Most of us want our businesses to be more successful. And interestingly, most of us have the same basic challenges when it comes to our businesses. Fortunately, because these issues are so common, there are answers out there.

In this episode of Michele Price’s radio show Breakthrough Business Strategies, Michele interviews me, Andrea Waltz (bestselling author of Go for No) and productivity expert Stephanie Calahan. In this fascinating discussion, we share:
    • Mistakes we’ve made and lessons we’ve learned
    • The most common challenges business owners deal with
    • How we subconsciously sabotage ourselves
    • The value of business coaching
    • Why it’s okay not to be perfect
    • The right way and the wrong way to tackle problems
    • And much more!

To listen, just click on the link below. Or to download the segment to listen later, right-click the link and select “Save Target As…”

Overcoming Your Business Hurdles, Don Cooper on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (mp3)

Warning: This interview is more than an hour and a half long, so you may want to download it so you can listen to it at your leisure. I promise you though, it’s worth the time!

To learn more about Michele, Andrea and Stephanie, check out their web sites:

Michele Price: www.WhoIsMichelePrice.com
Andrea Waltz: www.goforno.com
Stephanie Calahan: www.productiveandorganized.net

By now you’ve probably already broken your New Year’s resolutions, so let’s replace them with some new ones. Specifically, with some resolutions that will enable you to sell more this year than you did last year.

1. Set sales goals
If you’ve never set sales goals for yourself or your salespeople, now’s the time to start. Begin with a goal for the year and then break that down into monthly and weekly goals. You may want to set goals for specific activities as well: number of phone calls, frequency of blog posts, number of networking events, etc. For more on effective goal-setting, listen to The First Step to Increasing Your Sales.

2. Devote more time to selling
Whether you’re a salesperson, professional, small business owner or CEO, you have a lot on your To-Do list. But are all of those things making you money? If you want to increase your sales, one of the best changes you can make is to devote more time to actual sales-related activities. What other activities can you cut back on to make more room in your schedule for selling?

3. Raise your prices
One way to boost your sales immediately is to raise your prices. Afraid you’ll lose customers? Don’t be. If your product or service is great, your customers will stay with you. And even if you do lose a few, you’ll more than make up for it due to your higher profit margin. For additional insights and ideas for charging more, check out The Myth of Price: Why You Should Charge More and How to Do It.

4. Get better at social media
Social media is becoming more important for businesses and salespeople by the day. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube offer tremendous opportunities for boosting your sales. If you’re not using them well, learn how.

5. Improve your sales skills
If you want to increase your sales, doesn’t it make sense to get better at selling? Read books, devour audio and video programs and attend seminars on sales, marketing, negotiating, networking, psychology, business and more. Aim for completing at least one per month. Check out some great resources here.

6. Ask for the sale
A lot of people do a great job of prospecting, qualifying and presenting, but never attempt to close. They end up losing the sale simply because they never asked for it. Resolve to always ask for the order.

7. Ask for referrals
If your customers love your product or service, they want to give you referrals. You just need to ask. For tips on asking effectively, listen to How to Get More Referrals.

8. Fire bad customers
Odds are, some of your customers suck. Whether they’re Cheapskates, Divas or Abusers (see Seven Customers You Don’t Want for the complete list), they’re more trouble than they’re worth. Get rid of them and focus your time and energy on finding better, more profitable customers.

There you have it. Eight simple resolutions that can boost your sales immediately and for years to come. If you can make and keep just one of these resolutions, what kind of an impact would that have on your sales? What if you could make and keep three or four, or even (gulp!) all eight?

2012 could be a lousy year for your sales. Or it could be a great year! How can you make sure it’s the latter and not the former?

Listen to my appearance on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio with Michele Price. In this ten-minute segment, you’ll discover how to lay the foundation for a terrific sales year regardless of what happens in the economy or your industry.

To listen, just click on the link below. Or to download the segment to listen later, right-click the link and select “Save Target As…”

How to Make 2012 a Great Sales Year, Don Cooper on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (mp3)

How to Make 2012 a Great Sales Year, Don Cooper on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (mp3)

To learn more about Michele Price and listen to her interview other business experts on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (which I vehemently recommend), check out www.WhoIsMichelePrice.com.

Just in time for the holidays, the United Nations has voted in favor of a major human rights initiative—to ban the manufacture, distribution and sale of fruitcake.

“Those who question the value of the United Nations need look no further than this action to see the critical role it can play in bringing diverse countries together to prevent human tragedy,” asserted UN spokesman Nick Landime.

The ban was applauded by more than two dozen human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The Carter Center, the Islamic Human Rights Commission, and the World Organization Against Torture.

“It’s about time they’ve done something,” stated human rights activist Rob Berbarren. “For too long, the UN has stood by while billions have suffered needlessly.”

Critics of the United Nations have long accused the organization of dragging its feet, alleging the UN has secretly been in league with the so-called Bakery-Industrial Complex. In his press conference, Landime expressed hope that this ban would put an end to those rumors.

Landime also pointed out that with this single action, the UN is also fulfilling many of its other goals, starting with reducing world hunger. “The flour, butter, sugar and other ingredients wasted in fruitcakes each year could feed the entire Horn of Africa for a decade.”

“In addition, it will go a long way toward protecting the environment,” he noted. The UN estimates that approximately 147 billion pounds of fruitcake end up in landfills every year. As they decompose, their toxic byproducts can contaminate groundwater.

“And it’s an important step in fighting climate change,” Landime continued, referring to the well-established link between fruitcake production and global warming.

“At the end of the day though, this is about basic human rights—protecting people from torture and suffering.”

North Korea, Iran, and Myanmar were among the handful of countries to vote against the ban. Iran and Myanmar have both refused to allow UN inspectors to visit their bakeries and there is no reliable estimate of North Korea’s fruitcake-manufacturing capabilities.

In sales training, we often spend a lot of time discussing what prospects and customers want. However, there are a lot of things that buyers don’t want, and being aware of these can be equally important to your sales.

Because the things buyers don’t want are what keep them from buying, or  at least buying from a particular seller. In other words, these are the things that kill potential sales.

Specifically, buyers don’t want to be:
    1. Insulted
    2. Pressured
    3. Hassled
    4. Questioned about their judgment
    5. Bored
    6. Lied to
    7. Made to feel uncomfortable
    8. Harangued
    9. Overcharged
    10. Belittled
    11. Subjected to profanity
    12. Ignored
    13. Taken advantage of
    14. Embarrassed
    15. Overwhelmed
    16. Made to feel like an interruption
    17. Berated
    18. Misled
    19. Condescended to
    20. Offended by noxious odors
    21. Rushed
    22. Confused
    23. Disappointed
    24. Forced to waste their time
    25. Ripped off
    26. Angered
    27. Made to feel stupid
    28. Disgusted
    29. Inconvenienced
    30. Abandoned
    31. Taken for granted

Great companies and salespeople know how vital it is to prevent existing and potential customers from experiencing any of these things. Print out this list and make sure everyone in your organization—not just salespeople, everyone—understands its importance.

And feel free to add to the list. What else do you think should be on it?

You don’t have to wait until January. Whether you’re a salesperson, sales manager, small business owner or CEO, there are things you can do right now to ensure your sales next year are fantastic. Regardless of the economy!

Listen to my appearance on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio with Michele Price. In this twelve-minute segment, you’ll discover:
    • The first thing you should do to foster increased sales
    • Critical questions to ask yourself
    • The dangers of niching
    • And much more!

To listen, just click on the link below. Or to download the segment to listen later, right-click the link and select “Save Target As…”

How to Get a Head Start on Next Year’s Sales, Don Cooper on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (mp3)

To learn more about Michele Price and listen to her interview other business experts on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (which I strongly recommend), check out www.WhoIsMichelePrice.com.

Last week I was in Washington DC to spend Thanksgiving with my girlfriend. While I was there, she took me to her new favorite restaurant, Virtue, in Old Town Alexandria. I loved it as much as she did and we decided that while I was in town, we should also visit the other four establishments owned by the Eat Good Food Group.

They were all fantastic. And crowded. Which got me to thinking about how this ownership team has managed to successfully grow their business in the most failure-prone industry known to man, during one of the worst economic periods of our nation’s history.

Here are four observations and thoughts for your own sales:

1. Have a clear vision
The partners in the Eat Good Food Group—husband and wife Cathal and Meshelle Armstrong and their friend Todd Thrasher—created each restaurant with a very clear vision in mind: Virtue is a casual tavern; The Majestic is an upscale eatery serving American classics; Restaurant Eve is a French-influenced fine dining experience; Eamonn’s is an Irish fish-and-chips place; and PX is a lounge that evokes a 1920’s-era speakeasy. The vision for each establishment manifests in details such as the lack of signage on PX’s door, the Irish sodas at Eamonn’s, and the gas-station-style shirts worn by the wait staff at Virtue. Each restaurant has a distinct look and feel that distinguishes it from competitors.

What’s your vision for your business? How do you want your customers to feel when they walk into your place of business or experience your product or service? And how does that experience differ from what your competition provides?

2. Do fewer things better
The menus at all five restaurants are pretty limited. (Heck, Eamonn’s pretty much serves only fish and chips.) While this would seem to be a disadvantage compared to many other restaurants, where the menu choices seem to go on forever, the Armstrongs and Thrasher have realized an important point: It’s better to do a few things incredibly well than do a lot of things unexceptionally.

Too many businesses try to do too much, in a doomed effort to be all things to all people. You can’t please everyone, and you’ll drive yourself crazy trying. Instead, harness the power of focus: Offer less, but make what you do offer, extraordinary.

3. Hire good people and train them well
Another element all five restaurants share is the quality of the people who work in them. From the hosts to the chefs to the wait staff to the managers, everyone is friendly, knowledgeable, skilled and helpful. They clearly enjoy being where they are and doing what they do, an attitude customers appreciate.

Your people are your business. Do you have the right people? Do you have enough of them? Are you training them consistently so they can continuously improve?

4. Make customers feel great
Whether you’ve just dropped $200 on the Tasting Room menu at Restaurant Eve or spent less than $10 on an enormous portion of fish & chips at Eamonn’s, you walk out feeling wonderful. That may seem easy in an industry based on feeding people, but I’ve walked out of plenty of restaurants where I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about my experience there. (I’m sure you have as well.)

Business is all about feelings. There may be a lot of numbers, facts and logic involved, but the bottom line is that people buy when they feel good about a company or a salesperson. And they return when the experience creates a positive emotional imprint on them.

How do your customers feel when they do business with you? How does your product or service make them feel? How could you improve their experience?

Whenever you see a successful business, take a few minutes to think about what they’re doing right and how you might incorporate it into your own business. And the next time you’re in the Washington DC area, check out one or more of the Eat Good Food Group restaurants. Tell them I said hi.

Much has been said and written about Netflix’s decision over the summer to raise their monthly full-service subscription fee from $10 to $16. Journalists, bloggers and a wide variety of  sales and marketing “experts” criticized the price increase, terming it everything from “unwise” to a “debacle,” pointing to the fact that Netflix lost 800,000 subscribers in the following months.

From all the hand-wringing and finger-pointing, you’d think Netflix only had 900,000 customers to begin with and was now on the verge of bankruptcy.

But here’s the reality: Before the price increase, Netflix had 24.6 million subscribers.

Which means Netflix raised their price by 60% and only lost 3.2% of its customers.

Let’s do the math.

24.6 million customers at $10 each is $246 million. 23.8 million customers at $16 each works out to $381 million. In other words, even with the loss of nearly a million subscribers, Netflix has increased its monthly revenues by $135 million! A whopping 54%!

And those results could’ve been even better. What caused most of the subscriber defections was not the price increase, but rather, the attempt by Netflix to divide itself into two companies, forcing customers to have to deal with two completely different accounts. People don’t like complicated, they like simple. In fact, they’ll pay more for simplicity, as Apple has proven repeatedly over the years. (Netflix executives wisely reversed that decision in the wake of the outcry from their customers.)

So what’s the real sales lesson here? Don’t be afraid to raise your prices. You won’t lose as many clients as you fear you will. In fact, you may not lose any. And even if you do lose some of your customers, you’ll still come out ahead thanks to the larger profit margin.

Too many people and companies undervalue what they sell and undercharge as a result. Insufficient profit margins will doom your business. If you produce a quality product or service, charge appropriately. People will happily pay it.

If your 2011 sales aren’t where you’d like them to be yet, don’t despair—you’ve still got time to increase them!

Listen to my appearance on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio with Michele Price. In this hour-long interview, we discuss:
    • What you need to do immediately
    • The myths of fourth quarter selling
    • Five ways to increase your sales
    • How to differentiate yourself from your competitors
    • The secret of the world’s most successful businesses
    • And much more!

To listen, just click on the link below. Or to download the segment to listen later, right-click the link and select “Save Target As…”

How to Improve Your Fourth Quarter Sales, Don Cooper on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (mp3)

To learn more about Michele Price and listen to her interview other business experts on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (which I heartily recommend), check out www.WhoIsMichelePrice.com.

Networking can be a great source of sales leads. It can also be a huge waste of time. Do you know how to ensure it’s the former and not the latter?

Listen to my latest interview with Jim Blasingame on The Small Business Advocate® Radio Show. The 15-minute interview is broken into two segments.

Whether you’re a salesperson, small business owner or professional, you’ll discover:
    • The best places to network
    • How “speed networking” differs from regular networking
    • Strategies for maximizing your time at an event
    • How to turn brief encounters into sales
    • and more!

Social media can be a powerful tool for boosting your sales. If you use it effectively. And that’s the challenge.

Too many salespeople, business owners and professionals aren’t using social media well. It can seem overwhelming and time-consuming. And many people who are trying to use it, have no strategy.

If you’d like some ideas and insights into this rapidly changing world, listen to my appearance on The SociaLight Radio Show with Deb Krier. In this hour-long interview, we discuss how to:
    • know which social media platform is best for you
    • maximize the effectiveness of your social media efforts
    • use social media to research your prospects
    • avoid the biggest dangers of social media
    • and much more!

To listen, just click on the link below. Or to download the segment to listen later, right-click the link and select “Save Target As…”

Social Media and Your Sales, Don Cooper on The SociaLight Radio Show (mp3)

To learn more about Deb Krier, visit www.debkrier.com, and to listen to her interview other social media experts, check out her show on MileHiRadio.com.

The good news is you’ve met your quota. The bad news is, if you make any additional sales, your next quota will increase. You don’t need that kind of pressure.

Sure it means a larger commission check, possibly a bonus, and maybe a chance at winning a trip to a warm island somewhere. But then, it also means management will expect similar results in the future, and you might have to travel more, and rookies will pester you for sales and career advice. Who wants those headaches?

What you need are some guaranteed ways to screw up the potential sales you’re in danger of making. Fortunately, I’m here to help. Here are nine fool-proof strategies for you.

1. Do all the talking
Don’t ask your prospect any questions. If you do, you might discover what they want, need, fear, value, like, dislike or prioritize. You could uncover their goals, dreams, biases or previous experiences. And you run the risk of making the prospect feel important. Worse, you’ll be tempted to relate your product or service to their personal buying criteria.

2. Don’t listen
If your prospect does try to get a word in edgeways, don’t listen to them. Failing to listen to your prospect will make them feel unheard, unimportant and uncomfortable.

3. Talk down to your prospect
One of the best ways to turn off your potential buyer is to insult them. And it’s so easy! Just treat them like a moron! Once when I was car shopping, a salesman insulted the other cars I had already looked at, implying I was an idiot to consider them. Within five minutes I was gone and I never went back.

4. Deliver a canned presentation
Talk only about your product or service’s features. Make no attempt to relate what it does to your prospect’s situation. Stick to the facts and don’t try to engage the prospect’s emotions. Bonus points for using lots of jargon and acronyms your prospect may not understand.

5. Ignore the other people involved
If there is more than one person involved in the buying process, a great way to sabotage the deal is to ignore one or more of those people. If you happen to ignore the decision-maker, BINGO, you’re home free. But even if the person you ignore isn’t the decision-maker, you’ll create enough animosity to ensure they won’t buy from you, no matter how good your product or service is.

6. Summarily dismiss objections
Dismissing a prospect’s objections out of hand has three benefits: 1) It saves time; 2) It insults the prospect; and 3) It makes them uneasy because they still have the objection!

7. Insult your competitors
When we talk badly about our competitors it reflects poorly on us. So talk as much smack as you can! Tell outright lies if you can’t think of anything legitimately negative. And sprinkle in some profanity to increase the chances you’ll offend your prospect.

8. Don’t ask for the sale
Most prospects need to be asked to buy. It’s just easier for them to do nothing than to do something. Even if they want what you’re selling! So if you make no attempt to close the sale, odds are they’ll make no attempt to buy.

9. Don’t follow up
Like the common cold, most sales opportunities will go away on their own if left alone. Whatever you do, don’t call, e-mail or send any kind of a card or letter.

You need never again be worried about making too many sales. Follow the above advice and soon you’ll be free to live a life of leisure.

Whatever someone is looking for, they have lots of choices. But do you know the single most important factor that causes prospects to buy what they buy and determines where they buy it? If you don’t, you’re losing sales. (Hint: It’s not price!)

Listen to my appearance on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio with Michele Price. In this eleven-minute segment, I’ll share this critical information and give you twelve ways to capitalize on it. This secret will absolutely help you boost your sales!

To listen, just click on the link below. Or to download the segment to listen later, right-click the link and select “Save Target As…”

The #1 Buying Factor & How to Leverage It, Don Cooper on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (mp3)

To learn more about Michele Price and listen to her interview other business experts on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (which I highly recommend), check out www.WhoIsMichelePrice.com.

According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) only 20.6% of American adults smoke. Which means if you smoke, you’re potentially offending nearly 80% of your prospects.

And don’t think breath mints will solve the problem, either. The stench emanates from your lungs, so mints and gum just make your breath smell like a menthol cigarette. Further, smoke gets in your hair, your clothes, your car and your office, so everything stinks. You may not notice it, but your prospects certainly do.

Personally, I won’t deal with a salesperson who smokes. I can’t stand the smell of tobacco, so I won’t buy from people who reek of it. And a lot of people I know feel the same way.

So if you smoke—or your salespeople do—you can bet you’re losing sales to someone who doesn’t.

A great sales presentation grabs the prospect’s attention, holds their interest and makes them want to buy now. A poor presentation costs you the sale. Are your presentations helping or hurting your sales?

Listen to my appearance on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio with Michele Price. In this ten-minute segment, you’ll discover:
    • What you should and shouldn’t focus on
    • Great ways to open and close your presentations
    • What not to say
    • 3 strategies for improving your speaking skills
    • And more!

To listen, just click on the link below. Or to download the segment to listen later, right-click the link and select “Save Target As…”

Six Ways to Improve Your Sales Presentations, Don Cooper on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (mp3)

To learn more about Michele Price and listen to her interview other business experts on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (which I definitely recommend), check out www.WhoIsMichelePrice.com.

I’d had enough.

After trying for nearly a month to get my new Motorola smart phone to work properly, I finally returned it. Ten different people had been unable to resolve the various problems I had been experiencing, although the consensus was the root cause was most likely Motorola’s Motoblur feature.

Motoblur is a tool that’s supposed to coordinate all your communication elements: contact list, social media, e-mail, etc. It’s built in to every new Motorola handset and you must set up a Motoblur account to use the phone.

Ironically, a Motorola sales rep had been at the store during one of my previous visits. Upon hearing my problems, he seemed puzzled, but assured me Motoblur couldn’t be at fault. He then proceeded to rave about how wonderful Motoblur was and how much he loved it.

Decorum demanded that I not slap the grin off his face and set him straight. However, here’s what I was dying to say to him:

“Of course you love Motoblur! It’s your product! It’s like your child! You love it for the sole reason it’s yours. You love it even if nobody else does.

And as it happens, nobody else does love it. If you look online, you won’t see users posting comments about how terrific Motoblur is. In fact, you’ll find just the opposite. Nobody wants Motoblur. The only reason people use it is because Motorola requires them to.”

A lot of companies fall into this trap. They think their products and services are great for the simple reason they created them. Just as too many parents are blind to their children’s failings, too many companies are blind to their products’ flaws.

You are not the arbiter of whether or not your product or service is great. The marketplace is. Your opinion of your own offerings is irrelevant. The opinions of your prospects and customers are all that matter.

So my question to you is this: Do you (consciously or not) feel about your products and services the same way you feel about your children? Because if so, that’s a recipe for disaster.

If your child fails at something, you can (and should) still be proud of them and support them. If your product fails, that means it sucked and it needs to be overhauled or eliminated. Emotional attachments to your children are vital. Emotional attachments to your products are deadly.

If you want your products and services to succeed, you need to think about them objectively at every stage of their development. You have to look at them through your customers’ eyes. You must subject them to harsh scrutiny and potential criticism. You’re not creating something you will like—you’re creating something your customers will like. (Check out You Are Not Your Prospect for more insights into this crucial distinction.)

After your product or service is launched, measure its greatness by its sales figures. Once it’s successful, then you can be proud of it.

You should love your kids because they’re yours and because they deserve to be loved by you. Your products, however, are not your kids.

Being able to recognize and act on buying signals is critical to boosting your sales. However, not all buying signals are the same. And misreading a prospect’s buying signal could cost you the sale.

Listen to my appearance on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio with Michele Price. In just seven minutes, I reveal the three different types of buying signals, what they mean and how to tell them apart. You’ll also discover the appropriate response to each type of signal!

To listen, just click on the link below. Or to download the segment to listen later, right-click the link and select “Save Target As…”

Three Types of Buying Signals, Don Cooper on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (mp3)

To learn more about Michele Price and listen to her interview other business experts on Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio (which I strongly recommend), check out www.WhoIsMichelePrice.com.

A friend was recently telling me about his latest car buying experience. It had been at the end of a month, and the salesperson had mentioned to him that the dealership only needed to sell another 25 cars in the next couple of days to win a sales volume title.

I laughed hysterically as my friend grinned. He related to me how he squeezed the salesperson and the sales manager for outrageous discounts and a higher trade-in value than he ever dreamed possible.

By sharing the dealership’s goals and incentives, the salesperson had invited my friend to negotiate much more aggressively than he would have otherwise. And while the dealership did make the sale, they made a lot less profit than they could have made.

Every day, salespeople, business owners and professionals unwittingly encourage prospects to ask for discounts, resulting in lost margins. Making a sale with a decent profit margin is difficult enough without asking prospects to make it harder for us.

So avoid unintentional giveaways like these:
    • “We’re really slow right now.”
    • “We have a lot of these in stock.”
    • “It’s been a tough month.”
    • “We’re coming to the end of our model year.”
    • “I’m new.”
    • “Well, the list price is…”
    • “Heck, we can start today.”
    • “It’s not a very popular model.”
    • “We’ll do whatever it takes to earn your business.”

When talking with prospects, you want to project confidence, not desperation. Even if you’re totally lacking in the former and drowning in the latter. Because if prospects believe you’re desperate for the sale, they’ll ask for discounts when they otherwise wouldn’t. Or worse, they won’t buy from you at all, on the presumption that if you’re desperate for business, you can’t be very good.

So ask them about their wants and needs. Ask them for the order. Just don’t ask them to negotiate your price.

One of the most challenging obstacles salespeople, business owners and professionals have to overcome is our own assumptions. Our assumptions determine our behavior: Bad assumptions lead to bad behavior, which leads to lost sales.

Here are six of the most dangerous assumptions:

1. “They’re not a buyer.”
The guy in the t-shirt and faded jeans? He could be a millionaire.  The woman pushing the baby stroller? She could be a CEO. You never know. Buyers don’t need to impress you. You need to impress them—by always taking them seriously and being respectful.

2. “Buyers want to be left alone.”
Buyers don’t want to be hassled or pressured. They do want to be engaged, advised and assisted. They want to be made to feel welcomed, comfortable and confident. They want to be talked with, not at. They want to be served. When prospects are ignored, they feel unwanted and unappreciated. When that happens, they go somewhere else in search of better treatment.

3. “The man is the decision maker.”
Women control the checkbook in 80% of households. Even when they don’t, they often still have the final say. And that doesn’t count all the situations when the woman is the buyer and the man simply happens to be there. When talking with a couple, address both people equally.

4. “Buyers are ignorant.”
With access to virtually unlimited amounts of information, today’s buyers often know more about a particular product or service than the salesperson does. Further, they often know more about the competition than the salesperson does. Respect the prospect’s intelligence, experience and knowledge.

5. “The decision-maker is the only person who matters.”
While the decision-maker may make the final decision (hence the name), if you don’t have all or most of the influencers on your side, you’re dead meat. Influencers are the people whose opinions the decision-maker solicits before rendering said decision. They can include accountants, attorneys, IT people, managers, front-line workers, even the receptionist. Because they all have the power to make or break the sale, they’re all important.

6. “They’ll call when they’re ready.”
They might. Or they might get caught up in other issues and forget about you entirely. Or they might say yes to anther salesperson who follows up and asks for the order. Don’t risk it. Follow up consistently.

If your sales aren’t where you’d like them to be, check yourself and your sales team for these assumptions.  Odds are, you—and your team—are harboring one or more of them without even being aware of it. When you change your assumptions, you’ll change your results.

What other assumptions have you found are detrimental to sales?

Negotiating is vital to the sales process, as well as other aspects of your business and personal life. How sharp are your negotiating skills?

Listen to my latest interview with Jim Blasingame on The Small Business Advocate® Radio Show. The 20-minute interview is broken into three segments.

Whether you’re a CEO, sales manager, small business owner or salesperson, you’ll discover:
    • why it’s critical to hone your negotiating skills
    • the most important negotiating rule
    • what you must do before you negotiate
    • the most common misconceptions about negotiating
    • and more!