1. Whether you are closing on the phone or you are able to have a face-to-face meeting with your prospect, you need to have a sales process in place and take your prospect through that process.  

2. Make sure that you spend your time speaking only with well-qualified prospects.  If you are not speaking with a qualified prospect, you are wasting your time. 

3.  Make sure there is a match between your prospects' needs and your offering.  Make sure your prospect understands the match. 

4. When speaking with your prospect, always summarize what you hear.  Review the points that you and your prospect have discussed, make sure that you and your prospect have the same understanding of what you've discussed.  Repeat back to your prospect what the two of you have agreed on so far.

5. Prepare for questions and objections by writing down the questions and objections you believe you may hear.  Make sure to come up with great responses so that you are prepared for when you hear these questions and objections.   

6. Respond to questions and objections.  Questions and objections are a good thing.  It means that your prospect is thinking about what you are discussing and seriously considering doing business with you.

7. Make sure there are no hidden objections. Hidden, unvoiced objections can torpedo your sale.

8. To discover hidden objections, as your prospect questions like:

         "What might keep you from taking action?"

         "What might stand in the way of you getting started today?"

9. If a prospect raises an objection, after you respond to that objection, ask: "Aside from (whatever objection your prospect voiced) what else might stand in the way of us doing business together?" This type of question will help you determine whether or not there are more obstacles between you and your sale.

10.  Make a commitment to yourself to be positive about your business, even with the apparent economic downturn.