4. Ask WHEN they will be ready to act. They may say I need it now. Or they may let you know they are nowhere near ready to buy. Either way, a surprising number of prospects will give you a very precise idea of their intentions if you ask this pointed question.

5. If prospect or his assistant tells you this isn't a good time to talk, offer two dates and times for you to call back. Rather than saying I'll call back another time, setting a date and time gives you an appointment.

6. Did you get an answering machine or voice mail? Don't just leave your name and number. Record a short sales pitch.

"Ralph! This is Linda May at Tagline. I want to give you a discount on our new system that improves profits 20 percent. Reach me at.... I'm in all day today."

7. People who can place orders are invariably busy. You may find your prospect is trying to handle interruptions and problems while he is talking to you. If there appears to be a serious distraction going on, say it sounds like you've got a lot going on. How 'bout I call back in 30 minutes or an hour?

The prospect will appreciate you giving him a chance to get things back to normal. And by offering to call back a short time later, you keep prospect from putting you off indefinitely.

8. Finally, keep notes about your conversation. You will look organized and professional for being able to pick up where previous conversation left off next time you call.

Many managers are up their eyeballs in responsibility and love it when you help them keep project organized.

You can also make notes about a prospects favorite project or personal life. Natalie, I remember your son is graduating this semester. Being able to remember little things like that endear you to customer and often become a key factor in getting you sale.

4.)Is your product developed to customers' specifications with periodic approval? A majority of business on Internet is conducted within an Extranet. This is a closed environment protected from general Internet traffic designed for communication with buyers. If your company is in frequent contact with customer asking for approval at various points of product development, then an Extranet must be a consideration. You can design a system that allows your customer to view product and give check off approval. They can view architectural designs, CAD drawings, photographs, detailed specifications, or work-in-progress. The added, and personalized bonus, is that your customer can do this at their convenience. You can call or visit but time during that visit is spent working on customer relationship - not order specifications.

5.)Do you cross sell or up sell when taking an order? New designs in web interfaces can deliver with same selling dynamic. You can suggest other products during a customer search. New software even allows you to save search. You can capture your prospects email and categorize it for future marketing efforts. For a truly personalized touch, follow up inquiries with a telephone call - or personalized email. You can ask your customers if they would like this feature - taking service to all time high.

6.)Let your customers know you are online. If you build it, they will not come. The old thought that if 'I go online, new customers will come running' is false. You need to employ new and traditional methods of marketing in order to let potential customers that you are online. A recent online company sent a simple postcard announcing their new online service - within three days of mailing, they noticed a 65% increase in traffic. You may not see this type of increase but you need to consider all avenues of marketing to notify customers of your new service.

Moving into e-business should not replace traditional methods of selling. Approach process as an extension of your current model and look for additional opportunities to communicate to your customer. Finally, keep your customers in mind when you develop your model. As we said in beginning, keep that concern in front and you will develop a profitable, humanized e-business.