What should you do when your territory isn't overflowing with great prospects?

Maybe your company hired lots of sales people with the idea of saturation coverage.

Personally I have been in that situation more than once!

Or maybe you sell something really specific to a market that has a small, finite number of organizations in it (one of my customers sells only to State and Federal law enforcement and he tells me his market is limited to 62 prospects).

In such circumstances, you can't be a dick to your prospects, now can you Read more on Limited Number of Prospects? Here's What to Do…

If you think the following is too aggressive, then you need to take your brain in for a sales tuneup.

I got this email from a guy who has sold big venture capital investments in both the US and the UK.

Here's what he told me…

My staff used to crowd around the tape recorder (in the days when you didn't have to warn people you were taping the call for training purposes)…. they wanted to see what it was I did that made ALL of my prospects say the following…

'You know Stephen, I like the look of this, and I'm interested, what do you think I should do?'

My response was always the same:

'In your position, I'd buy 5!'

We were selling investment units in private equity deals, and what I taught my employees was that I am not the salesman, but rather a trusted advisor. The investment meets his risk tolerance, and he sees me as a second opinion to back up his own decision.

Strange how I sold more multiple units than anyone else and how I NEVER had someone call up a day later with buyer's remorse."

-Stephen Jones, Director, JIEC Ltd.

Stephen succeeds because he assumes the best for his clients and himself.

He's doesn't bring any head garbage to the sale. Read more on Aggressive Selling or Smart Selling?…

Some people like my writing.

Others don't always see eye-to-eye with me.

Yesterday a woman wrote in to excoriate me about the fact that since women represent about half of the population, and therefore probably half of my readers, that I shouldn't use non-inclusive words like "salesmen".

I should appeal to everyone, and I should offend no one (to take her free marketing advice).

Well I use the word salesmen intentionally.

And since I do this on purpose, I know what I am doing, I know why I am doing it, and it works very well for me.

Wanna know why I do this?

There's a big clue in this video (and it's pretty damn funny too). So watch it now…

UPDATE 8/1/08: This video has been removed from YouTube (where it was hosted), and I don't know the reason why. This video was posted by another YouTube user, and they haven't said why they took it down. I hope you gotta chance to see it before it got yanked cause it was pretty hilarious!

FYI – If you "get" this video, then you'll "get" what I am doing.

Sell with Pride,

Shameless Shamus Brown

P.S. You can double or triple your closing rate fast when you stop trying to sell to anyone who can fog a mirror. Get your copy of the Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program and put my methods for strategic focus into action now.

Here's my Sales Thought for the Week…

Real salesmen don't have to close their deals at the end of the sale. Real salesmen qualify their deals up-front, and then put their time and sales effort only into the deals that they have high-odds of closing. Real salesmen ask "the hard questions" early so they can make these decisions quickly.

Sell with Pride,

Shameless Shamus Brown

P.S. A closed sale is the natural consequence of a deal properly qualified up-front. End the suspense of whether or not your deals will close at the end with the Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program now.

Just because you are a sales professional, doesn't mean you have the right to sell.

Your position, your job is not enough.

The right to sell has to be earned from each prospect.

Too many eager sales people don't know this simple rule.

Some sales people get lucky. They get lucky with their first sales job and they start out selling a hot product in a hot market.

When you sell a hot product in a hot market, there is very little selling you need to do.

The man who sells a hot product usually need do little more than show up.

Thing is though that hot products and hot markets eventually cool off.

Read more on How to Earn the Right to Sell…

I got told I was very "New York" yesterday.

I take it as a complement, because it was.

The guy who told me I was very New York hasn't met me though.

Most people who meet me in person, don't think I am from New York.

I come across as a pretty laid back California dude for the most part.

That can change as I need to when I sell though.

Everyday you run into new people in sales. That's your job.

And you gotta adapt.

Read more on Adapt Your Killer Sales Instinct…

I am recovered coffee addict.

Mentally I still love coffee, even though I don't drink it any more.

So I really appreciated this story that I came across the other day that I am about to share with you.

A guy goes into a coffee shop in near Washington DC. Guy tries to order an iced espresso, and is told he can't have one because it's against store policy to serve espresso over ice.

Pissed off, guy orders an espresso and a cup of ice, and proceeds to pour espresso over cup of ice. Flabbergasted barista says that's really "not okay".

Guy orders a second coffee drink from the store, and leaves a dollar tip with a profane message penned on the face of the bill with a Sharpy.

Read more on How to Piss People Off & Get More Customers…

I got a bunch of emails yesterday about my suggestion that you stop being a puss and stop calling to "Just Touch Base".

Most people told me that they needed the "tough love" I had to deliver.

But some worked hard to defend the "indirect" nature of calling to "Just Touch Base".

"Hey congrats Shamus, yeah, don't be a puss."

"No, you're wrong Shamus, this is a good way to soften up a sales call."

Well you're both right.

Read more on Draw This Line and Triple Your Sales…

Have you ever made one of those lame "I'm just touching base" phone calls?

You know where you are calling to "follow up" and you say, "Hi, I'm calling just to touch base and see where we are at…" or something like that.

The Just Touching Base call is really lame.

It's lame because it's indirect.

You are a being a wuss when you say this.

When you use such words as your reason for calling, you are doing so because you are afraid to say the real reason why you are calling. You subconsciously hope that by using such indirect language, your message will be less of an intrusion.

This is the wrong attitude to approach sell with. Read more on Stop Those "Just Touching Base" Calls For Good…

A prospect who knows what he wants can be a dangerous thing.

The best prospects are not the ones who know what they want.

The best prospects are those who haven't yet figured out what they want.

Or maybe even better than that are the prospects that either aren't aware that they have a problem yet or think that that there is no solution to a problem that they do have.

Prospects who do know what they want are dangerous because they think that they don't need your help.

They want to boss you around.

Read more on The Most Dangerous Kind of Prospect…