Clients love to set you up and get you to “do some groundwork” first before deciding on moving forward with you. They want to see a proposed strategy or outline first of the work you’ll do for them, or maybe have you “just do a preliminary plan” first.
Don’t fall for this trap. You’ll wind up [...]

I was on a sales appointment today that lasted just over an hour.  I spoke for less than 10 minutes of it.
I asked a few questions, commented on a couple of things, and asked more questions.
The prospect answered the questions, elaborated on the answers and talked, and talked and talked. During this talking I uncovered [...]

What’s your best price?  What’s it going to cost?
What clients really want is extraordinary quality, service convenience, and value. They want to work with a salesperson who can save them time and make there life easier.
Yet many clients end up buying price, and do you know why?
Because they find it so difficult to find all [...]

When you call a prospect for the first time, keep in mind you are typically interrupting him or her from something they are doing that they consider to be more important than anything you are about to say.
Everyone is busy.
For this reason, you should almost always expect some sales resistance, if you have the best [...]

Each and every one of us has a systematic way to encode our sense of time in our respective minds. When you utilize the subtle yet powerful aspects of language, you can shift your customer’s perceptions and guide them in your persuasion.
This is perhaps one of the most fun concepts I learned while studying Neuro-Linguistic [...]

I’ve gotten some feedback from those coming to my NLP blog to “learn NLP” and they question why every post isn’t directly about “Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).”
I want to invite you to explore how every post is. Well almost every.
NLP isn’t about learning NLP. It’s about the modeling of excellence, the attitude of curiosity and discovery [...]

All of us have a metaphorical bucket representing how we feel from moment to moment. But how do we keep that bucket full and keep ourselves brimming with positive energy that not only improves our own lives but the lives of others around us?
Are you using what you’ve learned in your NLP training to shine [...]

I read an interesting article today that answers the question, “What inspires people to take NLP training?”
Here is a paragraph from it, and it’s an article worth reading:
“For a start, NLP training provides an in depth understanding of NLP itself. Neuro-linguistic programming (or NLP) is essentially the study of excellence and understanding how and why [...]

These are 8 reasons that I’ve found to be true when observing why people put salespeople off during the sales process. It’s of course, not an absolute list.
So here they are, the top 8 reasons why prospects put you off:
1. You didn’t sell on the value of moving forward quickly. What’s the benefit to them [...]

Metaphors. That’s the secret.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Using metaphors appeals the your prospects or customers right brain. It helps them visualize, instantly relate, and connect the dots to what you are saying or recommending. And it’s memorable.
The process behind a recommendation that’s rephrased framed with a metaphor is actually simple.
First, ask yourself: What am I [...]

It’s easy to tell when your prospect or customer is talking to themselves because they will often lean their head to one side, nestling it on their hand or fist. Some call this the “telephone position” because the posture often resembles talking on the phone. Looking down to the left or right while doing this [...]

I’ve written about dealing with resistance on this blog a few times  (see part 1 and part 2 posts).  I have a class I teach on the subject so there is a lot more that we could discuss to clarify this important part of selling.
However, while it’s simple to think of inoculating objections as “overcoming [...]

Each Friday I conduct two sales training classes, a basic “fast track” class followed by a more advanced “sales mastery” class on behalf of The Performance Group, a sales development company in Des Moines, IA.
What I’ve learned most, recently, is that salespeople have become really skilled at getting in their own way. Or perhaps letting [...]

I remember going through school watching the “in-crowd” making fun of those who preferred to study than go out and play.
There still seem to be people who think they will be able to achieve all they desire by staying the same and refusing to change.
I ran across an old friend a long while back and [...]

One of the first lessons we learn in basic NLP training is “the map is not the territory.”  Everyone experiences their world differently and as we mature we form our own “model of the world.” Or, you could just say we form our own reality that is based on our beliefs systems, our thinking patterns, [...]