Graham Rawlinson

There is an invisible barrier that is holding us back. It is the reason why many of us aren't achieving the goals we set for ourselves.

You can’t manage the number of sales you’re going to make, but you can manage the behaviour that will help you make those sales.

Not the relationship bridges but the “head trash” bridges. The biggest barriers are often those between our ears. For example, if you are waiting for the big sale to be decided on, hoping they pick your submission and hoping it will save your month, that’s a Bridge of Hope.

If you are running into price objections with your prospects, you are probably giving intellectual presentations, i.e., emphasizing price or features and benefits. One of Sandler's cardinal rules is that people buy emotionally, they only make decisions intellectually. It is "pain" that will get you a sale, not price. Your job is to find someone who has pain, and can pay the price and make the decision to get rid of that pain.

Why do salespeople play rescuer? Salespeople are convinced that they cannot let a prospect struggle because if the prospect does struggle, the sale will be lost. By rescuing the prospect, salespeople believe that they are keeping the prospect on track toward the close. Nothing could be further from the truth.

What happens when a prospect asks your price upfront before you’ve discussed any aspect of the business? Are they just shopping around or maybe they don’t see a difference between you and the competitive product?

Interviewing salespeople for hire requires completion of a series of steps, each building on the previous one. That's why the preparation step is probably the most important: Interviews cannot succeed without a solid foundation.

Ask salespeople to list their least favorite selling activities, and you can count on “prospecting” being at the top of the list. And, the least favorite of all prospecting activities is unquestionably making cold calls.

When you walk into a prospect’s office, what do you do to establish rapport? Traditionally, salespeople look for something in the office that begs a question. For example, “Is that your sailfish on the wall?”

As a professional, your reluctance to be perceived as a “salesperson” may cause you to have trouble being up-front about money issues. This can cost you money. Here are two common money pitfalls, and ways to avoid them: