than they read it, the intended message needs to be delivered quickly and clearly. With this being the case a copywriter will want to minimize the use of any non-essential words or phrases in order to get to the point as fast as possible. The 3 tips presented here today on how to write persuasive sales copy for online use will help you to quickly capture the attention of your intended audience. At this point it will be up to the ‘depth’ of your message and the quality of your product as to whether the reader will become a satisfied customer.

The most important event in sales is the closing of a deal. And some people believe that a sales person is either a closer or they are not. Or the harder they work, the more aggressive they are, and the more times they call they prospect translates into more closed deals. While some of that may be true and some may be false, what is true is that there are clear tactics that one can implement to improve sales effectiveness and improve the ability to close deals. One these tactics is to trial close throughout the sales cycle.

What is a trial closing?
Trial closing is simply checking in with the prospect to get their opinion. This differs from actual closing as the goal is only to get feedback and information and is not intended get their final decision. The goal of this tactic is to gather information to identify if the prospect is onboard and heading in the same direction as the sales person.. This can also be utilized to identify the path forward in terms of challenges and opportunities.

When to use this tactic?
To improve sales effectiveness, it can be helpful to use this tactic throughout the sales cycle. If this can be viewed as a “check in” or opinion gathering technique, than it is reasonable to use this tactic during and at the end of every meeting with a prospect.

Examples of a trial close
Below are some examples of trial closing questions:

What do you think of what we have discussed so far?
What are your feelings for what we have demonstrated?
How would that feature help your operation?
Is this something you could see your employees using?
Do you agree with the return on investment analysis?
Do you want to continue forward with these discussions?
What direction do you want to go from here?

Benefits of trial closing
The main benefit of the trial closing is that it gives the sales person valuable information on what is going on the prospect’s side. This tactic can help a sales person to understand what the prospect’s perception is and any challenges or opportunities that exist. By having this additional information, the sales person will be able to be execute better in two key areas:

Qualification: By having more information on the prospect’s perception of the solution, the sales person will be better able to qualify, or disqualify, sales opportunities. Being able to execute in this area alone can help a sales person to spend valuable time in the right areas.

Navigation: By asking trial close questions and having key information from the prospect, a sales person will be able to better navigate the sales process and sales cycle in terms of focusing on the key areas where attention needs to be placed. This can help to ensure that the messaging and execution is tight and aligned with what is needed to stay ahead of the competition.

Cost of not using trial close questions
The main risk from not trial closing during the sales cycle is that a sales person might not know exactly how the prospect feels and this could create the probably of wasting time on unqualified deals. In addition, the sales person might be focusing in areas or messaging that is not important to the prospect negatively impacting sales effectiveness.