Are you shooting yourself in the foot by doing this?

More great ideas for me to soak up here. This is yet another thread that is truly a great source of priceless information. You veteran sales guys really make it not only look easy but you make it feel cool to do.

Mr. Whitacre, you make a very good point in saying you can't look like you need the business, reminds me of the dating variation that says hungry dogs don't get fed, and they are both true.

In dating its pretty easy to know what not to do to be percieved as a hungry dog, but in sales, if you are actively making cold calls its pretty apparent that you want new business. So my question here to you and all the veterans present in this thread is this.

How do you handle the conversation and situation so as to not come off as NEEDING the sale?

I think that's an incredibly smart question.

The entire time I'm in front of the client I'm thinking about how to best help them in their business. Not even about how to sell them. I make recommendations based on one thing..what is the smartest thing the client can do? Usually it's to get my program. But sometimes it isn't.

Sometimes it's another form of marketing. And sometimes I'm the one to help, and sometimes not. But I wouldn't be talking to them if it weren't highly likely that this is a good fit.

And deep in the recesses of my amygdala, I'm steering the conversation to the close. But I'm not consciously thinking about that.

Humans can read thousands of "tells". Body language, tone of voice, timing of words, word choices, inflection, posture...things that would be impossible to be aware of all at once.

But if you are concentrating totally on how to serve them, from a position of expertise...that all takes care of itself.

And decades of serious sales training have given me all the technique, although unconsciously, that I would ever need.

I don't allow myself to think about the sale itself, until I'm in the car away from the client. I never let them think that I'm excited that they bought. That's what salespeople do. Act like a doctor asking questions and then making recommendations.

By the way, I use the word "Recommend" a lot. Also "Suggestion".

"May I make a suggestion?" "Here's what I recommend...."

Two great positioning statements.

In front of a client, I'm always a caring professional. And while I'm talking to them, I really am.

But it isn't completely the way I normally think.

Not even thinking "burning desire" or "acquiring new clients." I'm thinking why I love what I can do for the client, but more on that in a second.

Something that helped me shy away from thinking hungry or about gaining a client was reflecting on pro forums in my industry where other vendors moan, bitch and groan about the headaches their clients give them. Now, they get those headaches because they don't know how to manage client expectations, they take anyone on with a pulse, they work for cheap and get difficult clients... but it demonstrates to me that if I don't handle client acquisition correctly, I too will suffer migraines.

So I have a mind set that if I don't get a client, I probably dodged a bullet. That may be the wrong mind set, I don't know. But it stops me from salivating all over prospects.

So I advise. And it comes from a place where I genuinely feel a passion for why I do what I do. Now here's the thing: the right client will also respond to that advice. The ones who don't value you, won't. This is presupposing that you've built credibility, trust, value, etc.