In my "Federal Sales 101 - Winning Government Business" class, many sales people ask me, "When am I being too pushy?" My take is that the government employee hardly ever comes out and tells you so. As a result, you need to use your intuition and "read" the client's body language.

Here are some strong indications you are being too pushy:

When the government employee sees you, they turn around and walk away quickly.

When you call 20 times and they never, ever return your call.

When the prospective clients tell you not to call them anymore.

When they roll their eyes and say, "There he goes again..."

When you catch them talking to a co-worker under their breath and they both look at you and laugh.

When they tell you it's time to stop selling and start talking about more interesting things.

I know these are obvious examples but I've personally witnessed the overly-eager sales executive in the field. If you can't "read" these signs, you'll never make it in sales or win business from the government.

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Here are some slight indicators that you are being too pushy:

When they say, "Here he goes again . . ." every time you start talking about your service.

When they say, "Maybe we need to table this project . . ."

When they say, "I saw your competitor the other day and I was pretty impressed . . ."

When you do all the talking and have no idea what your customer's role is at the agency, or their hopes, their dreams, desires or pains. If you walked away with none of this, you were spending too much time presenting and no time listening to their real needs.

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Here are some slight indicators that they like you and your service:

When they say, "Hey, tell me about that product/service that you thought would work for me . . ."

When they say, "When are we going to see you around here again? We miss you!"

When they lean in every time you make a point and really Listen to what you have to say.

When they are telling you all about the politics of their office, their boss and their families . . .

When they tell you how they're going to use your products and services to improve "things" around the office.

When they take you on a tour and introduce you to everyone. They're ready to use you for a project. This is a hot lead!

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As you can see, the indicators are not always subtle. However, sometimes we're so busy "presenting" our products and services that we're not "reading" our clients and "listening" to their needs.

The savvy sales executive reads their client and listens to their real needs. The concerned sales executive comes up with a solid solution to their client's pains. The closing sales executive makes the buying process simple. Whether it is because she agrees to accept a credit card or has a GSA Schedule contract, the successful sales person wraps up the close in a bow and delivers perfectly.