My 8 Sales Tenets (so far…)

By Scott Sambucci | January 14, 2012

[UPDATED: 2/13/12]

Sales Tenet #9: Be nice. No matter what – always be nice.

Why “Tenets”? Just sounds better than “principles” or “rules” or “laws.” (Why are you asking silly questions – the meat and potatoes are below…)

Sales Tenet #1: For inbound calls and lead, find out why the prospect is inquiring about your product and has interest in your service before answering their questions.

Sales Tenet #2: Use the telephone as the default communication mode.

Sales Tenet #3: Jumping right into a sales demo on the first call is the kiss of death.

Sales Tenet #4: The decision criteria is a formative process. It will always take more than a single phone call to determine.

Sales Tenet #5: It’s never about the money; it’s about the cost.

Sales Tenet #6: Speak human.

Sales Tenet #7: There is generally an inverse correlation between the amount of work the client expects you to do before the sale and the likelihood of the sale actually occurring.

Sales Tenet #8: Using a product and buying a product are very, very, very, very, very different activities and decisions.