Most sales people don't have the guts to sell like this.

Most sales people sell the features, and then wonder why selling is so hard.

They wonder why they struggle with closing only 5 or 10% of the prospects that they go after.

Read this – I got it yesterday from a reader…

Shamus, awhile back I was selling Life Insurance and a prospect contacted me for an appointment. He was a young father with three small children. He owned a small grocery store in the neighborhood.

It turned out that his friend, who also owned a store nearby, was robbed and shot.

Now, he was concerned for his life, yet he was still resistant to purchasing insurance that would financially protect his family. He also brought up his cultural belief of not speaking about death or dying because he thought it could bring it about.

I talked to him about what his family's life would be like if he was the next one to be shot. Would his wife be able to support the children and work full time? Surely they would lose the house, maybe they could find a small apartment to live in. What kind of neighborhood would it be? He was in tears when he signed the papers.

Was that a mean thing to do? I don't think so.

Now if I was selling something that he didn't need, then I would have felt bad but I felt great that I was able to protect his family from financial disaster.

-Lorrie Bliss

Read more on He Was In Tears When He Signed……

Hope. Fear. Anxiety.

I don't know about you, but I have been experiencing a lot of intense emotions from friends and the people I regularly come into contact with over the past few weeks.

Personally I stopped thinking much about this election awhile back.

Yes, I have been a big watcher of the election coverage at some times over the last few months.

But a long time ago I decided that it didn't really matter to me that much since both Obama and McCain take the same bad positions on a lot of things that matter.

So I alternate between ignoring it completely, and checking in on the status of the "horse race" and who's winning.

The political junkie in me just won't die, but now I view this election more like watching TV sports. Personally it's how I cope because I don't like where either of these guys are going to take us.

I know, I know. Some people are going to write me excoriating me for my cynicism.

But I am doing one BIG thing here that you can learn from.

Read more on How Will You Cope With Tomorrow's Change?…

10 years ago I woulda felt like a dork putting on a costume for Halloween.

I couldn't do it.

In fact I stopped doing it sometime in my early teenage years.

But for the last 4 or 5 years, I've been creating cool costumes and creepy makeup for Halloween.

And I've been having fun doing it.

What happened?

Why did I change my attitude?

It's because of something that happened 7 years ago.

Read more on Why I Now Dress Up for Halloween…

Some of my friends couldn't believe how much I spent on a beach front hotel room last week.

I just got back from a week's vacation: 4 days in San Diego and 4 days at Disneyland.

I stayed at some fancy schmancy hotels with my wife and daughter.

Shocking to some of my friends given the "state of the economy". Yet boring and bourgeois to some of my other snobbier friends who sneer at any travel that's not "international" or "culturally enriching".

Somehow, it seems most people will find a way to complain about something.

Don't matter much to me though. I am a pretty simple guy. I have a great time quaffing down a beer or sipping a cocktail at a beach bar in San Diego. And for family fun, Disneyland has always ranked high with Shameless clan.

Everywhere we went people were having fun. And the nice hotel rooms made the experience even better.

Oh, I guess I forgot that there's an economic collapse happening. Heck, you wouldn't have known it from the thousands of people I saw having a great time in Southern California last week.

Read more on My Idea of "Spreading the Wealth Around"…

Weak sales people get rolled.

Confident sales people win where others lose, hold off discounting, and close larger orders.

Christos Zafiropoulos of B2B Computer Products in Addison Illinois is a confident salesman.

He wrote me a couple of days ago to share a story about a deal he won earlier this month…

The controller sent my deal to a competitor and they beat my pricing. I told the IT Manager that he would be jeopardizing our relationship if he did not order from me and that I would drop him as a customer if he didn't purchase from me.

I said I deserve the big order since I'm the one who is there for him throughout the year doing legwork for small orders and if I don't get the big ones too then we are done.

He placed the order through me!

Awesome story Christos!

Waaayyyy too many sales people would just roll over and drop their price to save the deal.

Read more on He Told the Customer He'd Drop Him……

Confidence is one of your most important success ingredients. With it, you can achieve most anything. Without it, there is no psychological pill that can mak21e you succeed.

Faith is the ability to believe even when you have no reason to. Faith is necessary sometimes to move forward and do something you don't know IF you can do, or when the world around you is telling you that you cannot.

Experience gives you the proof you want and need to build future confidence on, and is something you get AFTER you use faith and confidence FIRST to achieve what you want.

It is easy to make the big bux when the "greater forces" like "the economy" are going in your favor. True achievers are successful and make bux by having faith and confidence in themselves no matter what direction the so-called "greater forces" around them appear to be going.

This week I want you to renew your focus in strengthening your confidence and faith in yourself. Look to and recall to your past successes in business and life as a foundation to build your confidence in yourself.

Remember, what you can envision it, you can achieve.

Sell with Pride,

Shameless Shamus Brown

P.S. Your success right now is determined by YOU more than anything else. Give your sales the kick in the arse you need for these last 2 months of 2008 right now with the Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program.

People like to talk about "value creation" when selling.

I need to be able to create value for my buyers when I sell.

…is something I've heard more than one salesman say.

But things don't really work this way.

You don't really create value for your products when selling.

Because the value is not in your products.

Read more on Getting Their Attention Before You Pitch…

At any time in sales, you must be willing to walk.

You must be willing to do this at all times, because your prospects know.

They can tell the salesman who is willing to walk.

They can sense his confidence.

Confidence is attractive.

People want to talk to, listen to, and work with the confident salesman.

The salesman who isn't willing to walk conveys weakness.

Read more on The Salesman Who is Willing to Walk…

Ever sell to someone that you just can't relate to?

It can be a real challenge, huh?

Sometimes you can close these people.

Other times you can't.

And when you do sell them, just because you can't "relate" to them or understand them, doesn't mean that they are bad customers. Many are great customers.

People who you don't naturally relate to can seriously suppress your sales though if you don't find a way to connect to, relate with, and understand them.

You're missing sales and opportunities that you might otherwise close, because these people don't trust you.

The more different you are from your prospects, the more likely your prospects are to view you as "just another slimy salesman".

Too bad.

Read more on Getting Difficult People to Trust You…

Some people lie in sales.

Are you one of them?

No, somehow I didn't think so.

The people who lie the most in sales aren't the salesmen and saleswomen.

No.

The people who do most of the lying in sales are our prospects!

Tis true.

They don't do it to be mean. Or to be cruel. Or because they are evil, or bad or anything like that.

Read more on Dealing With The Lying in Sales…