Companies new to the market ask us, "How do I find potential buyers to call on." Finding potential buyers can be difficult and will be the subject of the next several installments in this series. This installment assumes that you've identified potential buyers and are beginning a program to sell to them.

In making sales, never assume taht the orders will come to you, no matter how unique or spectacular your products or services. You have to make those calls and, in many cases, follow up with personal visits -- you have to "press the flesh," as they say.

Here are the DON'Ts:

• Don't rely on "outsiders" to do the direct selling for you.
  
• Don't rely solely on marketing; always follow a marketing piece with a sales call.
  
• Don't rely on small, disadvantaged or woman-owned business status.
  
• Don't rely on having a GSA Schedule. Although having one is often critical, you still need to sell.
  
• Don't assume that a small business specialist or a member of Congress will open doors for you.

Making the sales call is the key for companies new to the federal market. Almost everything bought by the federal government is sold through sales calls. Unfortunately, the call must be made cold if you are new to the market and don't have a network of federal contacts. (The prime contractors make their telephone calls as part of their daily routine, since they work daily with their customers.)

Some tips:

• Be proactive and aggressive; your competitors are. Although it is a fine line, try to be aggressive while maintaining a professional posture.
  
• Don't be adversarial. Ask the potential buyer for information and help; beg if you must. Remember, the playing field is supposed to be level and all vendors are supposed to be treated equally, even if they are new to the market.
  
• Be persistent and patient. Potential buyers are being deluged with sales calls right now, particularly in the technology sector.
  
• Develop a pipeline of sales calls and keep calling, even in the face of initial resistance.
  
• Don't use email as a substitute for personal contact. Email works well after the personal contact has been made.
  
• Ask for referrals to other potential buyers when you reach a person who is not the decision-maker.

Professional and technical people seem to have an inherent reluctance to make cold calls. (Ironically, they are the people who should be making the calls when complex solutions are being sold.) If you fall under this category, there really is no good solution to the problem other than developing fortitude and just doing it.

Cold calls are easy to postpone, and you may find them forever stuck in your daily to-do list, never getting crossed out. One trick that seems to work: force yourself to make the cold calls when you arrive at your desk in the morning. Some sales and time management trainers call this the "Eat a Mouse Early" approach.

In summary, remember that people buy, not agencies, and you will sell very little unless you establish personal relationships with potential customers.

Where are the potential customers? Finding them is an art, not a science, and we will provide thoughts on practicing that art in the next two installments.