Are you guilty of these sales killers?

By Marty Marsh

Our quiet community was invaded recently by the most obnoxious bunch of door-
to-door salespeople I have ever encountered. Trying to sell carpet cleaning 
services, the one fellow that I saw literally yelled his sales pitch to his prospect 
(my neighbor) and then proceeded to scream "Why not?" at her when she 
declined to buy. I locked my own door and hid.

But this started me thinking about all the ways that we often turn potential buyers 
off from doing business with us. How many times have you walked into a store 
and encountered signs that yell at you: "Don't touch the merchandise." "No 
children allowed." "You break, you buy."

You might be killing sales if:

*	You provide no toll free phone number.
*	You provide no website or alternative ways to contact you.
*	You require a minimum purchase amount for credit card sales.
*	You put your customers on hold. Forever.
*	You don't ship.
*	You only ship on Wednesdays.
*	You don't offer a money back guarantee.
*	Your employees often say "not my job, not my department, not my problem."
*	You don't return phone calls.
*	You ignore complaints.
*	You don't keep posted business hours.
*	You don't say thank you.

You get the idea? Remember, you are in business to serve your customers. Go out 
of your way to make it easy for customers to do business with you and they'll do 
business with you more often.