From the category archives:

Your Mindset

Leave Your Rolex and Some of Your Perfection at Home

May 6, 2009

Are you ready for another contrarian tip about successful sales negotiations?
A prior article suggested that you introduce a slight stammer or hesitation into your conversation with a prospect.
This article tells you why.  If you agree with what you’re about to read, you’ll never want to look too good again.

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How to Sell Better by Not Selling Too Early

May 4, 2009

An earlier article suggested that you start each new sales relationship by withholding the information you have in order to bargain for the information you want.
This article will show you how to do that without irritating your prospect.
The strategy comes from Jim Camp, my mentor in sales negotiations. He’s the only person I know of [...]

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How to Negotiate an Evaluation Process that Meets Your Needs as Well as the Customer’s

May 1, 2009

A prior article noted the conflict you often face when the sales process you want to follow is at odds with the evaluation process your prospect wants to follow.
Have you had a prospect express mild interest in your offering and ask you to send information? You agree, and then when you call to [...]

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How to Control the Only Two Things You Can, and Stop Wasting Energy on What You Can’t

April 22, 2009

When you stop trying to control things you can’t, you’ll be able to focus more of your energy and attention on gaining complete control over the only things you can: your behavior and your actions.

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Selling and the Delusion of Control

April 20, 2009

How much control you do maintain over your prospects during a sales cycle?
If your answer is ‘a lot,’ I have a bone to pick with you. At best you’re deluded. At worst you’re a control freak.  In either case you’re probably working against your own best interests.
Let that harsh judgment forewarn you that you’re about [...]

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Skepticism Is Smart, But Don’t Let It Stop You from Improving

April 19, 2009

In prior articles here you’ve read some controversial selling advice that runs counter to everything you’ve been told to think or do.
What now? Do you reject it or try it out?
Before you read any more suggestions about selling — including mine — a few disclaimers.
I’ve read more than a hundred books on selling, and I’ve [...]

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Change Your Mindset, Improve Your Prospecting

April 13, 2009

[This is the fourth in a series of posts about prospecting and sales negotiations. The two prior posts gave you some ideas on behavior what to avoid when you're prospecting. This post gives you new ways to think about what you're doing. With these new perspectives you can eliminate some of the habits that irritate [...]

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The Secret to Self Esteem: Have a Short Memory for Your Bad Moments

December 15, 2008

[This is the ninth post in a series about overcoming the setbacks we all face in sales. For the first of the series, click here.]
Our last post left Karl Wallenda and six members of his family after their tragic fall during a high-wire performance of their famous seven-person pyramid. They performed the same feat again [...]

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Pick Yourself Up And Do It Again

December 14, 2008

[This is the eighth in a series of posts about overcoming the setbacks we all face in sales. For the first in the series, click here.]
It was one of the most spectacular and dangerous high-wire acts circus audiences had ever seen. Yet the Wallenda family performed the seven-person pyramid successfully hundreds of times from 1948 [...]

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When You’re Going Through Hell, Keep Moving.

December 13, 2008

[This is the seventh in a series of posts about overcoming setbacks. To see the first, click here.]
When a setback knocks you on your butt, you’ll recover faster if you give yourself a worthwhile goal to pursue. Right away.
The brain is a goal-seeking organ. At a primitive level, it automatically moves you toward the things [...]

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