The basics are easy 1) know your product 2)know your customer 3)Sell the customer what he's needing, not what you need to sell him 4)Follow up...if you say you'll do something, do it and on time 5) Never guess....if you don't know, admit it, tell the customer you'll find out the answer, and get it

I left sales because, no matter how good you are, you're only as good as your last year. Also, my company, as it became more successful, became more and more confident that it knew what was right for the customer. The salesman's job then became teaching the customer that this product is what he needed. This leads to what I call top-down selling, and is the kind of selling characterized by the speil, very counter-productive, and setting the stage for someone who listens to what the customer wants being put in a strong position. This is why older, successful companies are often easy prey for the up-and-comers.