My background is in sales. I started selling as a part time job in College and today I regularly speak at National Sales meetings. Over the years I’ve met many extraordinary sales professionals. I find the best–the sales leaders–never leave anything to chance. They use time proven strategies and tactics to succeed.

Many years ago I worked with a client to develop a four-step system for converting a prospect into a buying customer (or for getting a customer to buy more). Here is that strategy that  you—and everyone on your team—should remember and use for successfully completing the sales process. Whenever you engage a prospect or client:

Meet—establish rapport by being genuinely interested. If you don’t spend time getting to know your prospect (and letting them get to know you), you’re jumping over the first critical step in the sales process.

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Analyze—what does the prospect need and how can you help? Many salespeople move into presenting solutions too quickly. Your value is your ability to meet the specific needs and solve the particular problems that your prospect faces. As the old saying goes, prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.

Present—offer your solutions based on the analysis you’ve done. Demonstrate that you’ve heard and understand the prospect by showing how your products and/or services will meet their needs. Make your presentation interesting and compelling.

Sell—check the prospect’s reaction to your presentation and ask for the order. If you’ve done well in the first three steps the fourth step will enable you to make the sale. If you meet resistance, go back to analysis and find out what you missed.

Selling is rarely easy but that doesn’t mean the process isn’t simple. Use MAPS as a checklist for making more sales.

(Of the books I’ve written, The Encore Effect is the most powerful for sales professionals. It is packed with ideas you can use to become the kind of sales pro that customers want to buy from again and again. Learn how to become irreplaceable by clicking here.)