If you are in sales, you are perpetually in a state of war. All salespeople are warriors who must fight the relentless march of time and enemies who are trying to defeat them daily. Sales is an intense hand-to-hand battle fought between two people or two groups of people who are each trying to win over the customer. The victor outsmarts, outmaneuvers, and overwhelms his enemies.

In sales, just as in war, there can be only one winner, and today’s conqueror can quickly become tomorrow’s vanquished. The deciding difference is strategy. Strategy is the most critical component of sales wisdom. Without the right sales strategy, persuasion and common sense are inconsequential.

Steve Martin’s consulting takes the customer's point of view in analyzing why you aren't selling more. Do you have the right sales strategy? What is the optimum way to structure your message to persuade the customer to buy? Does your current sales staff know how to create the personal, technical, and political receptive states to win the deal? Do you have the right people and is your sales organization "wired" correctly to sell to your customers? Do you have sales intuition? Are you collecting and sharing important information about customer behavior during the sales cycle?

For a moment, let's put ourselves in the position of your customer. As the customer, you are going to meet with multiple vendors, listen to their presentations, read their marketing collateral, and take a look at their web site. Each vendor, most likely, has equally talented, friendly, and professional salespeople who come to your office. However, you will only select one product. Given that, how will you behave with each vendor?

Most companies are well versed on the logical arguments for selecting their product. However, the decision to make a major purchase is primarily based upon individual needs and desires, how the decision-makers receive information, and internal politics. Since many companies don't understand their customers in these regards, profiles are created of the key decision-makers involved in the selection process in order to perfect the sales strategy and message to them more effectively. Recommendations to improve the suggestive powers of the web-site, marketing collateral, and field presentations are made. In addition, the competitors‘ sales strategies and communication styles are defined so that you your of opportunity identified.