Some years ago I sold some really boring stuff.

I sold accounting software.

Uggh.

I aint no accountant. I am not a bookkeeper. And I am not an HR person.

But I sold software to these people to help automate their work and make their jobs easier.

The stuff worked. It worked quite well in fact.

And there was good money in selling this stuff too.

But ooohhhh was it boring.

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Here's my Sales Thought for the Week…

At any moment you are either moving forward or you are moving backwards. There really is not maintaining, no standing still. Things are either getting better or they are getting worse.

What are you doing right now to move your sales, your business, and yourself forward this day, this minute, this moment?"

Sell with Pride,

Shameless Shamus Brown


P.S. Move your sales forward faster, right now, with the Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program.

I don't know about you, this has been an emotional week.

Taxes due - and paid - which I hate. Yes, I reframe using the fact that I can always make more than most people.

But frankly I just hate taxes. They are just wrong - no matter what the reframe. Most of it - by far - goes to things I don't like, and graduated income taxes amount to legalized thievery.

That said, I think we all need a little ass-kickin' break.

So here's a fun movie I found for you to watch…

I am off tomorrow for some R&R at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego today. Great cocktails, or so I hear, at their pretentious designer bars, and I get to write it all off too cause I am attending a marketing seminar there this weekend. 

So that's my break - if there's something worth shootin, I 'll share some photos with you next week.

Sell with Pride,

Shameless Shamus Brown

P.S.  The year is more than 1/3 over - it's time to start nailing and accelerating your sales. Learn how to get qualified deals into the pipeline - and closed - FAST with the Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program.

What do you do when your competitors lie?

Start smackin' em around.

It's real annoying when you are selling, and you have a competitor in your territory that will say *anything* to get a deal.

There's only one way I know of to smack your competition when they lie.

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Successful sales reps are unusual people.

We deal with a tremendous amount of uncertainty, yet we have a high need to "be in control" of things.

In particular, we need to feel like we are in control of things we can't really be control of, like our sales prospects.

The fact that our prospects are people essentially means that we can't really control them.

But that doesn't mean we can't feel like we are in control

You see, how your brain perceives things is vitally important to your success.

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Here's my Sales Thought for the Week…

That 'season of giving' is upon us again this week (i.e. giving half your dough to the IRS). So be thankful that you chose to be in sales, because there's always more bux to be made if you just keep trying."

Sell with Pride,

Shameless Shamus Brown

P.S. Instead of fighting hard in the competitive deals, discover how to create deals where you are leading from the start with the Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program.

Are Top Sales Reps arrogant?

The short answer is "It depends".

It depends on who's answering the question.

If you ask this of the satisfied customers of the Top Sales Rep, the answer will probably be No. His customers most certainly like and respect him.

One thing that Top Sales Reps figure out how to do is to talk and think like their target market. They are able to talk, think, dress, and act like the decision-makers that they sell to.

What do you call someone who talks, thinks, dresses, and acts somewhat like you?

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There's a well known phenomenon among sales managers that strong sales reps will sometimes falter in their performance because they know too much.

This doesn't happen with old-timers, with guys who've been selling for years.

It happens typically with the newer sales reps (age not relevant), who have just figured out sales, and have started getting good results.

You see the new sales rep will ask a ton of questions, if he's smart. He'll ask questions of his prospects. He'll ask questions of his management, of his company, of everyone. He's a sponge, soaking up information.

At some point though he starts to think he's mastered the knowledge he needs to do his job.

And so he begins to ask fewer questions.

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Hmm, seems like my customers are all crawling out of the woodwork right now with good stories to share.

I got this email yesterday, and it shows the impact of wrong thinking and right thinking about the mental stance you have towards sales pressure and who's really responsible for solving the customer's problem…

Shamus, I'd like to share with you the easiest $8,000 sale of my career…

I was driving to work one morning, listening to your CD's, when it struck me: Shamus is right, it's not my problem!  I had been chasing a software customer who needed to upgrade their product and have my company install it.  Their server was crashing daily, having a major impact on their company's operations.  In spite of this, I could not get a purchase order from the decision-maker.

So I called my customer and left this message: 'Your server is crashing every day.  You have a big problem, I've been doing everything I can to secure installation dates, but I don't have a purchase order.  The install dates two weeks out are now gone.  You need to fix your problem, and I'm not calling you back.'

LIKE MAGIC, 30 minutes later a purchase order appeared, they were calling me begging for dates, and jumping through hoops to purchase equipment when I insisted they had to now buy beefier hardware too.

Shamus, you helping me realize it's not MY problem helped me show them that it was fully THEIR problem.  And put the pressured where it belonged - on the customer.  Thanks!"

-Tom M, Massachusetts

Selling IS about solving problems.

But the trick that really makes selling easier is when you realize that only the customer can solve his own problem, in spite of the fact that he will try to make you responsible for his problem.

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I got this email from England the other day with an instructive lesson in it for you and your selling. See if you can spot the key insight…
 

I purchased your CD's and have been listening to them on and off for about a year now, but like an old dog I carried on selling my way as I was doing OK.

But then things turned a little bit hard a few months ago - same as in the USA we had a economic down turn here in England and I was hitting my head on any wall I could find.

And so it was time to restructure the marketing and the sales.  I thought, what's the worst that could happen? That we only sell the same as we are now? Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

2 months into the new Shamus style sales attack and we are selling at nearly 100%. Your system saves energy, less petrol wasted traveling helping us to decrease our carbon footprint (which is political bullshit) and more personal energy to give to clients that can say yes.

Personally I feel much more positive talking to clients that can say yes. Keep up the good work and more EGOPOWER to you!"

-Phil M., England

Did you spot it?

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