For many small businesses, just sticking around until next month is an ongoing challenge. It is so easy to read about the significant gap between those unemployed and the quantity of job openings and automatically fall victim to doom and gloom. While this gap currently stands at somewhere around 14 million people, it is very important for the sanity of the entrepreneur that these numbers be kept in context.

First off, these are national figures which may or may not apply to the entrepre-

neur's marketplace.

Second, many indicators are showing some signs of growth. When companies are continuing to grow, it means that they are also continuing to buy. Be it services or products, it is often easy to forget that everyday somebody is buying something and everyday somebody is successfully selling something.

The personal challenge is to make sure that you are consistently in that second group of successful selling.

Perhaps in no other functional aspect of a business is attitude more important than in sales.

While large companies may have groups totally dedicated to selling, an entrepreneur's sales force is usually his or her reflection as seen in the mirror. What many forget is how that reflection comes across to the only people who can guarantee their success.

These folks are also known as customers.

Two simple tasks can be performed by almost any entrepreneurial salesperson to "quick tune" their selling approach.

The first is an attitude audit. This is as simple as verifying that you know and believe that what you have to sell will benefit the potential customer and being able to channel this belief and knowledge into positive confidence.

Kindly notice that this is not some made-up, put on a smiley face button, have a nice day, please buy from me manipulative selling technique.

Put yourself in your customer's place. Don't you prefer to be around someone who is sincere and positively confident as opposed to someone who doesn't believe in him or herself, much less the effectiveness of their product or service?

Said differently, if you don't believe that what you are selling will truly benefit your customer, then don't bother wasting both of your times.

The second part is a fine-tuning of your approach.

It is not enough to just know the value of what you are selling; you have to be able to communicate it as well. In selling terms, this is sometimes referred to as "the pitch." People who truly understand the importance and value of selling are always on the alert to ensure that their pitch stays fresh and current. While repetition might be great for some things, communicating with humans in a constantly changing environment does not lend itself to canned presentations.

A couple of ways to guard against this is to ask a fellow entrepreneur to allow you to practice a sales call with him or her. After the mock presentation, hand him or her a short checklist of evaluative topics.

Focus on those points of value that you know are critical and use this information to see if you are covering all the bases in a way that the client can understand them.

This is the time when professional selling skills are at an all time premium. Even if you don't regard yourself as a top notch salesperson, try these "quick tune" suggestions and I guarantee you'll see improved results.

John F. Riddell Jr., director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Growth-Hamilton County, writes every other Tuesday about entrepreneurs and their impact on companies and the marketplace. Submit comments to his attention by writing to Business Editor John Vass Jr., Chattanooga Times Free Press, P.O. Box 1447, Chattanooga, TN 37401-1447, or by e-mailing him at business@timesfreepress.com