Steve Montague

When is the toughest prospect to sell the easiest prospect to sell? Give up? The answer is simple: when you actually call on him...

How often have you been sitting in the car after a sales call, and you thought of something you should have done that would have been more appropriate than what you just did?

The question is a bit of a puzzle. Ideally, there would be a reference book that lists, by industry, how much time you should invest in prospecting activities. Unfortunately, there’s no reference book.

David Sandler's search for knowledge about why and how people buy coincided with the Transactional Analysis (TA) movement in psychology. TA theory defines three ego states that influence our behavior—the Parent, the Adult, and the Child. Think of these ego states as internal tape recorders where childhood impressions—teachings and associated feelings—are stored.

This is a collection of fourteen simple steps all salespeople should live by.

Your most productive sales discussions with prospects are likely to involve multiple up-front contracts. The most important one, however, is the first one. It sets up the whole relationship. You've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by establishing an up-front contract with your prospect!

Why is it that the excitement and satisfaction derived from goal achievement is long-term for some goals and fleeting from others?

How good would you say you are at listening to your prospect? Most salespeople we talk to rate themselves pretty highly in this area. Yet most, sad to say, fail the Tooth Fairy Test.

One way salespeople get themselves in trouble is by rushing to answer a prospect’s question … before they uncover the intent that’s driving that question. The question you hear is probably not the “real” question, and the intent behind that question is far more important than the surface meaning of the words.

Traditional sales training does not differentiate between "identity" and "role." Proponents of traditional sales training simply teach the material, sometimes in a very entertaining format, but they place the responsibility for using the material on the salesperson.