BY CAROL TICE

In a small enclosed mall near my home in Seattle, there used to be a little gourmet ice cream shop. The two women owners were very dedicated and worked long hours. But business was terrible because there wasn’t much foot traffic at the mall.

Today, though, business is great, and so is their lifestyle. The pair closed their store and bought an ice cream cart. Now, they sell their homemade ice cream treats at every busy, community event in town, from school dances to 4th of July parades. The foot traffic is incredible, they make tons of sales, and then they’re off work for a week or two. The profit is all theirs, with no big retail rent to pay.

When you’ve got something to sell, being stuck in one place isn’t always a winning idea. Fortunately, there is an alternative.

If customers don’t come to your store, one thing you can do is bring your store to them. Restaurants have already jumped whole-hog into this area with traveling food trucks.

Julia Hutton decided to do this in her own retail business, and now she’s developed a way to help other retailers sell on the road, too. Hutton’s bike-accessory shop was stymied by slow sales. So she created a retail-friendly trailer, the Extreme ReTrailer, she could use to pack up her merchandise and take it to major bike rallies around the country to sell. Her sales at the events blew the doors off what she could ring up at her traditional shop — Hutton says she made more in a weekend than her store pulled in in a week.

Now, she is marketing the trailers and helping other retailers take their shops on the road, too. As Hutton found out, hitting events can be a great strategy, as niche events can deliver a concentrated audience of exactly the people who want your products.

The ReTrailer reminds me a bit of the reusable, temporary Starbucks store unveiled in Seattle recently. Like the ReTrailer, its stackable, modular containers allow the java giant to test out locations and quickly move to hot spots.

Another option is to put on home “trunk shows,” where you bring select merchandise out to shoppers. A lot of companies have hit it big with the home-party format, so that’s another option to try.

Retail trends change fast, as do the “hot” retail locations in any particular town. Even so, it’s easier to take advantage of the latest trend if you’re not locked into a long-term lease.

BY MARK CUBAN

Anyone who has started a business has his or her own rules and guidelines, so I thought I would add to the memo with my own. My “rules” below aren’t just for those founding the companies, but for those who are considering going to work for them, as well.

1. Don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession and something you love.

2. If you have an exit strategy, it’s not an obsession.

3. Hire people who you think will love working there.

4. Sales Cure All. Know how your company will make money and how you will actually make sales.

5. Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them. Pay up for people in your core competencies. Get the best. Outside the core competencies, hire people that fit your culture but aren’t as expensive to pay.

6. An espresso machine? Are you kidding me? Coffee is for closers. Sodas are free. Lunch is a chance to get out of the office and talk. There are 24 hours in a day, and if people like their jobs, they will find ways to use as much of it as possible to do their jobs.

7. No offices. Open offices keep everyone in tune with what is going on and keep the energy up. If an employee is about privacy, show him or her how to use the lock on the bathroom. There is nothing private in a startup. This is also a good way to keep from hiring executives who cannot operate successfully in a startup. My biggest fear was always hiring someone who wanted to build an empire. If the person demands to fly first class or to bring over a personal secretary, run away. If an exec won’t go on sales calls, run away. They are empire builders and will pollute your company.

8. As far as technology, go with what you know. That is always the most inexpensive way. If you know Apple, use it. If you know Vista, ask yourself why, then use it. It’s a startup so there are just a few employees. Let people use what they know.

9. Keep the organization flat. If you have managers reporting to managers in a startup, you will fail. Once you get beyond startup, if you have managers reporting to managers, you will create politics.

10. Never buy swag. A sure sign of failure for a startup is when someone sends me logo-embroidered polo shirts. If your people are at shows and in public, it’s okay to buy for your own employees, but if you really think people are going to wear your branded polo when they’re out and about, you are mistaken and have no idea how to spend your money.

11. Never hire a PR firm. A public relations firm will call or email people in the publications you already read, on the shows you already watch and at the websites you already surf. Those people publish their emails. Whenever you consume any information related to your field, get the email of the person publishing it and send them a message introducing yourself and the company. Their job is to find new stuff. They will welcome hearing from the founder instead of some PR flack. Once you establish communication with that person, make yourself available to answer their questions about the industry and be a source for them. If you are smart, they will use you.

12. Make the job fun for employees. Keep a pulse on the stress levels and accomplishments of your people and reward them. My first company, MicroSolutions, when we had a record sales month, or someone did something special, I would walk around handing out $100 bills to salespeople. At Broadcast.com and MicroSolutions, we had a company shot. The Kamikaze. We would take people to a bar every now and then and buy one or ten for everyone. At MicroSolutions, more often than not we had vendors cover the tab. Vendors always love a good party.

This article is an edited excerpt from How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It (Diversion Books, 2011) by Mark Cuban (Available at Amazon and iTunes).

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Mark Cuban

A serial entrepreneur, Mark Cuban is co-founder and chairman of Denver-based independent cable network HDNet and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. He is also an active investor and regularly appears on ABC’s reality series, Shark Tank.

BY CHRIS BROGAN

I’m nuts about Google+. I gave a nod to the social media platform in my column last October (and in my latest book, Google+ for Business), calling it the next big thing. (And I don’t make such predictions lightly.) Why? The platform is more than just a boon for networking and marketing–you can also put it to work to boost your revenues, online and off. Here are some tips.

1. Class Up the Joint

If you have an instructional or coaching business, Google Hangouts provides a free, ready-made online classroom. (Skype also offers group chat but charges for the service.) I’ve seen people teach guitar lessons, offer tutoring and more. You can schedule up to 10 students in a group class. I look forward to seeing the many ways entrepreneurs will make use of this tool.

2. Show Your Stuff

Posting a video that showcases your products or services can really boost sales. Consider uploading a video with a demo or discussing the various services you offer. Or ask your customers to send video testimonials about your business.

3. Help Customers Find You

Tick off the “public” option when you post something on Google+, and the platform’s namesake search engine will index the information pretty quickly. That makes it a lot easier for people to find–and shop at–your business. Run a hamburger business in Milwaukee? Post “best hamburgers in Milwaukee.” You should see more customers walking through your door in no time flat. One thing: Don’t go overboard with this feature or your hamburger claims will turn to spam.

4. Demonstrate Your Expertise

Many people use Google+ to reach out to their circles with questions about products or services. While exploring the platform one day, I noticed that a software developer had posted a specific query about a service. That was a perfect opportunity for a consultant to offer some help–and to get on that software developer’s radar.

Consider searching out people who need the services you offer. When they have a question, post a comment demonstrating why you should be their go-to service provider. But balance is key. Give away simple answers for free; offer paid services for solutions that require more time and expertise. Again, be careful. Don’t do a hard sell of your services or you’ll turn off potential customers.

Think of Google+ as a powerful tool for finding opportunities, plus a great way to sell via a multifaceted channel. You can do all kinds of preselling and direct selling using these tools. You can recommend links to your products, host private consulting meetings via the Hangouts feature and much more. The real beauty of a social networking tool this powerful is that you can use it in many more ways than you can that pesky old telephone. So, start experimenting.

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Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan is president of Human Business Works, a small-business education and growth company. He is also co-author of The New York Times bestselling book Trust Agents, and author of Social Media 101. He blogs at chrisbrogan.com.

BY CAROL TICE

Who do you think is the low-price leader in retailing?

Once, the quick answer would have been Wal-Mart. But here’s a cautionary tale of what can happen when you compete on price: A new study from retail consulting firm WSL/Strategic Retail shows 86 percent of customers no longer believe Walmart has the lowest prices.

That’s gotta smart, given how much time and money the retail behemoth has spent on pitching its “always low prices” slogan. It’s also likely painful for Wal-Mart’s vendors who’ve often strained to get their costs down to fit into Wal-Mart’s super-low price narrative.

Where do customers think prices are cheaper? The Internet, as well as other discount retailers and grocery stores.

Given this changing perception, competing on price is even less attractive. So how can you avoid it? Here are seven tips from the Small Business Administration, as well as a few of my own:

1. Find new markets. If competition is stiff, consider whether a neighboring city — or country — might offer a better opportunity to sell at a higher price.

2. Benchmark. Find out where you stand on pricing compared to other companies in your industry. It’s possible competitors have raised prices while you’ve stuck to the bottom rung.

3. Develop unique products. It’s best to offer products and services that are unique to your company. The reason is, when competitors hold sales, you won’t be similarly forced to cut prices becuase your offerings can’t be price-compared.

4. Bundle your product with services. Take a look at how Jonathan Fields has bundled his new book, Uncertainty, with his consulting. No discounts here. Bet they’re selling like hotcakes.

5. Repackage and upgrade. Fresh packaging might give you a chance to combine your products in new ways — ways the competition hasn’t thought of yet. Or update products to add new features.

6. Build your reputation. When you’re known as the best in your industry, price isn’t a problem. Clients expect to pay you a premium. Get video testimonials, or at least ones where you can use customers’ pictures next to their endorsement — they’re highly impactful in helping clients envision themselves using your product.

7. Create scarcity. If you’ve had a product or service on the market a while and sales have slumped, put out the word your offering will end soon. This works particularly well if you’re about to introduce something new. Get a sales spike before you retire an older item. Or create scarcity by only offering a limited number of a particular item, promoting that only X number will be sold.

Thirteen simple rules to become your own sales superstar.

BY HARVEY MACKAY

As a business owner, you’re in sales whether you think so or not. Every day you have to sell yourself — and your product or service — to grow your business. If you’re not sure you have the personality to succeed in selling, consider these 13 simple rules to create a superstar sales mindset.

1. Stay hungry. Every good salesperson I’ve ever encountered is driven. They have a strong work ethic and a high energy level. They work harder and longer than their peers. When the economy is poor, they are still out there pounding the pavement, making calls.

2. Never compromise your integrity. I’ve always believed that telling the truth is the best policy. In business, especially today, it’s a must. A few years back, the Forum Corporation in Boston studied 341 salespeople from 11 different companies in five different industries. Their purpose was to determine what separated the top producers from the average producers. When the study was finished, the results were startling. It was not skill, knowledge or charisma that divided the pack. The difference came down to one trait: honesty. When customers trust salespeople, they buy from them.

3. Stay positive. Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude. Success is 90 percent mental. You can alter your life by altering your mind. In tough economies, it may not be your fault for being down, but it is certainly your fault for not getting up. You have to be a believer to be an achiever.

4. Be authoritative. Sales superstars know their products backward and forward. They also know their competitors’ products and are prepared to point out the differences.

5. Get prepared. I still remember the old Boy Scout motto, “Be prepared.” Well, it’s true. It takes a lot of unspectacular preparation to produce spectacular results.

6. Mind your reputation. You can’t buy a good reputation — you must earn it. If you don’t have a positive reputation, it will be difficult to be successful in whatever you do.

7. Be genuine. I have never known anyone to buy from someone they don’t like. Likability matters. Are you genuine? Pleasant? Easy to talk with?

8. Put your best foot forward. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. Are you neat and well groomed? Underdressed or overdressed?

9. Set goals. Winners set goals; losers make excuses. Goals give you more than a reason to get up in the morning; they are an incentive to keep you going all day. They must be measurable, identifiable, obtainable, specific — and put them in writing.

10. Become a customer-service fanatic. I’ve often said the sale begins when the customer says yes. Good salespeople make sure the job gets done on time— and done right. There’s one thing no business has enough of: customers. Take care of the customers you’ve got, and they’ll take care of you. You must have a fanatical attention to detail.

11. Remember to listen. You can’t learn anything with your mouth open. For too many people, good listening means, “I talk, you listen.” Listening is a two- way process. Yes, you need to be heard, but you also need to hear others’ ideas, questions and objections. If you talk at people instead of with them, they’re not buying in — they’re caving in.

12. Keep it all in perspective. It is impossible to underrate the importance of a sense of humor. When there are inevitable setbacks along the way, learn to laugh about them.

13. Develop a thirst for self-improvement. You don’t go to school once for a lifetime. You are in school all your life. Sales superstars are constantly working to become better. They take courses, read books, listen to audiotapes and inhale everything they can to improve.

Bottom Line: A salesperson tells, a good salesperson explains… and a sales superstar demonstrates.

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Adapted excerpt from The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World by Harvey Mackay (Portfolio Penguin, Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2011).

Harvey Mackay is a business and sales expert, whose latest book is The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World. He is also the author of the New York Times #1 bestsellers Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt.

Seven ways to build relationships with prospects that lead to more sales.

BY LAMBETH HOCHWALD

It isn’t always enough to create and promote an outstanding product or service. Often, your sales approach matters just as much as what you’re selling. The most successful entrepreneurs create a connection with the customer by bringing their own personal touch to the sales process.

“People buy from people that they like and can relate to,” says Adrian Miller, a sales trainer based in Port Washington, N.Y. “When business owners overlook the importance of that personal connection, they run the risk of losing the prospect to someone else–usually someone who took the time to create a relationship and help the prospect buy something rather than trying to simply sell to them.”

Here are seven tips on salesmanship that can help you develop that special rapport with potential customers:

1. Model your business on the corner store. If you long for the days of shopping at a local business where the owner knew your name and your family, try to emulate that experience. For instance, remember one or two details about your customer and bring them up in conversation. “If you know a customer has a daughter finishing up grad school, ask for an update,” says Laurie Brown, who owns a sales training company in Detroit and is the author of The Greet Your Customer Manual (The Difference, 2011). “Everyone likes to feel they’re important enough that someone remembers the little things in their life. It’s one important way we go past viewing customers as a dollar sign to a human who is appreciated.”

2. Ask questions first. Before you launch into a hard sell, take time to probe your prospect. Ask questions that will help your customer explain what he’s looking for. “Once you know that information, it’s much simpler to show how your product or service can satisfy his wants or needs,” Miller says. “Probing is fundamental to relationship building, and the more skilled you are at utilizing open and closed ended questions, the stronger the relationship you will be able to create.”

3. Court your clients. Selling is a lot like dating in that you have to woo customers and hope they return the attention. “Figure that for every 10 people you want to reach out to, three will want to set up appointments to hear more about your product,” says Mark Faust, an adjunct professor at Ohio University and the author of Growth or Bust! Proven Turnaround Strategies to Grow Your Business (Career Press, 2011). “To get a potential customer to call you back, you have to hook them somehow. Consider emailing them an article you found interesting that’s related to their business and then give them time to respond. Whatever you do, be respectful of their busy schedule.”

4. Talk about yourself. Another way to make it personal: Reveal something about yourself. Just be sure it’s something your customer can relate to and isn’t too personal, suggests Lourdes Martin-Rosa, an American Express OPEN Advisor who helps small businesses win government contracts. “It’s pivotal to connect in a real way. In fact, according to a study [in] the Journal of Consumer Research, if a salesperson shares a birthday or a birthplace with you, you’re more likely to make a purchase from that salesperson and feel good about it.”

5. Really listen to the prospect. There’s nothing more insulting than feeling that you’re being ignored in a conversation, says Matt Eventoff, owner of Princeton Public Speaking, an executive training company in Princeton, N.J. “Asking someone a question and truly listening to the response, rather than beginning to formulate a response while the other person is speaking, is so important.” In fact, small business owners may have a distinct advantage in connecting with customers because they are in touch with them so often. “The smaller the size of your business, the more encounters you’ll have and the more opportunities you’ll have to listen to your customers,” Eventoff says.

6. Step away from your computer and smartphone. While it’s often much quicker and less stressful to email a potential customer, face-to-face meetings and networking are far more effective in creating meaningful connections. “These meetings are still among the best ways businesses can establish relationships with decision makers,” says Martin-Rosa. “For instance, if you want to pursue the federal government as a customer, make the time to regularly visit the D.C. beltway. Communications should not be limited to email and phone–though both are important follow-up methods.”

7. Be patient. Like many important things in life, it takes patience to develop lasting customer relationships. Fight the urge to rush the process. “Take the time to explain how your product or service will benefit the prospect,” Miller says. “Be patient as you go about cultivating this new contact. You never want to make a prospect feel rushed or hustled.”

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Lambeth Hochwald

Lambeth Hochwald is a freelance journalist, whose stories have appeared in magazines such as Coastal Living, O The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple and Redbook. She is also an adjunct professor at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

BY ERIKA NAPOLETANO

It’s tough to go anywhere these days without finding a sign that begs us to “like” a business on Facebook or to follow it on Twitter. Yelp stickers in front windows are more prevalent than those from the Better Business Bureau. And all we have to do to learn about a business we’re thinking of patronizing is drop its name into a web search box and wait for the results.

But exactly how are businesses using the plethora of social tools to convert possibility into revenue? I came across two examples in vastly different industries. If you have a brick-and-mortar location, here are two businesses that offer tools for turning virtual relationships into concrete revenue.

Marination Mobile (Seattle)

Who said you couldn’t cash tacos at the bank? Founded in early 2009, Marination Mobile is the brainchild of partners Kamala Saxton and Roz Edison. Coupling the vast success of the Los Angeles food-truck business with a wine-drenched evening, they hatched the idea for a truck-based dining experience that’s gone gangbusters.

So where does social come into play? Their business plan has never been without it. “We knew that if this was ever going to be a success, we had to include the people we wanted to serve in our business plan,” Saxton says. In business-planning vernacular, that means they included social web strategies in their marketing efforts four months prior to when their food truck served its first taco.

What’s the secret sauce? They discovered Emily Resling, who not only had a knack for social marketing, but also understood their brand–she drives Marination’s online personality in ways they could have only dreamed about. She has even developed a style guide for the brand.

Today, Marination Mobile isn’t just mobile. Contrary to the traditional practice of brick-and-mortar restaurants launching food trucks, they’ve gone back-assward and now have opened a storefront location. In two years, they’ve gone from concept to two business locations, and the owners thank their audience for making that happen.

“Hey, we sell $2.25 tacos. That’s not unique,” Saxton says. “What’s unique is the audience we’ve built. We have well over 10,000 eyeballs on us between Facebook and Twitter. That means we have 10,000 supervisors and managers waiting to tell us when we do something great–or when we don’t.”

Animal General Hospital (Port St. Lucie, Fla.)

When Dr. Enrique Borrego opened his veterinary practice in 1990, location and word-of-mouth were all a vet needed to bring in clients and their furry friends. Borrego opened his current location in 2000 to better serve his neighbors in the quiet Florida town. But in 2004, Port St. Lucie became one of the fastest-growing communities in Florida, and soon there were multiple vet practices within walking distance of his office. It was clear he had to find a way to differentiate Animal General Hospital.

He tried local magazines and the Yellow Pages, but over 18 months netted no new clients. At a loss, Borrego turned to Rich Urban, a former vet tech with a savvy set of marketing tools that could reshape the local vet practice.

“I love animals. I wanted to be a doctor, not a vaccination clinic,” Borrego says. “I knew there had to be a better way to market my practice, and Rich held that key.”

Urban built a client-care strategy that spanned from the moment of first interaction to long after clients had gone home from their latest appointment. Using YouTube, Facebook and e-mail marketing, the strategy has produced some astounding results. Borrego estimates he spent $27,000 over 18 months for Yellow Pages ads. In a single 18-month online campaign combining Google advertising with Facebook ads, $3,600 in spending brought in a remarkable 250 new clients and $75,000 in revenue.

The bottom line for this vet? Interaction. “Yellow Pages ads are static. Facebook and Google–those are interactive. People in this day and age demand interaction, so we’ve built ourselves to be an online resource for our clients,” Borrego says. “Great information coupled with great care–that’s why people keep coming back. That’s the social part of social marketing.” You can find Animal General Hospital on Facebook and YouTube, and stop in for some paws-atively great care when you’re in Port St. Lucie.

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Erika Napoletano

Erika Napoletano is Head Redhead at Redhead Writing, a Denver-based online strategies consultancy dedicated to keeping companies from looking like idiots online. Visit her (if you dare) at redheadwriting.com.

Sales pro Grant Cardone shares his rules for helping small business owners close more deals.

BY GRANT CARDONE

Like any game there are rules to selling, especially when it comes to closing a sale. To ensure sales success in your business, whether you’re a startup or an established entrepreneur, here are a dozen of my best commandments for sealing the deal.

1. Remain seated. The saying goes, present the product, service or idea on your feet, but always negotiate from your seat. Even if your prospect stands up, remain seated. Going from a seating position to standing up suggests something has changed and allows your prospect to exit and end the negotiations.

2. Always present a proposal in writing. People do not believe what they hear, they believe what they see. Always have a contract available and a writing pad. Anything offered or points of value that are included should be written down to show buyers what they get when they make a decision with you.

3. Communicate clearly. No one will trust a person who cannot communicate clearly and confidently. I practiced using recorders and video for years and then played them back to ensure my communication was coming across the way I intended.

4. Make eye contact. This is a discipline instilled only through practice, and you can perfect it by recording yourself. If you want to be believed, it is vital to make eye contact with your prospect. It suggests interest in them and confidence in yourself, your products, your services, and in what you are proposing.

5. Always carry a pen. I remember once I was closing a deal, and I reached for my pen in my jacket but it was gone. The prospect took this as sign that he shouldn’t sign—and didn’t. I was devastated, and now I refuse to go anywhere without my sword in hand. All agreements require signatures and that requires ink. Keep a pen available at all times. In fact, always have a back-up pen, too.

6. Use humor. Any humor that can make people feel good, inspired or hopeful is always appropriate during the close. Everyone loves a good story, and people are more likely to make decisions when they are less serious. You will close more deals if you can get your client to lighten up and laugh.

7. Ask one more time. Figuring out another way to circle back and reposition negotiations after being told “no” ultimately will make you a great closer. It is not rude to persist; it is the sign of success and prosperity. Because I continue to ask in another way for a “yes” after being told “no” does not mean I did not listen. It only means I am more sold on my view than I am the other’s view.

8. Stay with the buyer. Each time you leave the customer to check on something, it creates doubt and uncertainty in their mind. It can create undue antagonism in the negotiations, lower perceived value, and extend the closing time. But keep in mind, this does not mean there is not an appropriate time to leave a buyer and use an authority for a close, as this can be very powerful as long as it is not overused

9. Always treat prospects like buyers. Regardless of the circumstances: no money, no budget, not the decision maker — always treat the buyer like he is a buyer. I always survey the prospect for signs that demonstrate they have bought in the past. The watch, the shirt, the suit, the necklace, the car they drove, the house they live in, the credit card they use, and others. All are evidence that this prospect has actually demonstrated the ability and history of closing. I always tell myself, “Every buyer is a buyer. Treat them as a buyer and they will turn into a buyer.”

10. Stay confident. I always maintain that we can come to an agreement, no matter what I am told by the buyer or those around me. The saying goes: “Where there is a will, there is a way.” This mindset of knowing you will reach an agreement requires you to eliminate all negativity from your environment as though it were a disease that kills, and be assured, it does.

11. Be positive. No matter how the buyer responds, keep it light and maintain a can-do attitude throughout the negotiations. When you go negative due to the buyer being negative there is only one outcome and it’s not good. Negativity always succumbs to positivity.

12. Always smile. This is not just about your attitude, but also your physical manifestation. For the next week, practice smiling with everyone in every situation you encounter. Do this until you are able to argue with a smile, disagree with a smile, negotiate, overcome objections and close with a smile. Have you ever noticed that very successful people are smiling all the time? It is not because they are successful that they are smiling, it’s how they got successful. This is a million dollar tip: Smile.

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Adapted excerpt from The Closer’s Survival Guide by Grant Cardone (Cardone Enterprises, 2011).

Grant Cardone is the author of The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure (2011), published by John Wiley & Sons Inc.

BY CAROL TICE

Everywhere we turn these days, online and off, we’re being sold. It’s a din of sales messages.

For business owners, everywhere you look there’s another course or Webinar or blog you should read that aims to teach you how to sell better. But after watching a preview copy of this week’s upcoming Shark Tank episode, I wonder if entrepreneurs might do better to learn one overlooked skill: When to stop selling and close the deal.

On this Friday’s episode, one of the entrepreneurs blows a chance to have Shark Mark Cuban invest in his business. (You’ll have to tune in to see what type of business it is…I’m sworn to secrecy.) After hearing his pitch, Cuban offers the business owner $90,000 in return for a hefty equity stake in the enterprise.

Investors don’t get much more influential. But instead of jumping on the deal, the entrepreneur doesn’t respond. Instead, he goes back to selling the other Sharks, no doubt hoping to get another offer that doesn’t involve giving up so much ownership.

But there are no other takers. And I bet you can guess what happens with Cuban.

While most business owners aren’t playing this level of high-stakes poker, I see blown sales every day.

If your website doesn’t have an easy way for customers to contact you, you’re failing to close sales. They may love what they see, but frustration sets in when they can’t find your phone number and poof, they’re gone.

How often have you stood at a checkout counter practically waving your wallet in the air, but you can’t get the checker to notice you? Sometimes when that happens, people walk out. No sale.

I once had a salesman come to my home because I was considering using their bathtub-installation products. He said he had a 30-minute presentation to make. I told him I had 15 minutes, and I wanted him to get it done in that long. He couldn’t do it, and made me late for an appointment. No sale.

It pays to know when you’ve got a customer ready to buy, and to make the deal right then. Toss your proven system for selling and your 10-point feature plan you need to highlight, if you see that customer already gets it.

Sell a little longer, and you might end up with nothing. Let other prospects wait while you write up that contract, because this one is already in the bag.

BY JANE PORTER

Marla Kaye could not afford to lose this deal. She had watched sales at You Name It Promotions, her Oakland, Calif.-based promotional products company, drop by more than half since the start of the recession–from $3.5 million in 2007 to $1.5 million last year. When a six-figure sale to a new client seemed about to fall through this spring, she had to act fast.

The technology company Kaye was courting wanted a customized USB drive with its brand name on it to hand out at trade shows. When Kaye, 58, found out the client was planning to go with a cheaper bid from a competitor, she stepped her offering up a few notches–shaping the device like the company’s logo and loading it with files about its product. “I said, ‘Give me a chance to show you why what we do will stand out,’” she says. “We saved it by doing more work than just answering a bid.”

Having a keen eye for when a sale is going sour takes savvy. Here are five red flags and strategies for saving the sale:

No. 1: If a Potential Client Seems Indifferent

A client who is interested in doing business with you should have questions and concerns. If they don’t outright reject you but don’t have any questions either, be on the alert, warns Victor Cheng, author of the book Extreme Revenue Growth (Innovation Press, 2007).

To resolve this problem, he suggests creating more of an advisory relationship with clients. You can let them know that you’ll help either to solve their problem or point them in the direction of another business that might be a better fit. Offering to help people find other vendors might seem counterintuitive, but it can go a long way to earn the trust you may need to win over a client, Cheng says. “People will share more with an advisor than a salesperson. It’s more of a dialogue than a broadcast.”

No. 2: If There’s No Hard Deadline For a Decision

Having urgency around a sale is important, Cheng believes. Early in the process, ask potential clients about their timeframe. You want to prioritize those companies that have a hard deadline.

You can find ways to firm up deadlines, says Rich Sloan, co-founder of StartupNation.com, a Birmingham, Mich.-based business-advice website. He suggests limited-time offers or discounts to create urgency around a sale. “The only way you get someone engaged is to find their buttons,” Sloan says. Perhaps point out what the competition is doing, or identify the financial risk involved in not acting quickly on the sale.

No. 3: If You Aren’t Dealing With the Decision Maker

You may start out talking with a junior-level employee who is vetting options, but beware if you aren’t put in touch with the decision maker after a few conversations. It’s probably a sign the company isn’t serious about buying, Cheng says.

Getting past that roadblock can be challenging. The bigger the organization you are dealing with, the more layers of management you likely will have to penetrate, Sloan says. He recommends creating a presentation that your initial contact can easily show to upper management. You also might request a quick conference call with the senior-level person involved. “It’s a sticky situation because you need to be respectful of the person you are talking to and not undermine them,” Sloan says.

No. 4: If Your Price is Too High

People generally object to a price because they believe they can find the same product or service for less or because you’re trying to sell more than they need, Cheng says.

If your competitors are offering a lower price, focus on how you can provide added value, as Kaye did with her customized USB. But if you’re offering more than a client needs, you may need to scale back the initial proposal, Cheng says. You also could offer creative payment alternatives, Sloan suggests, such as incentives on the first purchase if the customer continues to buy more.

No. 5: If You’re Asked For a Proposal Instead of a Conversation

When potential clients ask for a proposal before agreeing to talk with you, it’s usually a sign they’re simply gathering price quotes from vendors, Cheng says.

Before submitting a proposal, ask what the client is looking for and what criteria will be used to make the decision. Reaching a verbal understanding on those issues increases the likelihood that you’ll get the sale. “The problem with a proposal is there is no chance for them to tell you what is wrong with it,” Cheng says, “as opposed to working through all the nuances verbally.”

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Jane Porter

Jane Porter is a freelance journalist based in New York. Her stories have appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, BusinessWeek Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from Brown University.