Congratulations, you have captured the interest of your prospect. So far so good, but your job is only half done. Now you must move to the third step and create desire. Because without success in planting and harvesting the seeds of desire within your prospect, you can forget about the sale!

Successfully creating desire allows you to move to your final selling step and get the order. As you will find out, a desire to buy requires that your prospect have a real need of your offer and that you know what you are talking about. If you are missing either, the odds of success are not in your favor. Yes, you may get lucky once in while, but for consistent success you need the right prospect and you need to understand what you are selling. Simple if you think about it, but if you are lazy and sloppy in your approach to selling, don t expect big bucks, because it won t happen.

First of all, learn to zero in on the right prospect. And that means asking the right questions to qualify your prospect before you spend time and money romancing the wrong soul. If he or she does not have a true need or can t afford to buy, you are setting yourself up for failing- and if you do that enough times, you will become discouraged- and discouraged for the wrong reasons. How do you qualify- the easiest way is asking questions during the interest step. As you show interest that is the time to find out if you are pitching the right prospect- if not, move on with honesty.

As you work to create desire, here are some actions to avoid otherwise you may as well move on to your next failure. Be cautious about talking too much. Be aware of not listening to the clues your prospect is telling you. Avoid trying to close without getting the attention and confidence of your client. Don t wing it- if you lack knowledge about your product or service you will send the wrong message. And don t rush to sell the wrong product or service to the wrong person by failing to qualify your prospect. If any of these actions describe your selling approach, it is- time for you to change or look for different work.

Every successful salesperson understands the motivations of the buyers of their product or service. Economists, psychologists, and marketing experts have studied and analyzed this topic to the point of exhaustion. Here are two rules of thumb. If you are selling any product or service to another business for resale or to be used in the running of that business, the prime motivation is money- your prospect will buy your offer if it increases profits or reduces expenses. Be smart and build your presentation around the fact that the reason any business that buys anything can be explained with the desire to make more money, and see how successful you will become.

On the other hand, if you are selling to the general public, you will discover that motivation to own a particular product or service is tied to emotions. And there are many, pride of ownership, comfort, status, fear, enhancing popularity, sense of accomplishment or sense of belonging-emotions that will put money in your pocket if you craft a powerful appeal to interest and desire. If you doubt this, study the ads of successful businesses- see how they structure their message around emotional themes. When is the last time you saw the ad for a new car discussing compression ratios or torque? No, it is romance, speed, and pride of ownership, all- emotional appeals.

If you learn to combine your understanding of buyer motivation with questions, you will uncover the interests of your prospect and what may stimulate them to buy your product. Do this and you discover that your selling skills will jump to the top of scale as you master the use of questions to establish trust and build interest leading you to the confidence of your prospect.

Next month is the big one! Action or making it happen.