Many international students find a part-time job in sales. At least once a week I get Indian students at my door trying to sell something. Usually they are after a new electricity contract. Electricity is a commodity in Australia so the quality of the product is the same anywhere. This means competition is all about price and a little about service. There is competition in the Australian energy market but what makes it hard to differentiate for electricity sellers is that the price is set by the government so there is not much room to play around. It means that switching suppliers often does not make much sense. But still hundreds of international students roam the streets trying to sell their story, not with much success as many of them have let me know. Maybe the next `top ten sales tips` may help, what do you think? Let me know, leave a comment!

1. ALWAYS top-down sell. I can't say how many time's I've observed someone loosing more revenue simply because they didn't ask for the max subscription or term of their product/service. You'll find not all customers are concerned about prices since they can use what they spend with you as a tax break on their business.
2. Start the pitch with a larger value products and if we can't close the big sale, follow up with a smaller product.
3. Get into the habit of not using the word 'hundred' when giving a customer a price. Hundred has a 'large amount' connotation to it. Rather than saying 'one hundred and nineteen dollars and 50 cents.' Use: It's ONLY one-nineteen fifty for the year.' And follow up with features, functions and benefits of multi-year/unit purchasing.
4. Set your sights and expectations high! Imagine yourself where you want to be at the end of the day and that's where you be!
5. ALWAYS break down price to the smallest metrics.
6. Handling resistance is the key to successful sales. ALWAYS handle resistance on multiple terms and initial sales pitches. If everyone always took NO for an answer then no one would be meeting their goals. You'd be surprised how many customers change their minds after they here the benefits of a product.
7. A sale is happening on every call. Either a customer is selling you on a reason not to buy, or you're selling them on the reasons why they should be buying.
8. Stay away from words/terms such as MORE, EXPENSIVE or COST when relaying the price of a product to the customer. Always precede a price by the word ONLY, even if it's a price like $4,454.90.
9. Using a customer's name throughout a sales pitch can help build rapport and create a more positive experience. Although it may seem simple, you'd be surprised how it can change the tone of a conversion. EXAMPLE: 'Jim, do you know how much are you paying for this service with [company name]' '
10. Every customer has dynamic needs so we must make our pitches dynamic. Stay away from 'canned' or repetitious pitches. Imagine what your needs are in your everyday life. Let's say you play guitar and you just pick up a brand new one. You think it's the best guitar you've ever played and you tell your friends about how great it is. You're not trying to sell it to them, but the conversion itself is fluid and pushes the features, functions and benefits of the guitar. They in turn may end up buying it if the time comes.