This is a great article and I am glad that you articulated the idea of probing beyond the first answer you get from a client, rarely is that the level long lasting client relationships are built. If a client seems focused on quality it might not be the true concern deeper issues may be "fear of getting burned" "looking bad for making a wrong purchasing choice." Selling on that level is what makes the difference for the client.

For those who might not know- attached is the portland parks link to the park, there is a good map as well under the "dog park map" http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewPark&PropertyID=224

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Cold Calling has worked for me. But as many have mentioned a tepid call is better and a warm call better yet. Send mailers, brochures, and drop by with something you can call about. We have used cans filled with candy to great success. People have forgotten my name but never forget that I am "THE JELLY BEAN GUY." After a drop of candy we call & say "I was calling to see if you received the candy I dropped off" Great segway into setting up a face to face or giving your two sentence offering summary.

My first job in college was knocking on doors selling a service. 85% of my revenue came directly from that. We didn't sell at the door, just developed leads to call and set up a sales apointment. Again Cold call for leads, call leads to sell.

Does anyone remember the lyrics from Kriss Kross's "Warm It Up" If you ever need a pre-cold calling jam to heat things up..."Warm it up Kris I'm about to - Warm it up Kris cause that's what I was born to do"

We always use the phrase "two ears, one mouth- Use them accordingly" when describing the importance of listening in sales...and dating for that matter. I have spent most of my sales career working with service oriented sales. What are some key differences between the two in your experience?

I am living a lie: I have owned a dual core macbook pro for over a year now, and I am writing this comment under windows. Shame on me- I love boot camp.

Microsoft Outlook is iCal and Address book in one. It has a calendar, an address book, groups, email and pop-up reminders, syncs with phones, pda's, and black berry with bluetooth.

Same set of discipline and outlook is a PC users best client database. The newest version of Outlook has business contact manager that also does a great job of further refining your clients.

It has marketing, sales, and project tracking that integrates with contacts and e-mail. My trick to manage using Mac and PC on one computer- I let my blackberry do all the work. Just sync the blackberry to the Mac side, restart in windows and sync again and I am golden. No matter what OS I use I get alarms to be productive.

Great Tip- Another aspect to the Barter is an agreement to a time commitment. Many Barters go bad when one sides expectations on delivery and timing are not met. In the agreement it is a great idea to put in deadlines for when work/service/product will be completed or delivered.

Contract Sales People can be a win - win or a very frustrating use of energy. I have had both experiences. The best management strategy is to find a person who is interested in the product/service being sold and develop a "partner" feel to their position. Just hiring them as a contractor and saying "go sell this and you will get money" isn't the most effective way. If they feel they are a part of your business, have influence on the offerings of your company, and can grow with the business you will have a better working relationship and I am confident that your sales will increase.

Selling products and selling services have many similar strategies and yet many different. It is hard to send a sample of a service for instance. I have been "selling" services for the past decade and training salespeople for the last 6 and the two biggest techniques that I focus on are: 1. Rapport building - Developing a friendly and trusting relationship 2. Need satisfaction

Without a trusting and friendly relationship it is extremely difficult to find their true needs. Once a relationship has been established it comes down to finding true need. A simple Example is house painting. The client needs a house painted. You paint houses. Pretty cut and dry. Not True. The successful painter will find out the reason why the house is getting painted. A wedding or family reunion, getting ready to sell the home... If the painter knows the reason for the need he will be able to not just paint the house but make their home look great to impress the guests/family. Without rapport and trust the painter would never have found the reason for the need. Price isn't as big of a problem.

Brian, The market is tough right now for sure. I run a consulting firm in Portland and San Francisco and a lot of our clients are struggling as we focus on ''the trades" and related businesses. If you have time in the next few weeks we should get together for coffee.