To become a great salesman or saleswoman.

To become a great salesperson; you need two important things: 

(a) Good customer relationship management; (b) Good marketing strategies. 

I will explain the two as follows: 

A) GOOD CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: 

A business that will go places will from the beginning ensure good relationship with customers. It costs six to seven times more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one. Money can't buy one of the most important things you need to promote in your business, that is, relationship. How do customer relationships drive your business? It's all about finding people who believe in your products and/or services. Powerful relationships don't just happen from one-time meetings at networking events; or another pocketful of random business cards that litters your desk. What you need is a plan to make those connections grow and work for you. Successful businesses have journeyed the way of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for several years to a point where they now know that no customers no business. CRM is the practices, strategies and technologies that companies use to manage, record and evaluate customer interactions in order to compel sales growth by deepening and enriching relationships with their customer bases. 

Loyal customers are the best salespeople. Your business may just be starting; and all you have are just few customers. What you do with the little determines what the size will look like in the future. So spend the time to build your network and do the follow-up. Today there are cost effective tools, like e-mail marketing, that make this easy. You can e-mail a simple newsletter, an offer or an update message of interest to your network (make sure it's of interest to them, not just to you). Then they'll remember you and what you do and deliver value back to you with referrals. They'll hear about opportunities you'll never hear about. The only way they can say, "Wow, I met somebody who's really good at ABC office today; is to give them a call. Such customers become your sales force. 

Creating and nurturing a strong relationship with a customer is key to the ongoing success of a business, especially a young business for that matter. A strong customer relationship not only means that the client is likely to keep doing business with a company over the long-term, it also means that the chances of that customer recommending the company and its products to others are greatly enhanced. So identify customer needs and wants. This is accomplished by employing the dual processes of interacting with the client while also making use of background research. Using both approaches makes it possible to meet identified needs while anticipating future needs and presenting the customer with a solution before there is a chance for the client to look elsewhere. 

Provide full disclosure where and when necessary, especially when interacting with a client. This means focusing on providing a complete answer in response to customers’ queries and concerns. Be honest in those communications and set reasonable expectations for getting back to clients if you need to do some research before making a response. Doing so leaves the impression that what the customer thinks matters greatly and that the customer is in fact your priority. 

Seek customer feedback promptly. This includes seeking suggestions on new features or products that would interest the customer, as well as evaluation of current products and features. Always listen carefully and respond in a manner that lets the client know you understand the suggestions or critiques that have been offered. Thank the client even if the comments are negative.Join my team. 

B) GOOD MARKETING STRATEGIES: 

Good marketing strategies is your key to unlock business success and breakthrough. Know your business target audience, the section of the society they belong, the best way to reach them and how to package your products and services in a way that will attract them. 

If you are marketing to the right people in the right place, you will control your spending and also have high percentage of response from contacted customers. In this case, your effort yields better results. You want to be specific as to places where you put money, because if you say the right things to the right people in your marketing, they will have a higher chance of responding. This means you get more return on your marketing investment. That’s a great thing! 

We are all taught that selling benefits is better than selling features. In lion share of situations, this is certainly true. However, more powerful than simply selling benefits and linking them to features, is to sell the ideal. The ideal is the thing or the experience that your customer is looking for. For example, if you have a travel agency, your customers might appreciate the benefit of saving money, and they like the thought of that. When doing marketing, it is important we make sure that while we are listing our benefits, we also remember to address the ideal.