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Ever heard the saying “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”? That’s because studies have shown people begin to form strong opinions about you in 7-20 seconds and make up their minds about you in about 30 seconds.

Social media has become a marketing game-changer. In B2B selling, LinkedIn (LI) has emerged as a must-have in your sales repertoire. Several books have been written about social media and using LI in your sales/marketing efforts, and it wouldn’t be difficult to write another one right here. Instead, this article focuses just on LI as a sales tool, and includes the 5 things you can use that will improve your sales.

What do buyers value most about salespeople? What annoys them the most about salespeople? If you knew the answers to these questions, you’d probably become a better salesperson. Well, some of those answers are in this article.

Imagine you are part of an experiment about human behavior to see how people react in unfamiliar circumstances. You are blindfolded, led to a car, put on a plane and flown to a city to which you had never been before. Upon arriving in this new place, you are driven to a street corner in the city and dropped off with instructions to remove your blindfold. What would you do first? Many people would look around for any familiar landmarks. Others would look for someone to ask where they are. Asking where you are is the first step to overcoming objections – also known as the trial close.

Business networking, whether it is online and/or in-person, is a very powerful way to increase your brand awareness and credibility especially if you are in the business of selling and marketing to other businesses. Besides knowing your business and your competitive advantages, it is important to set goals of what you want to achieve through business networking.

When you have a solid competitive advantage (or unique selling proposition – QSP) and can effectively communicate it, you have a real asset that belongs in every online marketing property, every piece of printed material, and in every verbal message you communicate to your marketplace. USP’s separate you from the competition and give your prospects a real reason to buy from you.

In sales prospecting is a critical activity. You might be able to sell “ice to an Eskimo” but if you can’t get in front of qualified prospects, what does it matter? One of the most often applied tactics to prospecting is cold calling – “dialing for dollars” as many describe it. Most of us don’t like it but it’s an important activity.

Is it really worth investing in sales assessment tools and sales training? A leading national research firm conducted a study of more than 800 end-user companies about their activities and investments in sales assessments and sales training.

People do business with people they like. Also, the people we like and spend time with are people who are like us and do the things we like to do. In sales, one of the key ingredients to success is to make the buyer love you, or at least like you more than your competition. This article presents one approach about how to make that happen.

Want to exponentially increase your chances of getting a face-to-face appointment with a top prospect or closing a big sale? Get an inside coach. An inside coach is someone on the inside of your prospective company who wants you to get the sale.