Our Articles on Communication

1. Train, Drill, Drill, and Drill - OLD
   (members only content)

   In sales, nothing builds confidence like continuously improving your skills.

   Salespeople who regularly have trouble selling are either missing one or more basics in their sales skill arsenal, or they just don’t practice them enough so that they’ve really “got” them.

2. What Do Customers Buy?

   When prospects buy, what exactly is it that they’re buying?
   
   You might answer, “My product!” or “My service!” To a large degree, that’s true; otherwise, they wouldn’t be interested at all. But the top factor that causes prospects and customers to purchase when it comes right down to it, is the salesperson’s confidence
    

3. Confidence Tips and Tools
   (members only content)

4. The Scale of Confidence - OLD
   (members only content)

   Did you know that there is a “scale of confidence”? It goes from the top, where a salesperson is totally confident and willing to sell anything to anybody, all the way down to the point where the salesperson won’t make the first effort to sell anything at all. All of their motivation and confidence seem to have been eroded.
   
   What happens to cause the salesperson to go down this scale?

5. Approach and speak with an appropriate emotion. - OLD
   (members only content)

   One component of confidence is being able to look at a person, talk to them a little bit, and be able to make an educated guess as to where they are at emotionally. It is very important in sales to approach a prospect and speak to them with the appropriate emotion.

6. Is Price a Valid Objection to Buying?
   (members only content)

   According to the media, price may be an issue.

7. Do Other Members of Your Sales Organization Intimidate you?
   (members only content)

   How to Reclaim Confidence, Control, and Performance

8. What to do when a prospect gets angry
   (members only content)

   When a Prospect Gets Angry: How Real Sales Professionals Stay in Control Without Escalation

9. How to Start up a Conversation With a Total Stranger
   (members only content)

   Talking to Strangers: Why the Best Salespeople Don’t Rely on “Being Outgoing”

10. Always Be Surveying - OLD
    (members only content)

    A primary factor for sales confidence is knowledge—knowledge about your product or service, knowledge about your prospect, knowledge about your prospect’s company, and knowledge about your prospect’s industry or market. As they say, knowledge is power, and in the case of a salesperson, it is also confidence.

11. Learning to Observe - OLD
    (members only content)

    An essential key to sales confidence, and a vital part of life in general, is learning to observe.
    
    Perhaps the biggest mistake anyone can make when it comes to dealing with any issue or problem is just not looking. Much of the time, when you take the time to look at something, it can then appear far simpler and easier to handle than it would if you were not looking and just making assumptions about it.

12. Sales CPR – Confidence - OLD
    (members only content)

    Sometimes as sales professionals and executives we can “overthink” the problem. What gives a salesperson confidence? What gives us confidence in any profession? Training and experience, right? It really is that simple.

    Here is the myth: “Experience = Old School” – The idea that it takes a LONG time to gain that experience is false.

13. Match Your Emotion to the Prospect’s Mood
    (members only content)

    One essential component of confidence in sales is emotional awareness — the ability to observe someone, talk with them briefly, and make an educated guess about where they’re at emotionally. In sales, success often depends on your ability to approach and communicate with a prospect using the appropriate emotion.

14. Confidence CPR: Simple Beats Complicated (Every. Single. Time.)
    (members only content)

    Quick gut-check: when was the last time you overthought a sales call? Be honest. We’ve all been there, turning a simple conversation into a 47-tab brain circus.

15. The Secret Ingredient Behind Every Closed Sale
    (members only content)

    “Control.”

    For some people, that word lands with the same warmth as a dentist’s drill. You can almost see them flinch. And honestly, it makes sense. Many of us have experienced bad control, an overbearing boss, a micromanaging parent, or that Little League coach who treated third grade baseball like the World Series.

16. The Art of Getting Prospects Talking
    (members only content)

    A vital part of contacting a prospect, especially a brand-new one, is getting them talking. If you skip this, forget it. You’re not getting any further in the sales cycle, and you’re definitely not seeing a close. Conversation is oxygen in sales. No exchange, no sale.

17. How Ordinary People Become Extraordinary Salespeople
    (members only content)

    Great Salespeople Are Not Born — They’re Trained

18. Great Salespeople Aren’t Born. They Drill.
    (members only content)

    Confidence in Sales Is Built, Not Borrowed.

19. The Sale That Never Had a Chance
    (members only content)

    Competence Is the Completion of the Process

20. Trust Comes First: Why Real Communication Is the True Beginning of Every Sale
    (members only content)

    Trust Comes First: Why Real Communication Is the True Beginning of Every Sale

21. Outthinking the Competition: A Simple Strategy That Works
    (members only content)

    Competence and Competition: Don’t Overthink It

22. Selling With Pride: The Code Behind Sustainable Success
    (members only content)

    Pride, Integrity, and the Professional Salesperson

23. The Question Every Salesperson Wishes They Asked Sooner
    (members only content)

    Why the First Minutes of Your Presentation Matter More Than You Think

24. Sales Productivity by the Numbers (Not by Hope)
    (members only content)

    Using Statistical Analysis to Manage Your Sales Productivity

25. The Power of Demonstration
    (members only content)

    Why Showing Beats Telling in Sales

26. The Top Producer Monday Morning Routine
    (members only content)

    Monday Morning Sales Power Hour

27. The Scale of Confidence
    (members only content)

    The Scale of Confidence Why Some Salespeople Soar and Others Stall

28. The Difference Between Closers and Panickers
    (members only content)

    When Panic Turns Salespeople Into Maniacs

    We’ve all lived this nightmare.

29. The Secret Top Producers Use (That You Can Copy Today)
    (members only content)

    In every company, there’s that salesperson—the one everyone secretly watches out of the corner of their eye.

30. Why Your Last Sale Is Costing You the Next One
    (members only content)

    If you’ve been in sales longer than 10 minutes, you already know that feeling.

    You hang up the phone, shake a hand, or click “Submit Order,” and suddenly the world looks brighter. Your shoulders drop. You breathe again. Birds chirp. Coffee tastes like victory. You’ve just closed a deal, and for a moment, life is good.

31. Continuous Improvement Maintains Salesperson Confidence
    (members only content)

    Ever heard the idea that someone who is not producing well is just “in a slump” or “stressed out” or “burned out”? I hear this often and wonder who came up with this idea? First of all what is this based on? [private]You hear this in sports “he lost his touch”, “she just needs time “or “he always slumps around this time”. If you agree with this, then it tends to become true and the opposite it's true as well as if you do not agree with this, then it tends to not be true.

32. Increasing Sales in a Tough Economy
    (members only content)

    Increasing Sales in a Tough Economy

33. Motivating Your Sales Team
    (members only content)

    How do you create a motivated sales team in spite of the economy?

34. Continuous Improvement Maintains Salesperson Confidence - OLD/DOC
    (members only content)

35. Increasing Sales in a Tough Economy - OLD/DOC
    (members only content)

Our Webcasts on Communication

1. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections
   (members only content)

2. Is Price Really the Issue?
   (members only content)

Our Videos on Communication

1. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections - Part I
   (members only content)

2. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections - Part II
   (members only content)

3. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections - Part III
   (members only content)

4. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections - Part IV
   (members only content)

5. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections - Part IX
   (members only content)

6. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections - Part V
   (members only content)

7. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections - Part VI
   (members only content)

8. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections - Part VII
   (members only content)

9. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections - Part VIII
   (members only content)

10. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections - Part X
    (members only content)

11. Eight Ways to Eliminate Objections - Part XI
    (members only content)

12. 8 Ways to Make your Day in Sales a Success - Part I
    (members only content)

13. 8 Ways to Make your Day in Sales a Success - Part II
    (members only content)

14. 8 Ways to Make your Day in Sales a Success - Part III
    (members only content)

15. 8 Ways to Make your Day in Sales a Success - Part IV
    (members only content)

16. 8 Ways to Make your Day in Sales a Success - Part V
    (members only content)

17. 8 Ways to Make your Day in Sales a Success - Part VI
    (members only content)

18. 8 Ways to Make your Day in Sales a Success - Part VII
    (members only content)

19. 8 Ways to Make your Day in Sales a Success - Part VIII
    (members only content)

20. The Game of Sales
    (members only content)

21. What Do You Do? Monday Mornings
    (members only content)

22. Selling Against Competition
    (members only content)

23. Improving Public Speaking Skills
    (members only content)

24. Emotions in Selling
    (members only content)

25. Confidence in Your Product or Service
    (members only content)

26. How to Properly Handle Complaints
    (members only content)

27. Become a Champion Through Practice
    (members only content)

28. Are You Intimidated by Other Sales People
    (members only content)

29. Using a Positive Attitude to Lower the Amount of Mistakes and Accidents
    (members only content)

30. Having Regrets After a Presentation
    (members only content)

31. Emotional Resistance
    (members only content)