Being successful at conducting sales conversations is not something that requires loads of training or preparation.  Yes, you want to have the right tools on your training tool belt so you can be prepared, but you don't need to hold back from tackling sales success due to your intimidation or the lack of knowing some of the basics of selling.  Basically, you just have to keep it simple (like we instructed in the K.I.S.S. ("Keep it simple, stupid!") article about customer service), and you will find it's easier than you think to simply be a sales rock star.

People who handle stress well tend to employ what stress experts call an "optimistic explanatory style." They don't beat themselves up when things don't work out in their favor.  So instead of using statements that catastrophize an incident, like "I'm a complete failure," they might say to themselves, "I need to work on my backhand."

-Shape.com, 20 Simple Stress Relief Techniques

 

Happiness in the workplace has a lot more to do with you than you may think, and less to do with the workplace itself. What makes you genuinely happy in your job surprisingly isn't about promotions or higher pay.  It's not the things that happen to us; instead, we all create our own personal experiences.  Srikumar Rao, the author of Happiness at Work states, "The knowledge that we are responsible for living the life we have is our most powerful tool."  

Looking ahead at the specific industry of which your service business or professional practice is a part is also important.  To determine which trends are significant to you, explore the marketing elements of your industry.  These include the following: general changes in your industry, changes in services in your field, pricing changes, changes in the way your service is distributed or delivered to your clients, possible changes in promotion, changes in the clients themselves.

-Jean Withers and Carol Vipperman, Marketing Your Service

A LOT!  For those of you who don't know, K.I.S.S. stands for "Keep it simple, stupid" (not calling you stupid; just don't want you to act stupid).  According to Wikipedia, the meaning of K.I.S.S. is: "The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated; therefore simplicity should be a key goal in design and unnecessary complexity should be avoided."  Now applying this principle to customer service makes a lot of sense, right?  Businesses often neglect to uphold customer service standards since they don't want to put in the work required to train on and maintain them.  This is where businesses go wrong- implementing good, basic customer service practices is not hard, and for many people, it comes naturally once they are given a gentle nudge to embrace these skills. 

Part of looking ahead as a service provider is asking a simple but compelling question:  What is happening that will affect my service business in the next year?  From the information you collect in answer to this question, you can make assumptions that will help you anticipate the short-term future.  The question should be asked about the following outside influences: the status of the local or national economy, a threatened strike in a related industry, the inflation rate, the status of major competitors, the economic well-being of a major industry or your client in that industry, a major technological innovation that may be either expected or unexpected.

- Jean Withers and Carol Vipperman, Marketing Your Service