• Location: name, number, address, telephone, and e-mail address
• Objective: state both your long-term and short-term professional goals
• Competencies and Skills: this category should be carefully categorized to represent a full area of skills. You can list any communication skills, hardware/software skills, any research skills or more.
• Education: all universities attended should be listed including dates of graduation and academic honors
• Experience: Show any experience you may have relevant to the job you're applying for
• Activities: here you can show any volunteer work you've done, list any memberships in any professional organizations or any participation you have done in workshops or panels

These categories should be included on any resume, but not necessarily in this order. You can add any awards or honors you have received. You can also condense two categories into one to shorten your resume (i.e. Activities & Awards). Also, remember to list references if the job posting requires it. If not you should make a note "available upon request."

Word Choice

The words you chose to use may reflect your writing style in a more intelligent and professional way. It is best to be as specific as you can and use very few words on your resume.

• Use active, strong verbs. Good verbs to use could be: established, launched, represented, demonstrated, performed, facilitated, drafted, or obtained.
• Keep things clean: when using past tense, stick with past tense. When describing present work, do not use past tense. When capitalizing something in a list or bulleted format, capitalize all of the beginnings of the list or bulleted format. These are simple but easy mistakes you can avoid to keep your resume clean and impressive.

Order and Structure

It is important to order your work in reverse chronological order. List your most current position or activity first then go towards your oldest. Any bulleted points should be listed from the most important task or skill to the least important.

• Keep structure consistent and logical and try to aim for no more then a 1-2 page resume
• If your resume is more than one page, place a header on your second page
• Try not to use too many bullets, capitalization, or italics on long sentences. It is difficult to read.
• To emphasize important information, such as a name of a position, you can bold, italicize, or place increase in font size
• Chose your font size and type appropriately. The most common font size is 10pt and the most common fonts used are Times New Roman and Ariel.

Keep in mind who will be reading the resume and what kind of job you are applying for. You want to make a good professional impression- put time and effort into your resume. Keeping all of these things in mind should create a winning resume.

An important notation is that resumes are determined within the first ten seconds as to their value. Why? Because busy employers take that time to go over the first few lines of the resume and from that they determine whether or not they will go any further. Therefore, your most selling information needs to be at the top of the resume in clear view of the employer.

Here are a few suggestions to make your resume professional and appealing to employers.

1. You need to put your name and address, phone numbers and E-mail addresses as a header at the top of the page. This is necessary for two reasons: it lets the employer know that you have a permanent address and are not transient, and also how they can contact you.
2. Next, put a one-line “Career Objective” that states your career goal and how it lines up to this job position. This lets the employer know that you share an interest in the position and that it would be worth the time training you for it.
3. Then, list your skills and qualifications, beginning with the ones that are pertinent to the position you are applying for. If you have a long list of credentials including education, type in, “See Appendix A, attached”, and then list everything on a separate document and attach it to the resume. In this case, you would not need to submit Point 5).
4. Follow that with volunteer work that you have done in this type of work. This tells the employer that you have a sincere interest in this position because you performed similar duties even without being paid.
5. Then list your education and special training starting with your most recent. This lets the employer know that you have knowledge and training for the position that you are applying.
6. Next, list your record of employment starting with your most recent. Include dates and duties performed. Don't go back more than ten or so years unless the jobs directly pertain to the one you're applying for.
7. List any other volunteer work that you have done even if it doesn't relate to this job. This tells the employer that you have a responsible concern for your community, a point which most employers find favourable.
8. Finally, you need to let the employer know that you have both character and work references ready for them. So, under References, put “Available upon request”.

Do not list your reference names on your resume. You don't want the employer contacting them first and pre-judging your character in a negative fashion, preventing you from getting an interview.

Let your resume sell your qualifications for the job interview, and let the job interview sell your personality and character qualifications, and let your references verify what the employer has learned from you.

Points to remember:

• List all your information in point form and not as an essay
• Include a covering letter with your resume that is in essay form and that compiles your qualifications with the benefit that you believe you will be to the company
• Type your resume in an acceptable business font ie: Courier New, 12 pt. Never use an artistic script. You need to keep it clear and to what the employer prefers so that you know they will read it
• Don't list menial jobs that might make you appear transient or uncommitted, such as a job you took that didn't work out.
• Don't make your resume longer than two pages.

When your resume is prepared with professionalism, the employer will also be prepared to receive you that way.

I mean, when a someone shows up at your house to look at the job and he is on a motorcycle, dressed in motorcycle gear and has a dozen or so shiny things sticking out of his face, that he did to himself, on purpose, you should not expect much from him. That way, when you don't get much from him, you are not disappointed with the results.

There are so many examples of people that are almost predictably unreliable and the scenario I just layed out happened to one of my customers the other day. The lady went on and on about how she could not find any reliable people to work at her house and specifically was annoyed by her plumber experience.

The plumber came to look at her job but did not come back to to the job as promised. Not too professional is it?

Of course, not all plumbers fit into that category and not all people with face piercings everywhere are totally unreliable, but when you are dealing with this pierced up freak for the first time, you don't know what kind of person they are and you only have their appearance to judge them by at that point. Besides, you aren't hiring a person, you are hiring a plumber.

Sure, lots of pierced up freaks are hard workers and indeed are very realiable people, but if they show up looking like they are ready for a concert or a night out at the bar then they better be ready to be scrutinized by others, at least until the people scrutinizing them have enough exposure to them to be able to judge whether or not they are going to be worth fooling with.

I know that most people who are all pierced up with tattoos showing everywhere are proud of their uniqueness and like to where it proudly, even though the more you try not to conform to others expectations the more you are actually conforming. I mean, look around, there seams to be so many people that are non conformists that they are almost the new "normal" and the people who look like God made them look are starting to be the outcasts.

I guess the moral to this story is, if you are a professional, act like a professional. Don't act like your just a good time waiting to happen. When you are off the clock you can be a walking pin cushion or billboard, heck you can be what you want to be, but when you make your first appearance at someone's home to work, their first impression can set the stage for a smooth work day, or a day of uncertainty and friction.

Applying and resigning in two jobs during a three-month period may be viewed by everyone as delinquent, and I admit that it has little suggestions of rebelliousness in it. I hunt for an occupation after bidding goodbye to volunteer work from SIKAP for two years. After being accepted in two jobs, I resign because of ideological reasons, as one may call it. I experience four months of searching and three months of working. It is also the time of my first plane ride to disenfranchised communities. This is a dream that I have always yearned for and, as God would have it, my flight's schedule is a day after my birthday. I also have chances of working in writing projects which improve my grasp of words and semiology.

Throughout my year, I am exposed to older bosses that I humbly obey in the beginning, but whom I end up contravening after three months. This is not to deliberately insult them but my irritation and somber grow during these times. Most of the time, I do not agree with what they expect me to accomplish. I observe that they are output-oriented rather than empowering to people. It makes me reflect about the leadership styles of both our generations. Eddie Gibbs, an American professor of theology, affirms that past generations' headship is controlling while my era's leadership is reflexive. This doesn't, however, rank which approach is better. In fact, he mentions that today's young people have baggages because of their culture. They are reluctant to take initiative and responsibility; appear to casual and aimless; have anger or detachment towards institutions; and naively idealistic. I deem that this is not only because of our leadership methods but also caused by tensions produced by rapidly evolving societies. Our times shove us to experience conflict between the Universal and the Individual. Do we choose modernity or tradition? Short-term or long-term concerns? Assimilation or expansion of knowledge? In a nutshell, we are being pushed into confusion or into post-traumatic stress disorder.

I realize that I lack courage and initiative when I ask my boss' consent to resign. I enter her small private office decorated with ornaments from around the globe. In the middle of the room lies her big desk full of documents, pens, and odd paper weights. At the right are tons of books and at the left are dusty paintings. Behind the table is an intimidating black executive chair where she sits. I hand her my resignation letter and park myself in front of the counter. She silently reads the note while my heart races and pounds. She looks at me with benevolent eyes. Suddenly, she says no. I give a half smile of reluctance. It ends with her sending me back outside. I ask myself what I should have done differently. How do I assert myself? It takes me a week before I say again that I really need to leave. I can't cite convincing reasons of my resignation. I have accepted the fact that I'm confused. I too am not clear but my intuition tells me to set out. And maybe, that's how it is supposed to be. Glendenning, a well-known psychologist, claims that our generation is experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. We show symptoms like unfitting gushes of anger, mental numbing, curbing of emotions, and lack of a sense of future. But psychologists also advocate changing our notions of health and normal functioning. Maybe post-traumatic stress disorder is healthier that being paranoid and controlling. They urge us to accept multiple identities. How do we take temperaments equally from both stability and disarray? How do we balance a little order within an enormous chaos? They termed this synergy: a juxtaposing of socio-cultural establishments and our individual makeup. This is because we do not change the individual to cope with the environment, or vice versa, but both. How do we, as humans, exceed animal species? How do we become transformative agents with unparalleled creativity and capable of giving meaning to the planet? How do we balance the healing of our individual selves and of the collective welfare? In his book, The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck summarizes this point by saying, “Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult - once we truly understand and accept it - then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”

I rest after my resignation. I pick the color orange for my room. The bed lays relatively neat at the end of the space. At its right is the study table and at the left is a desktop computer. Directly in front is an old TV with loose cable connection. I stay in this room most of the time. I only go out of the house, at most, twice a week. I choose not to read any books for three months and merely watch children's cartoon. One would often find me scribbling. I'm always immersed in deep thoughts. I write three poems, two essays, and even two songs. But somehow, my employment experiences are still at the back of my mind. Eddie Gibbs continues that today's generation is more equipped than the past. We live in the information age and it is the only context we have ever known. We have been exposed to most facts every human has encountered. However, what we lack is what he calls a “critic from within”. Because we are short in experience, we may be intensely immersed in our selfish context. We forget that every culture has its upright, neutral, and destructive elements. Thus, we also forget to criticize ourselves. He concludes that modern and post-modern age brackets should be in a constant dialogue with each other. We must discern from both wisdoms. I learn that this implores constantly changing my frames of mind. What I reckon true before might be destructive in today's context. Although painful, I must omit it and permit a rebirth of mind maps. It also requires genuinely engaging with other people, even persons that might be opposite my nature. How do we collaborate to achieve goals we never dreamed? How do we spot various people's capacities that might aid in our missions? Finally, it brings me back to values of humility and of openness to learn from others.

After deep reflection and frequent solitude, I return to SIKAP as a full-time volunteer. With the aftertaste of working from other NGO's, I am silent and slowly sensing my way in. I often talk about my past work with passion and sometimes displeasure. I engage in workshops and trainings as a documenter. In one of our group mentoring sessions, it is my turn to share opinions. I throw a quick glance to everyone. I am one of the eldest in the group. The eyes of the younger participants gaze at me with gleaming eagerness to learn. Perhaps, they could sense how I outline the thoughts in my head. I promptly blurt out the concepts I long to communicate. Unexpectedly, the facilitator stops me and says that I might be articulating excessively. I realize that I do these because I'm trying to find activities that give me joy. Those that are meaningful to me. How fortunate that SIKAP is accepting of changes. Last year, although only two staff gave their full-time commitment, our team chooses to persevere. We treat those who are making money and working outside as productive work, while those care taking our group are doing reproductive work. This is inspired by gender theories but applied in an organizational setting. In order to strengthen the team we have developed, we fashion learning communities where we meet regularly. We share our learnings and even just converse about the things we value. This springs from our deep passion and profound search for meaning. Finally, we find spaces to address our personal clamors and our organizational processes. We try to integrate our individual struggles, no matter how small, to our group's pursuit.

SIKAP shows me that I'm undergoing a U-Process. It is necessary for me to experience a low point before I turn into a stronger being. From my past work, I am able to perceive an opportunity where I could engage. It is where I could leave my contribution. I am able to find my inner source of happiness where I give professional assistance and yet find deep joy. Thus, I plan to study MA Applied Social Psychology with thesis in Children and Youth and Learning and Knowledge Management or Organizational Development. But before this, I aim to develop a critic from within. I wish to genuinely engage in more dynamic organizations. I long to attend trainings, seminars, and other learning activities. Finally, I plan to continue writing documentations, evaluations, and researches. My writing shall give emphasis on both personal clamor and organizational processes. ***

The proper tools make whatever needed look politically correct. If you buy those tools, you have to hire someone to do the task. If you do not know a lot about that market that may not be the best idea. Image is the name of the game. Image creates sales.

If you use that business enough that it is worth acquiring that business that is another venture. If you own a catalog company and acquire a vendor who makes products you sell, or purchase a distributor, it is usually because your company invests enough money into that business that acquiring that business is to your advantage.

Either you take on those employees or you hire your own and let those go based on the circumstances. Because the next thing you want to do is make sure you are not taking on employees to do double to the work, if you already have people taking care of that assigned position.

At every venture you have to look at costs. The most cost efficient is the way to go. It is not worth the investment unless you find the money you spent make everything more worth while.

How should you write a resume? I have a computer program that does it for me. Just answer a few questions and boom its there. Just don't forget, don't tell the employer anything they need to know. Just be sure the resume looks good.

Now, all employers love to shake your hand. You should cough right before extending your hand. Rubbing your nose is a good one too. You should make sure you get your cough down. This will come in very handy.

Now for the questions. The employer will most likely say some thing like, “I am Bob. How are you?” You should say, my name is “Mr. Xiong” you know use your last name. When the employer is asking an important question, give a good hard cough, every time! He will most likely ask if you would like some water. You should say, “no thanks I drank a lot before I came. But I could use the bathroom.”

Now, instead of coughing, begin to ask for bathroom brakes constantly.

You should always act over qualified for the job! You know when the employer ask, “why do you want to work here?” you should come back with something like, “I could be programming computers. However, I feel like I should start from the bottom and work my way up. Like you, yourself is doing.”

Or you could take another approach. You could turn the questions around on the employer. Say he ask, “Why do you want to work here?” you should say “Why would you want to work here?” If he answers you should just say, “Ok then.”

I doubt your interview would go any farther. However, if it does, just constantly start nodding off. I am sure that will do it!

The first thing you must do before you have an interview scheduled is display professionalism. Fill out a job application neatly and completely. Follow all the instructions of an ad you are replying to. If you are replying my mail, use resume paper and a resume envelope. Do not provide an E-mail address on your cover letter or resume that is silly or weird. Your answering machine message must not be too long or sound crazy. If your name is John Doe, your message should say, “You have reached the home of John Doe. Please leave your name and number and I will call you back as soon as possible.”

Make your cover letter shine. To make your letter easy to read, use a font size of at least twelve points. The top left corner should reveal your full address, E-mail address, telephone number and the current date. After you type in this information, hit "Enter" four times and type in the name and address of the company you are sending your letter to.

Do not say “I” in your cover letter. A good way to avoid using “I” is to start the body of your cover letter with a header that says, “Subject: Response to your ad for the Sales Clerk position you posted on Sunday.”

Put great care into how you address the reader. It is not a good idea to write, “To whom it may concern.” If you know the name of the person who will read your letter, address the person by his or her name. If the person's name is Jane Doe, address her as “Ms. Doe”. If you do not know the contact's name, you should write, “Dear Sir or Madam.”

The next part of your cover letter should include a bulleted list of your accomplishments, background and skills. Do not supply a long list. I recommend you list up to five good skills and accomplishments that are relevant to the position you are applying for.

After you list your accomplishments and skills, close your letter by writing, “My resume has been enclosed. Please contact me for an interview when you are ready. Thank you in advance for your consideration.” Sign the letter in black or blue ink and place your written signature above your typed signature. Read your cover letter twice or more to eliminate any errors.

Like your cover letter, your resume should be easy to read, look professional and exclude “I”. Never use more than two pages for your resume. Include all the jobs and volunteer activities you have done for the past seven years. Provide your job titles, the dates you worked and the names of the companies you worked at.

Your resume must discuss results you have provided for your employers. If you are improving your company's bottom line and you have a measurable amount, you could write, “Improving the company's total amount of sales by twenty percent.”

We will now discuss what to do during and after a job interview. Are you familiar with the phrase that says, “A good first impression is a lasting impression?” You must do several things very well that will create a great image that will stick in the interviewer's mind forever and sway him or her to hire you first.

Arrive on time, perhaps five to ten minutes early - take a trip to the place of your interview at least one day early to make sure you can find the place okay. If you are a guy, wear dress shoes, a tie, dress pants and a suit jacket that does not have a loud color such as red, pink, purple, orange or yellow. If you are a lady, wear dress shoes and a suit or dress. Treat the receptionist with respect. Do not arrive with a tobacco smell or bad body odor.

Give the interviewer a firm handshake, warm smile and frequent eye contact. Answer questions fully and truthfully. Do not do anything stupid such as eating. Let the interviewer do most of the talking. Do not bring up your personal life or ask about the salary for the position.

Display a good attitude and good manners. Express a willingness to work a flexible schedule and a willingness to work extra hours when it is necessary. Show interest in the position by asking when you can start. Never attend an interview without doing research on the company, no matter what type of company it is. When I interviewed for a teaching assistant position, I was asked what I knew about the school district.

Thank the interviewer for the interview and ask for his or her business card at the end of the interview. Quickly send a thank-you note that reiterates your interest and qualifications. Call within a week to find out where you stand in the hiring process. Do everything you have learned to stand out from the other job applicants!

When the planet's first merchants were in business, competition was scarce. There was one butcher, one baker and so on, per small village. As villages grew and became cities, each type of business gained competition. When competition began, focus, or the Wow factor, was born. The main component of the Wow factor is the ability to sell what the business carries-whether the product is cheap, expensive, customized, easily obtainable, etc. The more merchants that opened up in one's city, the smaller “piece of the market” that became available.

The Problem

Two main problems exist in most companies that use inventory buyers; the salespeople do not have direct contact with buyers to inform them what is selling well and what is slow, and buyers do not always hear about new items that would make good trial products to sell.

Also, depending on the emotional makeup of staff, some employees are very comfortable making sales presentations [“Is there anything else you need today” is not considered a sales presentation or part of a presentation] and others abhor the process. When a person becomes very comfortable and successful, sales and profits rise dramatically within a company.

Companies across America, depending on the firm's objectives, hire sales people to stay in the “field” and meet both end users and /or industrial buyers who add the sales person's product to their own-thus, becoming “parts” salespeople. And there are firms who only sell to governments including the US military, using RFP's [Request for Proposals.]

In the field, the company has usually chosen to pay [remunerate] the field sales person with commission only, salary only or a combination of the two.

Also, there are two basic types of sales people; the hard seller who sells what he has and is not concerned about solving the clients needs [the type of sales person who gives all others a bad name] and those who satisfy the clients needs. Your paper author has been both and would never ever again return to being a hard seller. [Your author also held a school test record; ranking #1 in college students who were also salespeople, 1975.]

Significance of the Problem

Merchants have challenging concerns regarding selling: if inventory is not sold, the bills are not paid. Simple! Also, inventory [or services] must be sold at a predetermined price that will cover the expenses of the firm, the cost of the product and provide a profit sufficient to allow a draw-the money the merchant needs to pay home expenses [also known as take home pay].

Since companies often have no trained sales people or no “sales people” at all, those firms are limited to what their pricing can do to motivate people to buy.

Entire chains [a company that has many sites or “outlets”] have gone bankrupt because the firm has chosen price over quality and thus, does not employ salespeople as the term “sales” infers. A sales person is a highly skilled person who understands the difference between simply procuring an item from a shelf or warehouse and handing it to the customer who takes it to the cashier and helping a client make a wise purchasing decision.

A top qualified sales person never pushes a person to buy but instead, help a client decide which goods are best for the customer's stated reasons. For these reasons, a sales clerk in a discount store will rarely see a paycheck for more than $25,000 a year while a top qualified sales person in the filed can take home over $125,000.

Methodology

The author, a business consultant and college business teacher, has done primary research, and reviewed secondary literature regarding small business inventory control and compared sales methods used by start up entrepreneurs and compared them to successful companies and failed firms who did not use these methods.

Solutions

Dozens of market research firms nationwide have been hired by the “Fortune 500" [the top companies in the US regarding their annual sales] to determine the satisfaction level of customers. Unfortunately, over 75 percept of customers [of both retail and resale goods] were unhappy with the attitudes, knowledge and overall quality of the sales people, aka, clerks who have helped them in their purchase. This paper's author agrees with those numbers and easily understand why the satisfaction level is so low. It is a number of things but easily starts off with attitudes from the CEO and VP, down to the entry level employees.

When net profit is the sole or main objective VOICED by the managers of a company, the entire company MUST suffer. Here is why: while in the board rooms, it is essential for the “hierarchy” to know both the “nut to crack [the sales point at which net profit is reached] and the point at which dividends are begun, these cannot be fixated in the staff at the same level of focus as is CUSTOMER SERVICE. Unfortunately, the boards and highest level officers ARE myopic and forget why this is.

In numerous studies of successful firms vs unsuccessful [criteria of successful being attitudinal surveys of clients, vendors and employees plus stock holders and profits, the profits focus always gets in the way-always!

There is no argument that profits keep the entire “ship afloat.” However, it is the performance of the “stakeholders” [customers, vendors, et al] that decide whether the route to the profits is paved with harshness, insensitivity, ruthless behaviors and sullenness or......a positive, team work environment. Some people hate going to work [the author's lady] while others can't wait to get to work [the author]. When we love both doing what we do and with whom we are doing it [Southwest airlines?] vs hate going to work [most firms], we find out quickly that dollars do not make people happy, but attitudes and behaviors do!

For those reasons, top sales people review what makes their customers happy vs sad and angry and try their best to connect the product with the customer's happiness. In some cases, it has been shown that even hungry sales people will not even let the good customer buy if the purchase will put strains on the customer!

It is a fact that in college classes on SELLING, fewer and fewer colleges across the nation offer such a class. And the faculty who used to teach these classes have retired and the younger one's don't enjoy the science of selling.

Also, in stores, there are rarely any qualified staff to teach sales techniques-and again, it is not meant to infer that “how are you today, may I help you” is a sales approach as it is certainly not! A greeting may or may not be a sales approach but when someone is just greeting you and then stops talking, that is not a sales approach. Often of course, the alert sales person is going to listen to the customer and after a cordial welcome, will watch the customer and then, after deducing the desires of the client, will being with the first approach -trying to figure out what product will please the customer. This dual approach is rarely taught by anyone and because it is not, sales are down in most all stores nationwide!

Joe Girard, in "How to Sell anything to anyone" introduces the RULE of 640; please one client and he/she will inform 640 others, displeases and you will eat beans for a long time [author's inference of the other half of Rule 640.]

Some old professional sales techniques I studied 35 years ago;

• Do you introduce to the client, complimentary, and not related products and sale items?
• Do you inform all employees that every employee is a sales person and then do you reward every person for extended efforts in making sales?
• Do you pay for floor people to attend community college, 3 unit credit sales courses?
• Do you have your people shopped? [Have professional review firms act as clients.]
• Do you ask your people to visit the competition every month to compare styles?

I have not had one merchant in 25 years tell me that their business was basically like any others; that their selling chore, responsibility, skill needed, or opportunities were similar to their competitors.

My close call selling percentage, before I quit selling in the field, was 85%. This meant, whether I was selling oil, greeting cards, film processing or whatever, I would canvas via the phone book or other media, logical dealers or retailers of the kinds of goods I was wholesaling to see who might be a reasonable retailer. I would take my goods, [and their insurance] and seek them out when they were likely slow, so as not to interrupt their sales or customer service time.

I would not ever say I was there to sell something to the merchant, because I wasn't! I was there to solve his/her problem(s). All merchants ( I haven't met any exception in 30 years) need to serve customers and therefore, solve their respective customer's problems.

According to scientists to study human behavior (you might think behavior science is hokum, but I know better), people have needs that need satisfying. Coke satisfies the average soda drinkers needs better than Dr. Pepper, Ford satisfies the motorists needs better than Subaru, et al. Research, questionnaires, surveys and other investigation systems can accurately determine what customers want and wise merchants follow these guidelines.

When I sold (satisfied a merchant's problems which were increasing his sales) my metal treatment, I simply asked what he/she would say about a chemical that would increase an engine's RPM even if I did not touch the vehicle in any way, and the vehicle could be in horrible condition. I knew the characteristics of my product (called Tephguard) and knew what it would do. I didn't say that I would make the merchant lots of money. The merchant's money was his business. Merchants are rarely stupid. The merchant's (mechanics) problem I sought to solve was to increase his customer's engine speed without touching the engine--just by having the mechanic pour my junk in a can into the crankcase of an operating engine.

If the engine increased in RPM in 1 minute, I was proven correct. If not, I was proven wrong and I would walk away and the merchant/mechanic owed me nothing. If I was right, and I could increase the RPM by 50 in 1 minute, than my product had valuable characteristic and the merchant could make lots of money using it and selling it. I had no turndown in 35 attempts! I averaged 100% cold call sales. I didn't work a miracle. I simply attempted to satisfy or solve the merchants's problem by increasing the quality of the work the merchant was performing on the customer's car.

Was I a "born" salesperson? Those who sell poorly would say yes. Those who are professionals would say no. What is cold-call selling? What is therefore, a cold-call selling ratio?

Cold-call selling means not contacting a firm in any way before approaching it for a sale. According to White's tutorial book on selling, a professional sells 95% of the time, and a college student majoring in sales/marketing sells 80% of the time.

Within a few years, I had my own consulting firm, and took on Tephguard. I hired 15 field sales people, who I learned after bringing them into the office a month later, sold nothing. I inquired why they had a unanimous record of 0 sales. Each told me it was a tough field, no one was buying, and that getting an appointment was a bear itself.

I asked how many demonstrations they had conducted and a few said they had conducted one and most had conducted none. Tephguard was a demonstrator's dream.

I terminated all the sales people on the spot, took all their merchandise out in the field myself the next weekend and used the techniques learned from White, Joe Girard, Bettger, Stone and others who are experts in the science of selling. How did I do? I sold all 25 cases at my full retail price and got cash. I had no turn downs! I simply studied, of those who had auto repair shops, who was repairing cars and who wasn't. I examined my "potential market" and conducted a demonstration at each place I visited.

If I had offered to sell my oil/metal treatment, I am sure I would have sold no more than one of my 25 cases. Instead, I went to each merchant/mechanic and said I simply wanted to see if I could increase the client's engine RPM by "x" percent without me touching the engine at all. IF I could do this, the client's car was sure to work better. The product worked perfectly the first time every time because I had tried it on my car and naturally, received the same consequences/benefits.

Perhaps insurance salespeople have the toughest "road to hoe". I don't know. I realized when I moved to Arizona, the highest cold call sales ratio I found was 8%, not 98%! People thought I was a genius or a nut case when I told them what my highest ratio was before I left field sales. Each sales person naturally felt their respective field was too extraordinary or special for cold call closing ratios to have any meaning. I did not agree then and I do not agree today. Selling is a science. No one is expected to cold-call close, 100%, but there is no excuse for any ratio or percentage less than 85% for those who:

understand intimately their product, use their product, succeed as users of their product, believe in the company selling the product to the salesperson, understand that merchants and consumers do not like feeling that anyone is selling anything to them. People need help buying, but, like the physician and dentist, one needs to help show the positive side of taking instructions. Realtors need to show the beauty and financial benefits of home ownership (not how much down payment do you have?) Car sales people must have a desire to find out more about what the customer wants WAY before a car is even shown to the customer. Computer salespeople need to demonstrate what a computer can do, not ask the customer what the customer needs or wants unless the customer is very technically oriented. (I have never had a computer salesperson demonstrate a computer's software--the main if not only reason for having a computer! Most computer store salespeople show hardware sitting on a counter and expect people to buy it and then take lessons on its use at some college--wrong, wrong and wrong again! One place I was going to buy a computer said that he doesn't even warrant his equipment, it's too expensive for him to do so--unless the customer is wiling to bring in the computer to his shop--he sells low cost hardware--not any recognizable service and he is proud of his cost cutting ways!

Your author's required reading demands/expects the reader of this material to read a few issues, if not directly subscribe, to Venture and Inc., magazines. These are the motivators, the testimonials of successful merchants from whom a potential entrepreneurs can study!

A few additional points of view:

Usually, a customer can afford more than what they say they can afford, if the product/service is geared to making them money.

Customers do not buy features, they buy benefits (16 bands, 400 lbs of pressure, +- 2 db, and a myriad of other features mean nothing to most people unless a technician is buying. The average customer buying for personal use wants to know the BENEDICTS of the features the manufacturer wishes to tout. Maybe the 16 bands can provide greater variety of sounds to an audiophile. Maybe the 400 lbs of pressure will expedite the removal of paint or the placing of a chemical on something. Maybe the +- 2 db will give the listener a cleaner, truer sound without fuzz.

Don't ask what you can do for someone. Wait to see what they are looking at, or listen to their questions if they come to you. How may I help you is also lame. A greeting is fine, people do like to be greeted, most of the time. If a person says they are just looking, it is not a lame comment. Potential customers are looking before they are able to make up their mind! Unless you are visiting a pizzeria or a hamburger joint, you likely need to study the merchants's wares before you decide. Maybe yous aren't sure whether this or that option better services your need. Perhaps what you think you need you don't need. Listen to sales people and then ask questions.

Let's say you have made the sale. You have won the confidence of the customer. To increase the customer's satisfaction and your firm's net profits, it's just fine and reasonable to introduce complimentary goods to the customer. In fashions, salespeople automatically try to sell a shirt with a suit, socks with shoes, belts with pants, etc.

Than again others don't care. Because quite frankly that sector of fandom doesn't see it as their money being funneled out to the participants.

Truth is many of us turn this idea of getting our piece of the pie into a rallying call at work. How many obnoxious "show me the money" people do we work with right? That is when we secretly ask ourselves "Am I getting the "love" I deserve to bag these groceries?" Or "I only get $10 per for shoveling this?" Perhaps you wonder "is $60 K a year really enough for me to maintain this level of quality accounting?" Insert your own question if you'd like.

But really is it what we do at our job? Or even the importance of our job? Surely performing a kidney transplant is more a value than transplanting one family from one state to another. Sports however teaches us an interesting twist on this reality. The fact is our income is broadly based on the revenue of the industry we are in.

So for example let's presume you could get CBS Television to pay your factory to air your skills, that would heighten interest in what you do for sure. And if the local radio station bought the rights to broadcast your job? Things would really get going then. Then imagine people purchasing hats, tee-shirts, banners, and mugs that have your image or your companies logo on it just because you work there. Then to top it off suppose there were 25,000 people in the area willing to pay $21.99 a ticket to watch you perform your job 16 or maybe 162 times a year! Suddenly your value has went through the roof. Especially if you add the fact that they just can't replace you with just any one.

Now the twist in all of this is this is how athletes and their employers print their money and/or have it coming out of their orifices. We enable this to happen. And as fans for the most part we don't care. We like wearing our Philadelphia Eagles hat or our LeBron James jersey. The Derek Jeter swagger comes with the Yankee tee-shirt and matching sweats.

Additionally we are well aware of how even though we don't pay directly to see the game on TV or listen to it on the radio, we add to the enormous kitty of funds for those broadcast networks. Because we watch or listen to the shows advertised by that network and/or patronize the companies who give us commercial breaks during the games. Then finally there are those among us who can't write the check or whip out the plastic fast enough to buy tickets to go to the games.

So the bottom line is from fans of the past to the present nucleus of fans, we have given a loud "heck yeah" to the question of whether sport related employers and employees are worth the megabucks!