Lets say you’ve only got 30 seconds to get a high-octane boost of inspiration to jump-start your day. Any one of these sales maxims will give you far better results than a double shot of espresso.
Any one of these 52 maxims will help you to capture the attention and excite the imagination of your customers.
Just focus on two maxims per week for six months to guarantee improvement in your results.
You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain!
- daniel w. jacobs
52 SALES MAXIMS FOR LIFE
1. The minute you start worrying about whether or not you are going to succeed, you’ve already cut your chances in half.
2. The end result of worry and doubt is more doubt and more worry.
3. Make yourself lucky by thinking “I’ll see it when I believe it!” . . . not, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
4. Be careful what you wish for. In the end, you ordinarily will end up with what you expect . . . and will accept.
5. A true salesman is not simply a passive order-taker. If you’re not aggressively interested in making 
the sale, it won’t be there for you.
6. All things being equal, people would rather buy from their friends. Corollary: All things not being equal, people would still rather buy from their friends.
7. If you don’t believe in yourself or your product . . . why should anyone else?
8. If selling is not fun for you, it won’t be fun for the customer. Don’t let the economic whip become your only motivation for selling.
9. Advertising and marketing may provide the ingredients but it’s up to the salesman to make the stew.
10. Sales is a contact sport. Corollary: You can’t sell to someone you’re not in contact with.
11. If you are only thinking about spending your commission, the prospect will often come up with financial concerns that make sure you don’t.
12. Attention follows attention and interest follows interest. Keep your attention and interest on providing service to the customer – you’ll get their attention and they’ll be interested in you.
13. The key to all selling is to capture the attention and ignite the imagination.
14. Play to your strengths and you’ll get the most out of the cards you’re dealt.
15. Remember, the one thing that sets you apart from the rest is that you’re unique . . . just like everyone else.
16. Setting unreal expectations for the client is a recipe for disaster. Corollary: Nobody really expects you to work for nothing. Charge a fair amount and then deliver a bit more than expected. You’ll both be happier with the results.
17. Follow up to make sure the customer actually gets what you have promised them. Corollary: it’s better to underpromise and overdeliver.
18. Motion creates emotion. A motionless salesman creates nothing.
19. Emotion is the “secret weapon” all successful salespeople understand and use.
20. People buy emotionally and then justify it logically. Corollary: Logic makes people think. Emotion makes people act! Which would you prefer?
21. If you can’t identify and understand the clients’ feelings or difficulties, neither of you will be happy with the outcome.
22. Intelligent questioning and active listening is the way to discover what the prospect really wants. Corollary: If you’re doing all the talking, you’ll end up knowing nothing more than you started with.
23. When the prospect is “sold” it’s time to stop selling. Know when to shut up or you can talk yourself out of the sale after it was made.
24. If the client doesn’t see you as the solution . . . you’re a problem!
25. Any prospect can be made to become “resistive” when pushed too hard. Corollary: forcing the sale, (crush selling) or percussive maintenance (whacking something to get it to do what you want) doesn’t create any friends.
26. Clients may not know exactly what they want . . . but they are usually very certain about what they don’t.
27. Any hidden flaw in your sales knowledge or skills never remains hidden for long. Corollary: Do your homework before the presentation. Your weakest areas will inevitably become exposed under the stress of a live selling situation.
28. Formula for avoiding criticism:
a. Say nothing.
b. Do nothing.
c. Be nothing.
29. Any expressed objection is a selling opportunity. Corollary: Prospects express objections only if they’re interested.
30. When an indifferent customer now starts coming up with objections, they’re starting to consider buying. Don’t give up too quickly, you’re almost there.
31. Unless you can get the prospect to see a personal benefit for themselves in what you’re selling, you won’t make the sale.
32. Anything is considered valuable to the degree if someone wants it. Your task is to nurture the desire created by marketing and advertising and turn it into a sale.
33. Success may be possible when preparation meets opportunity . . . but only when you have the guts to jump in and take advantage of it.
34. You’ll never get the order you don’t ask for. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want and what they need.
35. The customer’s motivation for buying is rarely because you’re broke and need the money. (unless her name is “Mom“)
36. In sales, “conventional wisdom” is usually neither; instincts combined with common sense logic are far more valuable.
37. Clients remember 5% of what you said and 10% of what you did - but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.
38. If you say it, it’s doubtful – if they say it, it’s true! Listen carefully to everything they say.
39. Success has many fathers. Failure is an orphan. Corollary: The three hardest words to say in the English language are, “I did it.” Don’t keep repeating a mistake just to try to prove that you didn’t. Face up to it and move on.
40. Understanding the “purchasing process” of the prospect and their organization is often more important than understanding the “sales process” of your company.
41. You’ll become more interesting to the client when you are more interested in them than you are in yourself. Corollary: The prospect will begin to think you’re important when you recognize that they are.
42. Don’t tell them you can solve their problems before they have acknowledged that there is a one. Corollary: Don’t just tell them about your experience. Ask pertinent questions relevant to their problems.
43. If you have to resort to a “money-back guarantee” technique to close the deal, you haven’t done your job. Never guarantee results for areas you don’t directly control.
44. If they only ask you what time it is – don’t tell them how to build a watch.
45. Contact to connect.
46. Engage to persuade.
47. Illustrate to illuminate.
48. Simplify to clarify.
49. Demonstrate to penetrate.
50. Learn to persuade with your ears not your mouth.
51 .Remember, the word “selling” is an ACTION verb.
52. Never forget, in the final analysis you’re in the PEOPLE business.
Authors note:
Any of these maxims above contain just enough truth to justify their existence. They come from my work in the field of selling and helping others to sell better. Their intrinsic value is revealed only by use in the world you live and work in. They are meant to be applied and they are strengthened by their use. But they will be true for you only when you see it for yourself. That occurs only by actual application and use in your life. Start now.
daniel w. jacobs
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