“I made the sale.”

That’s the victory cry of all salespeople. They scream, jump up and down and figure out their commission in their mind. They don’t realize they’ve missed the biggest sales opportunity of their lives.

Salespeople never seem to understand that it’s not about this sale. It’s about the next sale. Each time they make a sale, they can use the information and the lessons from the sale they just made to make the next sale, and sales for the rest of time, easier.

Instead of celebrating your next sale, take the following 6.5 steps and you will start on a sales streak that will never end.

1. How was this sale made? What did I have to do? What was the full cycle? What could I’ve done better? What can I repeat?

2. How was the sale decided? What steps led to the decision? How was the decision made?

3. Who pulled the trigger? Who was the person who actually made the decision to buy from you? In every selling scenario there is only one trigger puller. Every salesperson needs to know who that person is.

4. Why did they buy from you? What was their motive? What was their incentive? What was their reason to give you their business? How can you be certain to use this in your next presentation?

5. Who makes the budget? The person who spends the budget is always the one who wants three bids. Avoid him or her. The person who makes the budget can change it in three seconds. Start there.

6. What was their internal communication path to the sale? Who had to say what to whom in order for your sale to take place? How could half of this been avoided if you had simply done the next step?

6.5. Start higher. Salespeople tend to work their way from the bottom up. Nothing could be a bigger waste of time or energy. It makes more sense to start at the highest level. Chief executives or other “c-level” corporate executives always know where the decision is made, and if you can gain five to 10 minutes of their time (in exchange for something of value to them), they will either make the decision or take you by the hand to the decision maker.

Let me assure you, when you walk in with the boss, the underling will listen twice as hard and give you half the hassle as when you walk in by yourself.

Now that you know this, you can begin a path to doubling your sales in a very short time. Doing the hard work to gather this information will make you an award-winning salesperson in a way that will gain the respect of your co-workers, your company and especially your customers.

There is a final, subtle step. Once you have met with the decision makers and you spend enough time with them, you will discover what they want their outcomes to be as a result of buying your product or service.

These outcomes need to be a critical part of your sales presentation, because they are the actual buying motives of a corporate executive or a chief executive. High-level decision makers want to know how they profit, and they want to know how their productivity can increase. As a master salesperson, you have a responsibility to deliver this information in a way that will give them enough confidence in you to buy from you.

The most interesting aspect of what I’ve just shared is the fact is that it is obvious. As with most sales situations, the obvious is overlooked. Whatever the reason, the opportunity is now yours. Take it. Master it. Bank it.

Free GitBit. Want a list of “why they buy” questions to ask? I’ve compiled a list of a few questions that will get the session started. Go to www.gitomer.com. Register if you’re a first-time user and enter WHY THEY BUY in the GitBit box.

President of Charlotte, N.C.-based Buy Gitomer, Jeffrey Gitomer gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service. He can be reached at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.