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Sooner or later in business, everybody has to sell something to somebody. Even if you're not "in sales," you've got to know how to sell -- a product, a service, an idea, yourself. But what does it take to be an excellent salesperson? Is it all about building relationships? About being a good listener? Or about knowing your prospects so well that you understand what they want even better than they do? We asked 12 successful salespeople to answer these and other related questions. Here's their advice on the art of selling. Are you buying?

Stanley Marcus
Chairman Emeritus
Neiman Marcus
Dallas, Texas

I'm 93 years old, and I've been in retail since I was a kid. I worked in my father's store as a messenger boy, a stock boy, a junior salesperson -- and on up. The one thing I've learned from my experience is that no matter what you sell, you've got to sell satisfaction. That's the one thing that brings people back. My father wanted people to be happy. He knew that a customer wouldn't be happy if she bought the wrong item. For that reason, he would always take things back -- even if they had been worn or abused. In the long run, this approach helped us build a clientele that is second to none in customer loyalty.

Early in my career, I was working in the fur department. We had a large investment in fur stock, so my father supervised me carefully, coming down to the floor a few times a day. One day, he pointed to a black broadtail coat that cost $6,000. That fragile little fur wasn't getting any better with age, he told me. He wanted me to find a customer for it. A week later, he stopped by and saw me having a woman fitted for the coat. He quickly pulled me aside and asked me what I was doing. I happily reported that I had just sold it to this woman. He told me that I'd made a big mistake and that now I had to unsell the fur. I had found a customer for the coat, but it was the wrong customer.

He explained that this woman sold life insurance and that he often saw her walking through our store (which she used as a shortcut), carrying a large leather shoulder bag that was filled with heavy policies. He knew that if she purchased that coat, she would quickly ruin it by wearing out the fur on the shoulder. I assured him that I had already warned her that it was a fragile fur; she understood that it couldn't take much abuse, I said. He told me that she might understand that point now but that she wouldn't be so understanding on the day the coat started coming apart.

That little black broadtail coat was the most difficult fur I've ever had to sell, and certainly the only one that I've ever had to unsell. But I realized that you can't sell satisfaction if you give people the wrong advice. Give people the wrong advice, and they'll never forgive you.

Stanley Marcus's earliest memories of his father's store, Neiman Marcus, are of crawling on the floor and picking up pins. Today Marcus is considered one of the country's greatest salespeople.

Mark Jarvis
SVP, Worldwide Marketing
Oracle Corp.
Redwood CITY, California

Selling is a lot like seduction. That's especially true in the computer industry -- where often you're selling a vision rather than a product. It requires passion and emotion. When I'm in the selling zone, every cell in my body is working toward the same goal. I give myself instant feedback: If I'm emotionally drained after trying to make a sale, I know that I've done a good job.