How do you grow your sales in a tough economy such as this one?

You can start by "shutting up" a bit, according to Tim Porter, a sales trainer at Sandler Training, one of the world's largest providers of techniques to help sales people close a deal.

One of the deadly sins a salesperson can make is "talking too much," Porter said at a session at Sandler's office in Islandia Thursday. A salesperson's spiel should be limited, he said, to about 30 percent of a conversation. The rest, Porter said, should come from the potential client.

That may sound counter-productive. But Sandler Training has been at this for over 30 years and has 290 offices in 27 countries. The company trains "thousands" of people annually, Porter said.  They're worth listening to.  

There are other "deadly sins."

One is making a sales pitch all about yourself. Talking too much about your background, qualifications, and degrees can be a turn off to the potential client, whose time is, like most people these days, limited. The conversation should be about the client, not the sales person.

Don't have what Porter calls "happy ears." These are ears that only hear what they want to hear, not what the client actually said. If the client said 'maybe,' that does not mean yes. It means maybe. A follow-up call is then necessary.

Some sales people have "attitude issues," a definite no-no. Never act like you don't need the money or the job or the sale.

Strange as it may sound, receiving a "no" is better than an "I'll think about it." That, Porter said, leads to "email hell." That's a never-ending exchange of emails that, generally speaking, lead nowhere.

When you're on the phone, or in a client's office, diagnose the problem at hand, deconstruct the client's issues, get him or her to see the problem, then "make them well again," Porter said.

As Porter puts it, "Get 'em sick. Get 'em critical. Then put them back together again." If you are able to get the client to see his or her own pain, meaning his or her problems in the office with equipment or whatever, the better your chances of closing a deal.

All of this was beneficial to Robert Weir, a risk management consultant who works out of his home in Calverton. Weir has been a salesman for over 30 years, but he heard some points from Porter that helped re-enforce his thinking and got his engines fired up again.

"When you're in sales, you want as much ammunition as you can get," Weir said at the end of Porter's talk. "This (talk) reminded me of some techniques and processes I should start using. I've gotten lazy about some stuff."