Sitting by the phone, waiting for the order

You made your pitch. Now you're sitting by the phone waiting for the call from the customer.  Waitng to get the order.  I have one word for you:
DON'T.
You need to stay in touch with the customer who is in the process of making a decision.  You need to email him, call him, call on him in person, anything to let him know that you want the order.  Some of the approaches could be:  "here's some information I forgot to give you the last time", or "here's an update on the product", "if you're still having a difficulty making this decision, can I see you so that we can discuss your questions?".  Use any reason you can think of to stay in touch with the customer during the decision making process.  

MAXWELL'S LAW: THE LAST SALES PERSON STANDING GETS THE ORDER.
I play in a big band orchestra and the conductor at a recent rehearsal made a great point:  what the audience remembers is your last song.  You can mess up in the middle of the concert, but make the last song perfect and that's what they'll remember.  Be the last person the customer remembers and you'll get the order.

Passion Enthusiasm Confidence

A new vacuum cleaner salesman knocked on the door on the first house of the street. A tall lady answered the door.
Before she could speak, the enthusiastic salesman barged into the living room and opened a big black plastic bag and poured all the cow droppings onto the carpet.
"Madam, if I could not clean this up with the use of this new powerful vacuum cleaner, I will EAT all this cow poop!" exclaimed the eager salesman.
"Do you need chili sauce or ketchup with that?" asked the lady.
The bewildered salesman asked, "Why, madam?"
"There's no electricity in the house..." said the lady

There is nothing that beats being passionate about what you're selling and feeling confident in your product.  But how can you be passionate about a refrigerator, a vacuum cleaner or an air compressor?
Passion and enthusiam come when you're confident, when you know your product inside and out and when you truly believe that your product can solve your customer's problem.  This all starts with product knowledge and product belief.  Whether you're selling cars, refrigerators, air compressors, lights--whatever, you need to know everything about your product and why it's better than anyone else's.  If you don't believe in your product, your customer will see this and you will not make the sale.  Although his approach may have been a little over the top, the vacuum cleaner salesman in the joke believed in his product.
Without passion, enthusiasm and confidence, sales becomes a tough job and not a joy.  

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Aretha Franklin made these letters famous in her song of the same name.  It's a good subject for a discussion in sales.
Several years ago, I was working a booth, helping a business owner at a trade show.  During a lull in the trade show action he confided in me that he really didn't "like" his customers.  He felt that he was too well educated--"better" than his customers--after all, he owned a business, was college educated, etc., etc. . I thought to myself, during this discussion, this guy's not going to be in business in five years.  I way overestimated; he closed his business a year later.
He thought he was smarter than his customers.  He wasn't.  A good salesperson has to RESPECT his customers.  If you don't respect your customers--respect them for what they have achieved, for their own capabilities, for who they are, you cannot sell them anything.
From the moment you come into contact with a customer, that customer is evaluating you, testing you.  If you think you're the smartest person in the room, the customer will sense this lack of respect and your chances of getting the order is reduced geometrically.
If you can't respect your customers, you are in the wrong business.  If you can look at a customer and realize--really realize--the value in this customer, then you will be successful as a salesperson. Product knowledge is the easy part; respecting your customers can be difficult.  But it is absolutely essential to the success of a salesperson.