Most salespeople are required to negotiate with their prospects and customers. But let's face it, today's consumer and corporate buyer is much more aggressive when negotiating the terms of a sale. Unfortunately, many salespeople lack the same level of sophistication when negotiating with savvy purchasers. Here are 18 fatal mistakes that salespeople often make when they negotiate.

1. Believing that price is the primary reason people make a buying decision. Although price is a factor in every sale, it is seldom the motivating factor behind a person's final decision.

Which would you rather have: 500 mediocre leads or 25-30 high-value leads? The answer is obvious and yet many exhibitors who attend trade shows try to talk to as many people as possible, then go back to the office with a fist full of business cards and say; "see what I accomplished."

The cost of following up on all these business leads is enormous and it leaves your sales reps often disheartened with the number of rejections they receive. The solution is three-fold:

We just returned from Graph Expo in Chicago. It was a very good show with a constant stream of visitors roaming the aisles and plenty of business transactions taking place. Agfa, Xerox, Konica Minolta, HP, Fujifilm, EFI and many others too numerous to mention, launched new products and showcased many innovations.

Before I started my sales training business, I worked in a corporate environment in which I had the opportunity to review many sales proposals for a variety of products and services. Since then, I have had the good fortune (or misfortune, in most cases) to read dozens more and I'm still under-whelmed by most of them. Most of the proposals I see make the same fundamental mistakes. Here are 10 strategies you can use to ensure that your proposal stands out from your competitors.

TransPromo printing has received a fair amount of attention in the past few years, and continues to be promoted by vendors and industry consultants as an excellent growth opportunity for printers in times of diminishing revenues. However, it seems that while opportunity is knocking for both printers and marketers, not many are answering the call just yet.

Print World: The World of Shorter-Run Printing is the biggest show of its kind in North America. Especially with the expanding implementation of digital presses, the shorter-run market is rapidly growing. In 2008, the show welcomed nearly 10,000 attendees. This year, from November 20-22, Print World will be presented at the Direct Energy Centre in downtown Toronto with over 125,000 square feet of exhibition space.

This month I had the opportunity to chat with renowned industry expert Frank Romano to discuss the future of printing trade shows, and what opportunities and challenges lie ahead for printers.

What are you most looking forward to seeing at Print World?

Networking is a critical skill in sales; after all, the more people you connect with the more sales opportunities you create. However, many salespeople make a variety of mistakes that prevent them from maximizing the power of networking. Here are 10 blunders and mistakes you need to avoid.

With the first month of classes over, I've had an opportunity for some interesting reflection. In my first-year class, the incoming group of students was greeted with the statement, "print is dead," and asked to agree or disagree. The discussion led to many examples showing how deeply print is integrated into their lives. There were various types of comments from "I prefer books," to "magazine readership is on the rise," to "my cereal will always come in a package." This was significant to me because these are students who are mostly born in the '90s. They have grown up with all things digital. It's the start of a great year, I thought.

Members of my staff and I will be at Graph Expo in Chicago October  3–6 meeting with old friends, making new ones, networking and learning all we can about what's new in the printing and graphic arts industry. So far, we've heard some exciting news about new technology, clever marketing initiatives and great deals offered at the show. It never fails to amaze me how innovative companies can be as they adapt to an ever-changing industry landscape.