Have you ever felt that one or more of your competitors had a better product to sell than you?

I know I have.

In fact it often seems like what we are selling has all kinds of problems, and that what the competition sells is sooo much better than ours.

Sometimes this is true.

But sometimes it is not.

FACT: There are a lot of good products on the market today for virtually everything people can buy.

FACT: Many times there are 2 or 3 or more similar products that will give many buyers similar, satisfactory results.

FACT: Buyers don't always buy the best possible product for their needs.

With so much noise, so much information, and so much confusion in the market, it's frankly no surprise that buyers don't always buy the "best" product for their needs.

Sometimes they do. But many times they don't.

The difference is in the selling.

Winning sales people OUTSELL the losers.

Read more on Winning Sales People Outsell the Losers…

Amazing how people will blame you for their problems.

Read this letter I got a couple of days a go. I can't believe what this guy's blaming me for…

Dear Shamus, I bought your package just more than a year ago to look into the promises you made about what it can do.

At that stage, I had a cushy job as the Sales Manager representing the world's biggest Metallurgical Plant provider within Africa. The nature of my job was to secure one or two contracts per year only, as the magnitude of these projects was such that the company could not really attend to more than one of these projects within Africa per year. One project's profits also carried the Southern African office for 1 to 3 years. The rest of the time was spent on smooching existing clients and getting lazy.

Once I started implementing only some minor suggestions from you, I started unearthing huge potentials, but due to the worldwide workload, these opportunities were consistently declined by my company (in Germany). This lead me to become somewhat frustrated, as I saw huge potential wasted. My frustration lead me to look for employment elsewhere and to resign from my cushy job.

Using your principles, I managed to get myself bought by another, much smaller company, also with German roots, for a substantial better package. The drawback being, that I would have to work to earn this.

The brief with the new company was to use my networks and experience to dig out larger and longer term prospects and to develop new markets. The expectation from the company was that this may take from 6 to 18 months to establish the first really viable projects.

Again, using some of the techniques from your course and the frequent emails, I have been able to go from an initial enquiry with a multinational prospect, to having a (paid for by the client) full scale test running at their site within 30 days, this while the client has shut down more than 60% of their production capacity due to the downturn in commodity prices. Just a note: The successful outcome of this test will lead to a project running into the millions of dollars for the client, it is not just a small-change exercise.

As part of my new responsibilities also includes overseeing all operations related to my work, this sort of killed my plans for Christmas

As the traditional method of Sales include a lot of blame-shifting, I have to blame you for the following:

1. Ruining my cushy job. (I was outgrowing it in any case)
2. Having to work to earn my keep (I'm enjoying every single moment of it)
3. Killing my plans for Christmas (I didn't really have any, since my new company basically paid for a 3-week European trip for me and my family in October already)

I'm really looking forward to 2009, as the change in perspective brought on by your information, has opened my eyes to the opportunities and not only the challenges.

So yes, thanks for ruining my cushy job! Have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Louis Eksteen, Business Development Manager
H. Birkenmayer (Pty) Ltd, South Africa

Hey, I love hearing when I can cause "problems" like this for people.

If you would like me to create some "problems" for you in 2009, I'll be happy to do so right now. Just go over and get the Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program that Louis got from me right now.

Sell with Pride,

Shameless Shamus Brown

Here's my Sales Thought for the Week…

Sales people get a bad rep as liars willing to say anything to get a deal. The truth really is that buyers lie way more than sales people do. Buyers do this because they are afraid of getting manipulated and their time wasted by pushy, talk-too-much sales types.

Your job is to get the truth about each deal, and not tolerate vague answers and little white-lies. When you do, you can win the deals you should win, and you'll walk away with confidence early from deals that you would've eventually lost later.

Sell with Pride,

Shameless Shamus Brown

P.S. Discover how to stop the lying and get to the truth about every sale right now.

It's time to stand up and lead.

It's time to fight.

Now is not the time to cower.

Yes, some companies are going out of business.

Yes, real estate, equities, and many other investments have crashed in value.

Yes, the government is handing out money (your money) to idiot bankers because the economy is "at risk".

But that doesn't mean you have to be a party to the suicide.

I got an email and a phone call yesterday from a guy who says he wants to buy from me, IF I'll do something for him…

Read more on Don't Lower Your Prices…

Now why would you want to know how to lose a sale?

I mean, you're paid to close sales, not lose em. Right?

Well if you know how to lose a sale, then maybe you can become aware of behavior in the future when you are doing something that will cost you a deal.

1) Talk AT Your Prospects

Some sales people think they are born sales people because they can spout pitches off like a late night TV informercial.

Glibness is entertaining, but salesmen who talk AT their prospects all the time, don't learn anything from or about their prospects or the deal.

If your main sales technique is to espouse all the fine benefits of your products to as many prospects as you can, then you are playing the numbers game.

Yes, talk, talk, and talk AT enough prospects and a few will buy, but you will lose most of em, and man is that a lot of work.

2) Don't Hear What's Being Said

When you are too busy talking, it's difficult to hear what's being said to you when your prospect does speak.

If your brain is too busy thinking about what your gonna say next, then you can't consider and respond properly to what your prospects are saying.

Prospect's know when you are not listening, or when you are not hearing them.

They notice it, and they don't like it.

You lose rapport, and you lose valuable insight into what's going on with the sale.

Read more on 5 Ways to Lose a Sale – Slow & Painfully…

I want you to imagine something for a minute.

Imagine for a minute that you had done some things differently this past year.

Imagine that you had done more prospecting.

You wrote letters. You sent out emails. Heck, you even called people on the phone.

You never got rejected though.

You didn't get rejected, because you weren't calling to sell. Or to close.

You were calling to qualify, to probe, to find out if first there was any opportunity at all to start selling to

How would things have been different for you?

Read more on Imagine How Your Sales Could've Been…

Here's my Sales Thought for the Week…

Scripted agendas are why your prospects think that sales people are going to waste their time. Focus on what you are going to ASK your prospect, instead of what you were going to TELL them. Then work off their answers to tell you where to go next with the sales conversation.

Sell with Pride,

Shameless Shamus Brown

P.S. Discover how to ask the kind of high value sales questions get prospects motivated to buy from you in no time flat right here.

Somebody asked me the other day about how to handle unspoken, repetitive objections that come up.

What we all find in selling is that certain issues come up over and over again that are specific to what we sell and who we sell to.

Here's an example:

• A guy sells a high-end product to in home buyers. He makes appointments, and makes face-to-face sales calls.
• He finds out after going on a lot of sales calls that many of the prospects give him the excuse that they can't make a decision until after the husband or wife get's home and they get a chance to talk about it.
• He leaves with only a promise that he'll be given "fair consideration".

Q: What should he do?

Read more on Deal with it Upfront…

One of the biggest unspoken fears prospects have of sales people is that you will waste their time.

Everybody is really busy these days.

More to do, than there is time to get it all done.

So prospects brush off sales people fast when they perceive no need for the product/service that the salesman is selling.

This happens to you when you contact a prospect, tell them what you do/what you sell, and ask if you can meet with them for a "short" meeting.

Once you tell the prospect what it is you do/sell, they immediately pigeon-hole you into something they either need or don't need.

And unless they are actively looking for that thing right when you contact them, they're gonna brush you off.

They don't want to waste time talking about something that they already have or don't need right now.

And inviting them to lunch doesn't help.

Read more on Sales Conversations Must Provide Value…

I love good news.

On Thanksgiving Day, I got this email from a customer. Read it…

I was only 1 year into my first sales manager's assignment at the time of ordering for the Audio Program. The territory was also carved out as a new territory. One of the sales personnel was underperforming and was on the verge of being removed. The challenges were tremendous. I was on the lookout for a help. Frankly there are few helpers in this profession.

I was already on your mailing list of your EGOPOWER for almost a year at that time. The cost of the Audio Program made me think if the program will be cost effective or not. Still I went ahead and got the Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program.

Within 6 months I received an incentive which was almost 8 times the cost of the course. The team was recognized for high achievements. One of my team members received the Quota Buster award. The underperfomer turned back remarkably. Everything happened as if it was a dream. I am sure it was the Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program and your newsletters and nothing else.

Thanks a lot for the efforts you have taken for the sales professionals.

Vivek Som, General Manager
STP Construction Chemicals Ltd.
Bhubaneswar, India

Business goes well when you make it go well. Waiting around for the "economy" to get better is only gonna get you fired or put you outta business.

Get my Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program now. Once you start thinking my way, you make more money, your closing ratio skyrockets, selling becomes fun again, and you regain your self-respect cause you'll never grovel or beg for a sale again.

Sell with Pride,

Shameless Shamus Brown