In all the articles I have read about how to make a sale none have touched on the basics, all have guaranteed that if you follow their advice and use all the tricks from the box you will become the worlds best salesman. When I read these articles the adage comes to mind “If you can’t do the job TEACH”.

I have not yet seen any published advice from a Salesman or even a Sales Manager, it all emanates from sales training organisations or, university graduates who have never had to stand before a potential customer with briefcase in one hand and business card in the other hoping this potential customer will help generate sufficient income to buy a new DVD player or if they have they soon moved into training.

Tricks and affability are the order of the day, which appears to suggest that if the tricks do not work make the customer feel sorry for you,. Customers who feel sorry for you or have succumbed to trickery do not remain customers for very long and soon move on to a product or service that meets their needs and you do not remain a salesman for long.

If you sell a product to a customer and the product does not meet his needs you will not be a supplier the customer can trust. To initiate that trust the salesman must understand his product inside out and believe in his product understanding the benefits and drawbacks. All the best salesmen have a knowledge of their product that is beyond the understanding of any costly marketing department. The best salesman will understand how the product works, where it works, how it works, why it works and why it does not work, he will also have a working knowledge of the customer that even the customer may not have and a good salesman will not recommend his product to a customer or potential customer if it is not going to do the job, a good salesman will recommend another company.

I can hear the groans of sales managers and trainers around the world “Recommend another company, he must be mad!” If you have built up trust with the buyer over several years and then stiff him for a few bananas then it is you who are bananas as you have lost the trust of that customer and the customer.

What makes a good salesman is not tricks but an in-depth understanding of his product, his employer, his customer and all their shortcomings, then you have created a magician who can pull out of the hat a product or service that will meet all the customers needs.

For the past twenty years, and until I took retirement, I have been employed as a freelance negotiator, even though I was the chairman of a small private bank, a precious metals haulage company and a finance house. I have negotiated on behalf of numerous companies, governments, local authorities, Presidents and Kings. My negotiating skills have been used to obtain business, avoid bankruptcy, join businesses and raise billions of US$ in finance.

Today I run a small antiques and collectables business on the internet and help businesses with problems if they need me. My advice has helped lawyers free their clients from prison for breaches of company law and also seen of creditors with plausible claims. I have had several articles published but never written a book -- I cannot imagine that anyone would want to be bored by me for that long and pay for the privilege.