I have written many times before about the importance of learning the skills of self-promotion, whether or not you are trying to sell your paintings to a group of galleries, license your designs to a manufacturer, or stay visible and valuable at your organization. I recently had a fascinating conversation with Wendy Weiss, a dancer and a business woman known as the "Queen of Cold Calling," about the art of sales and want to share with you some of her wisdom. As Wendy says, "When I first started in the sales business, people kept complaining about getting rejected and I didn't understand why this was such a big deal. If you are a dancer and you want to work, you have to go to the auditions and sell yourself. Getting rejected is a regular event."

Wendy is a crusader against the negative stereotypes around "selling" as being sleazy or manipulative. She encourages you to ask yourself this key question: "Am I acting in integrity in my business relationships"? If so, then forget the negative stereotypes about sales and start building positive relationships with people. Wendy teaches a performance model for the sales process which is quite profound:

Step One: Warm-Up

As a dancer or an athlete, the first thing that you do before a performance is warm-up by stretching and doing all the things you need to do to get set-up and ready to perform and not hurt yourself. When you are selling something, you need to have your marketing plan, a script, and a target group of contacts ready to go so that you will not "hurt yourself" by being unprepared.

Step Two: Rehearsal

A ballet dancer takes class every single day and practices the same steps over and over to build technique and habit. When selling, practice and role-play regularly so that you develop your techniques and your communication becomes more skilled.

Step Three: Performance

Before a performance, stage fright is normal but with the kick of adrenalin and the benefit of hours of practice, you perform because you have memorized your dance number. You know your dance and/or you have practiced your sales dialogue and you just click into gear.

Wendy loves working with people in the arts or athletes as they understand that "you need to do things over and over again until you get it right." In order to be good at sales, you must stop trying to read the minds of your potential clients/customers and instead listen to what they are saying to you. Most people try to sell themselves once or twice and then quit without really learning how to sell effectively. Like a dancer, we must learn the steps.

Wendy is the author of the acclaimed book Cold Calling for Women which she is offering at a 15% discount to my newsletter audience. This user friendly book will teach you how to sell yourself and your work so that you can meet high level goals. To order Wendy's special offer:

http://www.profcs.com/app/netcart.asp?MerchantID=39152&ProductID=2455974

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