I recently got to thinking about sending mail to clients. It's a form of contact that is under-appreciated in selling today, and is a great addition to your rotation of meetings, calls, and e-mails. Sales expert Steve Martinez has some great advice on how to make sure your prospects are intrigued by your sales letters.

"Salespeople often overlook the advantages of using business letters for sales growth," says Martinez. "The facts suggest that fewer salespeople are using the business letter to develop relationships. Mailing and postcards are very popular but these are not as effective as a true business letter. This is a missed opportunity; we can capture more business when we send a traditional business letter."

The Old Fashioned Business Letter
"Businesses are looking for ways to improve their marketing objectives and this requires a more personalized, targeted approach. The old fashioned business letter cuts through the clutter of other mailings. If you want to be read, use a personalized business letter approach. You can automate this process with your business printer so your mailings appear personal, which will increase the letters' effectiveness."

There are a few things that make business letters stand out from a stack of mail:

* When you make your letter bumpy, it will often get to the top of the mail and create a curiosity factor to your advantage. I have used rubber bands, cotton balls and other squishy things to make my mail bumpy from the inside. Just be sure to use a first class stamp and it will get through.

* Always using postage stamps instead of metered mail makes your envelope stand out. If your mail is metered, it looks like a business letter.

* You increase readership when you hand address each envelope.

* Don't identify your envelope with a business logo, because it reduces the ratio of openings, if the customer assumes your message is a business letter.

Steve Martinez is a leading authority on automating and systemizing the selling process. His company, Selling Magic, LLC teaches businesses how to simplify, balance and automate the complex selling process. Learn more at http://www.sellingmagic.com

Dante Culpepper recently retired from the NFL. He emailed his notice of retirement to the NFL, and sales trainer Dan Seidman wrote on his blog about the sales lesson he took from the letter. It's an important insight that's worth keeping in mind.

From Seidman's blog:

Dante Culpepper retired today from the NFL. His notice was sent by email and it has some fascinating wording in which is embedded a great selling lesson...

"I have been strongly encouraged from family, friends and league personnel to continue to be patient and wait for an inevitable injury to one of the starting quarterbacks in the league."

"I would rather shut the door to such 'opportunity' than continue to wait for one of my fellow quarterbacks to suffer a serious injury. Since I was not given a fair chance to come in and compete for a job, I would rather move on and win in other arenas of life."

There's a nice image - as soon as a competitor of mine has some traumatic disaster land on him the size of a 377-pound lineman, I get my turn.

Here's your thought, sales pro - Why wait? Why wait for something good or bad or interesting to happen? Just move on with your life. You know all those prospects that have been hanging you out to dry for months and months and more?

Move on. If you can't help someone else make a decision, you can't help them at all.

Move on. Your time is precious and you respect yourself when you treasure time enough to make decisions based on this truism.

Move on. There are great opportunities awaiting your attention.

Good luck Dante, we'll be watching to see where your toughness and talent get you more success and new adventures. And reps, start thinking about every situation you're in and whether you should move on.

Selected as one of the "Top 12 Sales Coaches in America," Dan Seidman runs the award-winning website, SalesAutopsy.com. Tthe author of Sales Autopsy, a book that teaches the top 7 ways world-class sales pros distinguish themselves from everyone else, Seidman is also a gifted speaker. Learn more at www.salesautopsy.com

How many times have you left a meeting feeling good about your presentation, only to realize you don't really have a plan with your prospect of what's coming next? Having a clearly defined idea of the next step is a very important part of the sales process. In a recent blog post, Brooke Green of Caskey Training discussed this situation, and what you can do to get on the same page as your prospect.

I was recently working with a client on knowing "What's next?" with their prospects and clients. It's a huge part of controlling the sales process. What we discovered is that my client is clear about what they think is going to happen, but they haven't shared it with their customer!

How do you know if you're all on the same page? Your customer may have an entirely different plan.

Here are six things to do every time you leave a meeting so that you are in control of the process, and your client is never surprised:

1. If your gut is nagging you, something has been left unsaid; never leave with a nagging feeling.

2. Always recap what you've heard in the meeting and make a suggestion for what you think the next step should be; remember your prospect is looking for you to lead them.

3. If there is no next step, don't try to make something up! Be okay with saying, "Goodbye, we're not a good fit."

4. If you know there is something there, but you're not sure "What's next?" it's okay to say so. Say something like, "I would like to digest what we discussed today. I think there is a reason for us to meet again, but I'm not sure what should happen next. I'll be in touch in the next day or so with some ideas on how to move forward." It's still a "clear future". No one is left wondering "What's going to happen after you leave?"

5. Your "clear future" should be how you open the next meeting. "Mr. Smith, we agreed in our last meeting that today we would talk about signing a contract..."

6. Your meetings should be followed up with a recap, either by letter or e-mail. The recap should state what you heard, what you decided to do and when you will do it.

"In our training, we work with our clients on always having a 'clear future,'" says Green. "How many of you have left a meeting thinking it was a good meeting but also saying to yourself, 'I wonder if I should call them? Should I send an email? Maybe I should wait for them to call me?' A "clear future" is a great tool for keeping the right deals in your funnel and to keep those deals moving forward."

Brooke Green is a speaker and consultant with Caskey, a firm specializing in training and developing B2B sales teams through face to face training, teleconferencing, written material, custom podcasts and one on one coaching. Learn more at www.caskeyone.com

Of all the things changing in the business world, one of the most influential is the use of technology, particularly email, to facilitate the sales process. It wasn't that long ago that most of us used the telephone or called on clients in person to make sales. Now we prospect with email, and may even have some clients who prefer that the entire communication be electronic. Kendra Lee of KLA Group explains how you can evolve with the times and make more sales.

"If you're like I was, you believe email should be answered after hours when you are not on the phone or in customer meetings," says Lee. "This is how I handle proposals. They can't be written during valuable customer "face" time, but should be saved for that time of day when customers are not available."

"But, expectations and how email is used have changed," continues Lee. "Many customers now expect you to hold whole conversations via email, sometimes with emails flying within minutes of each other, just as if they were instant messages or a phone call. With these changes email is now as important as face-to-face meetings and phone calls."

Here are some tips to consider when making email a primary customer interaction tool:

---View email as a new prospecting tool. After you leave a voicemail, follow-up with an email, giving prospects two easy ways to respond. Remember, your goal is to connect with the person. Even if they respond "No", you have connected and can respond.

---Keep the sales process moving forward using email to ask requirements, gather questions, get referrals, make recommendations, and provide updates.

---Respond to all emails with action items promptly. You return phone calls within 1 to 24 hours. The expectation now is that you'll return emails within 30 minutes to 12 hours. If you can't respond completely, send an email setting expectations about when you will send a full response.

---Think, and proof, before you send. Sometimes it's best to draft a response, then wait 30 minutes before sending. You may choose to soften, shorten, or otherwise change your response.

---You may need a hand-held device such as a Blackberry to keep up. Consider what tools you need to add this new customer interaction approach and make the investment.

---Schedule daily time on your calendar to respond to emails. Consider this equal to customer meeting time. If you are holding complete customer conversations via email, you really are holding a meeting. Give it equal time for a well thought out response with a request for next steps.

"There are many benefits that can be realized by using email," says Lee. "This includes ease of connection and a better way to communicate in certain circumstances. Be prepared and you’ll soon find yourself reducing your sales cycle and closing opportunities via email!"

Kendra Lee is president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group helps companies rapidly penetrate new markets, break into new accounts and shorten time to revenue with new products. For more information, visit www.klagroup.com.

With so many people and job titles in an organization, it can be hard to find the decision maker you need to speak with. After all, it could be the VP, the CFO, the Director, the Managing Director, Purchasing, etc. Way too many choices, but it’s something you have to keep digging at until you find the right person.

“If you are not speaking with a decision-maker your sales cycle will lengthen and you may run the risk of losing the opportunity altogether,” says telesales expert Wendy Weiss.

"Influencers" influence. They do not decide.

Here’s the bottom line from Weiss: “If you are not speaking with a decision-maker, you are not speaking with a qualified prospect. Far too many sales representatives spend far too much time courting prospects who can never and will never make a decision.”

“One way to ensure that you are always speaking with the decision-maker is to always call the highest-level person that you believe would make the decision,” continues Weiss. “That person will either be your correct prospect, or they will know who is and they can point you in the right direction."

Once you've got that prospect on the phone, make sure to ask the following questions. This way you will be certain that you are speaking with the decision-maker.

1. What is your decision-making process?
2. How have you made this decision before?
3. What are the steps in your decision-making process?
4. How long does it take?
5. Who is involved in the decision-making process?
6. Who makes the final decision?
7. Who else will you be speaking with about this decision?
8. After we submit our proposal/bid/quote, what happens next?
9. How long will that take?
10. When do you expect to make a decision?
11. When would you like to begin?

Learn more from cold calling expert Wendy Weiss at www.wendyweiss.com or email her at wendy@wendyweiss.com