This "hammerhead" selling environment is typified by a Computer Associates commercial currently airing in the U.S. A cardboard cut out of a sales guy keeps repeating "500 seats it is!" No matter what the prospect at the other end of the desk says, the cardboard sales jerk mindlessly drones "500 seats it is!" when wrapping up the sale of software for that company.

When I'm talking to prospects about buying ads in this newsletter, or exploring the option of their having me send a solo email message on their behalf, I often declare that my list may not be right for them. I can feel the emotional shift of the prospect on the phone when they're not hearing the usual sales-babble they've come to expect.

While talking to Direct Media's President Dave Florence last week, he too said he found it's much better to not sell hard and even sometimes wonder out loud if DMI is indeed the right firm for the prospect. Since DMI is the largest list management firm out there, they must be doing something right.

So, hereunder are my Top Ten Tips for Anti-Selling Sales Techniques:

1. Listen: Before pitching, before spewing your elevator speech, simply listen to your prospect. This alone will set you apart from most other sales efforts. It will also help you hone your pitch.

2. Speak of Failures: When selling ads in my newsletter, I often tell people about things that bombed. They love it. It's so counter intuitive. I then also tell them about successes. Some successes have incredible response rates and I then caution them not to expect such high response rates, as that is not the norm, but it is possible.

3. Ask: Find out who else your prospect is considering. This seems obvious, but most don't do this. It helps you determine what their spending levels are, and how soon they're going to pull the trigger.

4. Deny: Turn away a sale that you know won't work out. I've done this many times. Why? I could take the short money, but it would build enmity with that firm. Who needs that? That firm respects the "turn-away" and quite often comes back to figure out how else to do business with me.

5. Testimonials: Let others say substantive things about you. It's more believable coming from someone else than coming from you directly.

6. Credibility Check: Put yourself in their shoes: Would you believe your schpiel, your brochure, your site? No? Then something's wrong. Fix it and make the proposition so good you would listen, consider, and buy.

7. Say Hi: Ping them when you're not selling something. Every so often it's a good idea to touch base with prospects when you're not in "sell mode." Otherwise, they think "Oh no, it's you again, trying to sell me something." Offer them some value by way of information or news, and quickly leave. I sometimes send prospects a news item with the subject header "Saw this, thought of you."

8. Be Honest: Don't beat around the bush. Having talked about anti-sales techniques, it's important to acknowledge how essential it is to state your intentions when making a straightforward sales call.

9. If YOU Don't Believe In It, Don't Sell It: I used to sell antiques for my mom. I didn't like selling the Wedgwood and other china, but I loved selling the primitives. Is it any wonder that I was quite good at selling primitives and not china?

10. Be Spontaneous: Even if it's not spontaneous, it should come across as such. I make a point of doing something different in each selling situation so that real-time spontaneity comes through. Otherwise you might as well be a prerecorded message.

11. Bonus Tip: Over deliver, but don't say you'll be doing so. I always deliver more than what the prospect is expecting, without fail. This delights them and typically brings them back again and again. After all, aren't repeat sales the best kind of sales? LC