Interview
I consider the interview the most important part of any sales process. The interview is the stage where you try to get to know your customer's needs, concerns, issues, objections, and desires. It's from the interview that you have enough information to determine how to present your products and services.

While I'm not a sales person by profession, being the head of a company has required me to do much deal making and selling. I tend to lean heavily on the interview process, conducting extremely detailed and intense Q&A sessions. Sometimes it'll be necessary to ask very personal, probing questions about the businesses you're trying to help. Most interviewees react very positively when you explain that the more you know, the more you can help.

I always like to have some notes or a script when I'm talking to potential sales prospects. There are a whole lot of Palm device aftermarket programs you can use for organizing your thoughts, from BrainForest at http://www.aportis.com, to Hi-Note at http://www.cyclos.com.

Honestly, though, creating a "Scripts" category in your Memo Pad is probably a fine approach. Write up notes and scripts for each sales situation. You can easily pull them up when you need them.

Sales pitch
The sales pitch is your presentation. Whether your presentation is verbal; accompanied by slides, overheads, or video; or is a complete product demonstration, it's during the pitch that you're actually communicating what you can do and how it fits with the prospect's needs. Your presentation must take into account all that's been learned during the interview and must address all the objections and concerns raised by the prospect in a clear, credible, honest light.

At this stage, an application called FlipChart could be very useful for designing a small but dynamic presentation. You can find it at http://www.middlecross.com/flipchart.html.

Trial close
A sales close is when the deal is done. A trial close is like a trial balloon; you attempt a low-key close to see if the prospect is ready.

This is where some sales people try to play tricks. You know the kind: Keep asking questions that the prospect will answer with, "Yes," until you've asked if the prospect wants the product; ask whether the prospect wants a blue or green product to try to establish a purchase desire in the prospect's mind; and so forth. Tricks are a waste of time.

Instead, a trial close is almost like part of the interview. Honest questioning to determine whether the prospect is ready to buy is warranted. Gamesmanship is not.

Learn objections
Often the trial close will lead to objections. You might say, "So how's this all look to you?" (That's a soft form of the trial close.) Your customer will probably respond with objections (e.g., price, features, delivery, effort). During this step, don't' try to counter the objections. Continue the interview and learn all you can about the dimensions of the objections. Try to learn whether the objections are honest (e.g., it really is too expensive for the budget) or manufactured because the prospect doesn't want to hurt your feelings, wants to manipulte the deal, or genuinely isn't interested in buying.