Ok, confession time — I like to write. I guess that can be a good thing, but often it can also be bad. Why? Because I tend to write too much when something short would have worked just as well.

At one time, I became known for the length of my emails. I was sort of proud of it at the time, thinking my rhetoric and wit were appreciated by all. But then I realized I was pretty much just wasting everyone’s time.

Being wordy can waste your valuable time and it can also frustrate your readers and clients by wasting their time as well. So, if you tend toward wordiness like I do, why not challenge yourself to streamline your communications, or your proposals, or whatever else you’re writing.

I know it’s hard. After all, I’ve got a lot of brilliant thoughts in my head right now that I’d like to add to this article. But, I think the point has been made.

‘Nuff said.

By Tim Wall with Andrea Decker

Do you have loads of clients fighting with each other for the chance to hire you? If so, you can skip this article. If not, you likely spend some time selling yourself to potential clients. So read on, because we’re going to talk about the dos and don’ts of selling.

I wanted to get the scoop on selling from one of the best, so I went to Andrea Decker. Andrea is the Consulting Director here at our company, Element Fusion. Our consulting team spends all of their time drumming up business and Andrea is the most experienced and most prolific sales consultant we have.

So here they are – the dos and don’ts of selling – each summarized in a sentence with quotes from Andrea to further clarify.

DO

1) Listen to your client.
The single most important thing you can do to make a successful sale is listen to your client. Understand how his business works. Understand what pays his bills. Then simply present a solution that makes it easier for him to keep doing what he does best.

2) Build a relationship and demonstrate your expertise.
Business owners don’t usually want to become experts. They just want to know an expert they can trust – one who really understands their business and is interested in building a long term relationship.
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