CONFIDENCE AND TRUST
Building confidence and trust is a long term effort. It means that you establish your long term presence, that you will be there for your customer when they need you. It means that you will have to make more than one call and you will have to follow-up. It means you have to be a good listener. You have to be very empathic to your customers' needs. It doesn't mean that you have to agree with what the customer says, it just means that you have to understand what he says. Then and only then can you provide the advice and product information your customer needs. Your customer won't trust you and won't have confidence in you if you haven't listened to his needs and shown that you understand. Simply pushing the product that you want to sell without understanding the problem, more than likely will disrupt the trust and confidence you are trying to build with your client.

QUALITY
Needs help define the quality that your customer will require to do the job. If you understand the customer you have a better chance of providing the quality level he requires to solve his problem. Selling higher quality products requires the salesperson to do some training of his customer. The salesperson has to teach the customer attributes and benefits of higher quality products so the customer will appreciate and be willing to pay for them; indeed demand them. In order to accomplish this you must have a good working knowledge of the product and a well prepared presentation.

SERVICE
The service capability of your organization has already been shown by the time you have spent building confidence and trust. Providing information and advice on a quality product and listening carefully to your customer's needs assures the client that you can eventually supply the service he requires. Service has to do with realistic delivery time, need date, technical assistance and follow up. Service is the wisdom to choose vendors and manufacturers who can deliver as promised-on schedule, on time-the product you have sold to your customer. Service is being there when your customer has questions and making sure that you get the answers; either because you know them or because you are persistent about finding the accurate information your customer requires. Service is anticipating problems and avoiding them.

CHOICE
If you only present one idea, your customer might feel a little penned in and pressured. Giving some viable choices, products that are acceptable even if not ideal, will allow the customer to build confidence and trust in you as a salesperson. You may in the end steer him towards the one best choice, but having some viable options allows your customer to solve problems within the framework of budget and need with confidence. Your customer is sold. All you have to do now is close the order.

PRICE
Before you can write a P.O., you will need to establish a price including terms and conditions. However, the price is immaterial if you have not built confidence, if you haven't solved your customer's problems, if you haven't proposed a quality product to service the requirements of the job. I have learned in my 35 years of selling that price is not the most important item on the buyer's priority list. Any of the top salespeople I have ever met or whose works I have read agree, that price is not the top priority-and this conclusion is supported by statistical studies. Price is almost never the 'first' item. Always remember the price you get reflects your ability to educate, obligate and negotiate. Selling in this order of priority: Confidence and Trust, Quality, Service, Choice, Price will lead to solid growth and profitable sales.