I am from the old school of sales that told you to approach everyone and hope that something will click. We call it spray and pray. Fortunately for me, I am a lifelong student and through my eagerness to learn more I have now come across the new age way of selling where you simply get better at finding prospects and your sales become more of order taking than hard sells. In other words you enable prospects to buy from you rather than you selling to them. Simple.

When you decide to get into sales you need to first get good at knowing your product (inside and out) and then getting good at getting other people to buy it from you. Depending on what you sell and the length of your sales cycle this can be a long time. So what do you do in the meantime? You G.R.A.S.P.

G stands for getting with the right people. First of all if it took your manager or sales trainer 30 years to be an expect you can cut that time short by simply modeling them and learning at lightning speed to become good very quickly. They have already made all the necessary mistakes so you don’t have to. Cut right to the front of the queue my friend. Make sure you hang out with ONLY the people that can enhance your abilities and very quickly at that.

R stands for being Responsible. For what exactly? Everything. You will take charge of your sales training and classroom work and also take charge of your sales processes in your sales appointments. There is a lot of physiology and social dynamics that go into this one but for now just know that you need to take control of everything to do with your sales career. Be responsible for it.

A is for attitude. Have a great attitude. Never give up. This can never be explained enough. Salespeople are beaten down at every opportunity be it at family outings or dinner dates, every where. In fact the only place sales people are welcome is at their own sales awards ceremonies. OK maybe that’s a little too much but salespeople need to always be composed so they can deal with all the negativity that surrounds this profession and also the prospects that do not buy at times which can be most of the time!

S is for systems and what you are selling. You should know all your sales systems and procedures be it, your pitch, turning objectives, legal stuff or simple order form filling. At the same time you should know your product inside out so you can deal with sales objections and also the general sales process. You see in sales procedures if you forget your pitch or anything at all to do with your product people do not see it that way. Instead they think there is something seriously wrong with the product and steer clear from you. Always represent your product positively using your knowledge of it.

P is for profit. The most lucrative sales jobs are commission based or at least part commission. Do not be carried away selling something exciting and forget about the bottom line. After your commute, your payments for sales leads, your lunch, your suit, your fancy cell phone or PC or maybe your ostentatious vehicle that cost more than your house make sure you are left with a profit. Never forget this, no matter what they may say, we all know salespeople are in for the money.

So there you have it. Make sure you GRASP your sales career.

If you ever have a basket full of shopping goods and want to get a rough idea of the sales tax you’ll be paying, here’s a guide for how to quickly and accurately estimate your tax bill.

This depends on the state you are in – some states have rates as low as 0% (no sales tax), all the way up to nearly 10%. You can determine your state’s rate by checking a receipt on a recent purchase. The total sales tax will be displayed and usually falls between 5 and 9%.

(1) Round your purchase to the nearest ten. If your purchase total is $476.99, round it to $480.

(2) Know your state tax rate, and round it to the nearest whole number. This can be as low as 5%, or as high as 9%.

(3) Follow these tricks for estimating your tax and total:

5%:

(a) Divide your purchase total by 10, ie: delete the last zero in the total. So $480 becomes $48.

(b) Now divide by 2. So $48 becomes $24, your approximate sales tax.

6%:

Follow the steps for the 5% tax. Now, divide your original amount by 100 (shift the decimal place over by two), so $480 becomes $4.80, or about $5.

Now add this amount to the 5% sales tax: $24+$5=$29.

7%:

Same as 6%, but add the total divided by 100 two times. So $24+$5+$5=$34.

9%: Divide your total by 10, so $48. Now divide this by 10 again, and subtract: $4.8, or about $5, so $48-$5=$43.

8%: Follow the same steps as for the 9% sales tax, but subtract twice: $48-$5-$5=$38.

If you follow these steps, you’ll be able to quickly estimate the tax on any item you’re purchasing.

Here is another common mental math question: how can you quickly estimate, in your head, a fair tip for your waiter or waitress?

Most advice says we should give 15-20% tip. Here’s how to quickly estimate the top you give to a server.

Let’s say your restaurant bill is $53.

(1) Divide this by 10: $5.30

(2) Multiply this by 2: $10.60, or about $11.00.

(3) The halfway point between these 2 is the 15% tip, so in this case, about $8.00.

(4) The amount in (2) is a more generous 20% tip.

Pick an amount between (2) and (3) if your service was extra good.

If you’re looking to expand your sales to new markets, then there’s one big question you must ask: do I build a direct sales presence or use a distributor? Each method has its benefits and drawbacks, but we’re going to make a strong case to use one method over the other in almost every instance.

What’s the difference between direct sales and distributors?

A direct sales presence means that your company establishes, manages, and pays a sales team of one or more people in the target market.

An outside agent is any entity that will sell your product in exchange for a service fee. One example is a sales rep, who sells your product in exchange for a percent of the sale. A distributor is similar to a rep, except they would buy product from your company and sell it directly to the end customer.

Is Direct Sales Better?

For most businesses expanding into new markets, especially international markets, hiring a distributor is a better decision-at least until there is enough return from the market to justify building a direct sales presence.

Sure, there is one major advantage to having a direct sales presence-control. Control over the day to day activities of your sales personnel is appealing to most business owners. But this control comes at a heavy price. To start, you’ll need to spend the time to hire someone in that market, then train them, then equip them with sales material and management, if not office space and equipment. These costs are prohibitive for most small businesses looking to expand internationally.

And there are even more costs that we haven’t mentioned yet. Each market has it’s own unique laws, cultures and customs that are essential to master if your company wants to establish a successful sales presence. Japan is a classic example of a marketplace with unique legal structures and business customs that, if not followed, guarantee the failure of any sales efforts. It’s hard to pin down an exact monetary value to this learning, but ask yourself this: Can you afford to establish, manage, and pay a sales force in a foreign country for at least a year while they learn the ropes and generate no revenue?

What about a Distributor? Is a Distributor better for new markets?

Distributors are a cost effective means to enter a new marketplace successfully. Here are just a few of the reasons:

• No Overhead:
  Unlike running your own sales team, a distributor will take care of the hiring, managing, payment, and optimization of its channel. You’re just borrowing their distribution, while they handle the maintenance.
• Established Channel with Local Knowledge:
  A good distributor will already know all the laws and customs of the market you’re entering. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel-you can use someone who already has valuable local knowledge.
• Understand Pricing and Purchasing Power of Market:
  Along with knowledge of the laws and customs comes knowledge about the most successful ways to price and market your product locally.
• Cost Effective:
  Since you won’t be paying for the above items, distributor relationships are much more within reach of a small business trying to enter a new market.

Using a distributor has some downsides as well, but they can be minimized by building a good relationship with a distributor.

• Not your own people:
  You won’t be able to directly manage every step of the process. While it may make you nervous to lose some control over the sales process, you can manage the risk by building a transparent relationship with your distributor with constant updates and feedback from both ends.
• Distributor has many products to represent:
  You may not be the distributor’s top priority at any given time, and you want to be sure your product is not getting shuffled to the back of the line. Once again, a well-established relationship with constant contact will ensure that your product is getting the attention it deserves.
• Not a “turn key” solution:
  You can’t just give the distributor your products and expect success. You’ll have to manage the relationship. This takes time, but it’s still less costly than trying to install a direct sales team from scratch.

So what do I do next?

If you aren’t convinced that a distributor would be better for your organization than establishing a direct sales team, seek help from a consultant who has experience establishing a presence in new markets. A consultant can use his or her experience to analyze your opportunity and recommend the best course of action.

Before you choose a distributor, you need to know….

Choosing the wrong distributor will set you up for failure. The wrong distributor simply won’t generate sales, and you’ll have wasted at least a year finding and setting up an unprofitable relationship.

There are certain things to look for in a distributor, and they are different for every market. The best thing to do is to find a professional, one with experience in distributor relationships, and hire that professional to help you search for and identify the right distributor.