Ever duck into another room or reject an incoming call to your cell phone when you see a certain person or name because you know if you talk to this person, they will monopolize the next 20 minutes of your time?

Don't be that Time-Killing Sales Person that other people want to avoid!

Being a timewaster by talking too much will eliminate any opportunity of closing a sale. Sounds basic, but is, in my opinion, the biggest reason why new business owners fail to close business early on in their career. New business owners are so proud and excited about their product or service that they want to tell everyone the story. Unfortunately, they want to tell people the whole story and a simple meeting ends up going on too long.

How do I know this? When my business partner and I first became involved in one of our companies, we were guilty of this sin. We were meeting a lady who liked the product and service and was about 90% certain to buy. We met her at a coffee shop and proceeded to tell her every little reason possible of why she should buy the product... for 3 hours! Our poor perspective customer maybe got 5 words in the entire time. Needless to say, she never purchased the product... or returned a phone call from us. We lost a very large commission and a potential business associate that day by talking way too much.

And now that our businesses are established, many new aspiring business owners present their new products or services to us in the same, time-killing manner. Oh paybacks...

One of the biggest keys to success in sales is to want to have people talk and see you again after a presentation! Everyone's time is valuable and continuously wasting other people's time is death in sales no matter what the industry.

The following are some valuable tips to being able to make a sales presentation to another person without wasting their time:

1. Develop a quick elevator pitch. Understanding this concept will allow you to get more sales presentations. Being able to describe what you do in 15 seconds or less is absolutely vital. Make it short and simple and keep on point. Once you get the appointment, begin the sales presentation with the elevator pitch. If they don't understand the basic concept of the business quickly, they will never understand and will not pay attention to you long enough to grasp your vision. Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.

2. Set time limits. After the 3 hour fiasco mentioned above, we never go over 45 minutes in our presentations. Unless they are writing a check on minute 46, we'll end the presentation and detail the next steps in the process. Less is more, and leaving the customer with excitement is very important. All businesses are different and you may require more or less time to be effective. Our presentations focus on the customer's goals and providing facts and success stories on how we've assisted people in similar situations to theirs. If your business allows you to not explain the processes and procedures, then avoid doing so or have them available in writing that you can give to the customer and they can read on their own time. In real estate, for example, I can explain how owner financing their home can accomplish their goals, but I'm not going to use that first presentation as a time to go over all the paperwork needed for this strategy. Focus on facts and stories for success.

3. Ask questions. This doesn't mean 'How are you' and then spend the next hour talking. Find out what they are looking for. The more you can tailor the presentation towards the customer's end goals, the better it will go. The best way to find out what they are looking for is by asking them. And ask follow up questions. If you have multiple products, then you will want to be 100% confident you're presenting the proper product before you begin discussing. And even during the presentation when you're explaining the product, finish each topic with a question to ensure that they understand the point you are trying to make.

4. Don't oversell. Excite your customer with the potential of what your product or service can do for them, but don't set unrealistic outcomes. If your product or service can increase a customer's sales by 25%, is that a success? It may not be if you oversell by boasting you can increase sales by 500%. Set responsible and reasonable expectations that you can meet and that the customer will be pleased with if you achieve.

5. Focus on your teammates. You can inspire more with confidence than you can with fiction. People can sense when you're over exaggerating. But if you're new, how can you inspire success without first having success? Focus on the service or other members of the team. Avoid the trap of feeling that since you are a business owner, you have to be the smartest person in the room. When I first started my direct mail business, I didn't really have much experience in the market. But the company I outsourced to for printing had great experience and success with direct mail. Since they're part of my team, edifying them edified my company as well! And though I had yet to make millions off some of the services I was offering, I was able to tell stories of others who had become wealthy utilizing the services my company would provide. By edifying members of my team and other who've had success in the industry by following the plans I was laying out, I was able to grow despite my unproven track record. Business owners who choose to dazzle others with fabricating facts or over promising generally find themselves out of business quickly.

This last tip is a bonus: Practice. Rome was not built in one day. Very few accomplishments in our life were achieved the first time we tried it. Everyone fell down when they first learned to walk or ride a bike. Thankfully we got up and tried again. Every business owners will make mistakes. But in reality, the only true mistake is not learning, adapting, and performing again. The difference between most successful business owners and those who fail is not how many times they've been knocked down, but how many times they get up again. So use these tips to improve your presentations and have the successful business that you deserve!

Tom Bukacek is a successful real estate investor and avid coin collector in Austin, TX. For more information on getting started with collecting coins, visit http://www.tomssilverlining.com. For information on how to jump start your real estate investing career by utilizing a proven marketing program, please visit http://www.entrepreneneurs-incubator.com.