It's very rare that I come across the salesman beast. I'm pretty cautious about the situations I place myself in. This one couldn't be avoided. The salesman beast had agreed to give a free "seminar" on improving your sales to a networking group I attend. Since I rarely run into them, dissecting their common traits almost becomes sport.
The salesman beast:
1) hunts their prey, surveying the herd and identifying those that are weakest.
2) does say no, but does not expand on the reasons why. They move quickly on to the positive attributes of their pitch.
3) wears a watch more expensive than your first and second car combined.
4) judges you by the brand name of your watch in the first 15 seconds of meeting you.
5) sells a service or product that they do not personally provide. They must move on to the next sale.
6) knows the most common closing techniques and is depending on you to not know them.
7) wants you to say yes many times before actually asking for the sale.
8) could care less about you personally. You are known as a "mark" or an "up".
9) offers a story or two that rarely stands up in the face of scrutiny and the salesman knows this. That's why closing the sale on first contact is so important to them If you're given time to research them, their claims or their competition, the chances of closing the sale evaporate.
10) presentation promises more than their printed materials. They know that conversation is not binding.