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Many companies are still experiencing tough trading environments, so let's take a closer look at selling, and how you can get your customers and clients to say "yes" to what you offer.

One of the biggest barriers to achieving a successful sale, and getting the potential customer to say "yes", is the sales person or even business owner, who doesn't actually consider themselves to be 'in sales'. This is particularly prevalent in the professions, with companies such as dentists, accountants and lawyers.

If you are not selling. how do you expect your business to make money? If you don't make a sale, you aren't making money and if you aren't making money then unfortunately, eventually, your business will fail!

'Selling' seems to get a bad rap, and is sometimes viewed as a not altogether 'honourable' thing to do, with salespeople viewed as being pretty close to con artists! The image of a salesman trying to bully a potential customer into buying something he/she doesn't really want is a familiar one.

But this isn't selling!

Selling is about solutions

Selling isn't about conning people, it's about helping them. And it shouldn't be about ticks in a box, numbers on a chart or counting items sold; it's about finding out what your customer wants, then developing your product and/or service to meet that need or solve their problems.

The better you are at doing that, the more successful you will be at selling.

It's also worth noting that any marketing you are doing, whether its email newsletters, expos, tweeting or updating your Facebook status to name but a few, isn't actually selling. These are marketing tactics to help you achieve the sale; they bring potential customers to you - then it's your job to convert that interest into a sale.

Do you know if your tactics are working for you? Does the marketing you do actually increase your bottom line? If your marketing doesn't ultimately result in increased sales, then consider reviewing what you're doing and trying something else.

Ask yourself just how much focus your business puts into sales. Who is selling and what are you doing to encourage and make it easy for people to buy from you? Don't keep yourself busy with witty tweets or chirpy, chatty newsletters if they don't ultimately help to solve your customers' problems or result in a sale.

Selling is just one half of a critical business equation

A successful sale is a 'win-win' exchange. You feel good because you've made a sale, and the customer feels good because you've solved his/her problem. They will leave your business satisfied, will tell their friends and are likely to come back again.

Selling is actually one half of a two-way exchange process - you are selling, and the customer is buying. Your potential customer wants what you can offer them - and it's worth more to them than the money in their pocket.