Dancing With The Stars is back on television and my wife is working on the syllabus for her next round of dance classes. That got me to thinking about the similarities between ballroom dancing and the sales process. Here are 4 similarities to think about:

1. Someone has to lead

In dance, it is usually the man who leads. Leading is…

The way you approach a potential customer will have a huge effect on your ability to create rapport, establish a relationship and, eventually, turn that prospect into a customer. Your job is to melt away the defensive wall prospects build around themselves. Melt away, not try to knock it down with a bulldozer which only causes them to build higher and thicker walls. Here are…

Making a strong sales presentation is crucial to closing more sales. Here are 10 tips to help you improve yours:

1. Acknowledge your customer’s requests and expectations.

Make sure they know you heard them. If it’s not appropriate to answer a question at that moment, thank them for the question and assure them you’ll answer it in a few moments. Never react as if they are interrupting your “pitch”.

2. Offer what they ask for, not what you…

Imagine, if you will, a ladder. This ladder represents the entire credit market and each rung is a bucket of credit scores. At the top is the prime rung. Just below that is near prime and below that subprime. On many dealers' ladders, the lowest rung is below subprime. The problem with this rung is that it moves. Some months this rung is down around 550, some months it is up…