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Selling. it's more competitive than ever. It's more important than ever. You practically have to be a super-hero to pull it off. As never before, a company's fortunes depend on the performance of its sales team. Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr calls sales the fuel that drives every up-and-coming organization: "In a small company, everybody is selling all the time," he says. "Believe me, selling is honorable work -- particularly in a startup, where it's the difference between life and death." Because you're always selling -- not only your product but also yourself, your ideas, your team, and your company -- we've decoded the secret powers of three sales superheroes who are retooling the basics of selling for use in the new economy. Their secrets will empower you -- no matter what you sell.

Sales Superhero: Rubber Man

Super Power: Wriggles out of any dilemma and strrrrrretches to an organization's highest levels.

The days of pitching to the head of purchasing have gone the way of polyester neckties. Smart salespeople sell as high on the corporate food chain as they can go. "As companies have become less hierarchical, CEOs and presidents have become more accessible," says Doug Dayton, president of Dayton Associates and author of Selling Microsoft: Sales Secrets from Inside the World's Most Successful Company. "Win the support of a CEO, and suddenly he becomes a coconspirator, an advocate who can call in his VP of R&D to meet with you."

When Dayton was manager of sales and contract support for Microsoft's Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) group, he closed more than 40% of the company's OEM contracts, helping to sell new business to big-name customers. A veteran of many top-level sales calls -- often with Bill Gates himself in tow -- Dayton delivers four insider tactics for selling at the top.

Use your ultimate weapon: bring your CEO to meet their CEO. How can you get into the executive suite? Use your CEO to break down the door. "Your CEO is best at presenting the corporate mission and providing assurances in a very personal way," says Dayton. "If Bill Gates promised that Microsoft would service a product around the clock, people believed him, because Bill was in a position to make that happen."

By taking Gates along on critical sales calls, Dayton quickly discovered that a CEO could talk to another CEO in a way that no one on the sales team would dare duplicate.

"We were in Silicon Valley to meet with a hardware manufacturer, one of the big 20. The other CEO wasn't focusing on the meeting. Gates actually got up on the guy's desk and shouted at him, 'What planet are you on?' He wanted to get the guy's attention, and he did. I closed the sale at our full off-the-sheet price."

Remember that you are not there to sell a product. Sales pitches don't work in the executive suite. "When I first meet with a CEO, my goal is to build a long-term relationship," says Dayton. "The conversation should center on how you can help the customer."

While it's critical that you make a good impression, avoid flashy sales tactics. "You take a big risk if you try to dazzle a CEO. Most of them are pretty savvy, and they're not easily confused by smoke and mirrors. Give hard, indisputable facts instead of opinions."