By Todd Duncan

It’s time for salespeople to start showing their prospects respect from the get-go. And a good thing to remem­ber is that a stigma is always attached to the salesperson. Yes, un­fortunately, most people still think salespeople are slick, sleazy, or underhanded. And we can no longer rely on the “a few bad apples have spoiled the bunch” excuse. You and I both know that there are more than a “few” bad apples. And your prospects know it too.

By Todd Duncan

Are you working hard, but not working smart? Are you spending time becoming somewhat successful, instead of investing your time wisely and reaping a full harvest? Have you fallen victim to the fifth fatal mistake salespeople make? I call this mistake “muscling.”

By Todd Duncan

Workaholism has become chic in the last decade. It may very well be the prevalent banner of the sales profession. We tend to admire—even envy—the hard-working, long-hour-laboring, late­night-lingering salesperson who just seems to have the extra some­thing that’s required to succeed.

By Daniel Harkavy

I challenge you to take a look at each key function of your business and identify where you have great opportunity or great risk. Look at each of these areas as critical fortress walls that most be strengthened and reinforced as you expand and increase them in the pursuit of serving more customers or creating more products.

By Todd Duncan

Do you feel that after weeks, months, or even years of striving, you just can’t seem to break through to major sales success? Do you feel that there’s a lid on your success that you can’t lift? If you have felt these things recently, it’s very likely that you’re suffering from the side effects of tinkering. And you may be surprised at how easily the little cracks in your sales efforts can creep in.

By Todd Duncan

Posing is any selling action that precedes selling education. It’s trying to sell before actually training to sell. It’s trying to act like a sales­person when you don’t know what it takes to be a salesperson— whether or not the customer knows you’re acting.

By Todd Duncan

Hyping, in the most basic terms, is relying solely on external stimuli—success books, cassettes, videos, seminars, and the like—to gain energy and maintain enthusiasm to sell. It’s the equivalent of eating a Baby Ruth candy bar to sustain your energy for an entire week. It usually works in the short term, while the sugar is running through your veins, but it never lasts.

By Todd Duncan

Despite the promise of hope that the sales profession offers, many salespeople are left haggard and hopeless at the end of their workweeks. And many aren’t achieving the success they set out for when they began. Sure, you could blame it on an oversaturated industry, but that’s not really the problem. The real rub is that sales­people make mistakes. And lots of them.