My Secret Selling Sauce

What's your secret sauce for your selling success? That's the question I hear from many of my colleagues in the photo business. What I have learned over the past two years in our ever changing, fast paced business we call the photo industry, is that our sales numbers have not increased due to any new form of technology, even including green screen. Our numbers have grown over 17 percent in 2009 alone from listening to our customer needs and creating mutual value for both us as well as our customer.

It's a 35 page integrity selling pocket guide that rides in my briefcase on every sales call...it's torn at the edges and falling apart at the seems as it has been removed from my briefcase before I call on every new prospect. there is not a secret sauce or magic potion...it's just integrity.

A Statement of Integrity Selling Values and Ethics:

1. Selling is an exchange of value.
2. Selling isn't something you do to someone it's something you do for and with someone.
3. Understanding people's wants or needs must always precede any attempt to sell.
4. Develop trust and rapport before any selling activity begins.
5. Selling techniques give way to selling principles.
6. Integrity and high ethics are accepted as the basis for long-term selling success.
7. A salesperson's ethics and values contribute more to sales success than do the techniques or strategies.
8. Selling pressure is never exerted by the salesperson. It's exerted only by the prospect when they perceive they want or need the item being sold.
9. Negotiation is never manipulation. It's always a strategy to work out problems...when prospects want to work out the problems.
10. Closing isn't just a victory for the salesperson. It's a victory for both the salesperson and the customer.

A statement of integrity value and ethics by: Ron Willingham for Integrity Training Systems.