With these challenging economic times we are all facing, it is not a bad idea to go back and have a quick review of the basics of selling.  Here are six critical steps in the selling process.

At SBT, we adhere to the basic selling belief that states:  First, we must uncover a hurt, want, or need.  If you cannot uncover one of those three, there will be no sale today.  How do we effectively do that?

Have a plan before sitting down with your customer.  Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.  Time is available and you need to be prepared.  Literature, pricing, specials, samples, demo's should be ready to go.  Do your very best to be on time for your appointment.  If you are delayed have the simple courtesy to call and let them know.  Once you get there follow these basic steps.

1. Ask open ended questions to uncover where mutual potential opportunities exist. What is important and of benefit to your customer?

Most everyone has heard of the concept of 70.7 volt distributed audio systems at some point. They are one of the most potentially confusing, easiest to screw up and yet most versatile wiring methods commonly used. This is the first of a multi part blog about how and when to implement a distributed audio system. The parts will be as follows.

• Part #1 - General overview
• Part #2 - Wire size, and how to know what size you need. Useful info even for impedance based systems.
• Part #3 - All things amplifiers. How to avoid overloads and potentially hazardous conditions, and how to decide how big of an amplifier you need. Also, other voltages other than 70.7 that are common.
• Part #4- Speak up! The ins and outs of loudspeakers, and some interfacing tricks that I think are cool. Also some helpful information regarding size, type, quality and location of speakers.  A look at how the transformers themselves can affect audio quality.
• Part #5 - Practical uses. When this can be especially helpful, including "mixed" systems using a hierarchy of impedance, line level and distributed topologies.
• Part #6 - Other interesting information about this concept.   

So, here goes with part #1: