10 rules to sell innovation

1. Deal with executives. They make the decisions. Anyone else is an extra step to getting a deal.

2. Deal with the biggest customers first. Market leaders have the most to gain, the most to spend and give you the most market advantage.

3. Focus sales effort on the leads that will give you the highest growth potential. Eliminate time wasters.

4. Generate more leads than you have the capacity to handle. This is essential for driving growth.

5. Throw away the price list. Structure a win/win deal to maximise the value to the client and the returns to you.

6. Understand your prospects. Research their business drivers and rigorously tested your pitch.

7. Sell advantage and not cost savings. There is no upside limit on value from advantage. Executives are flooded with cost saving propositions, but rarely get advantage based propositions.

8. Listen a lot and talk a little.

9. Gain financial fluency. Businesses make money. You need to be able to show them how much money they can make from your solution.

10. Never stop learning and do your own thing. How you sell can be a differentiator in itself.