No single job hunting skill outranks knowing how to interview successfully. When pilots fly, they step through a rigorous preparation checklist before each take off. Apply the same procedure in landing a job. The choice between a job interview being a picture-perfect three-point touch-down and a gruesome crash-and-burn is totally up to you.

My new book, Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door, does interviewing head to toe, but this seven-point checklist will go a long way toward scoring your precious at-bat into a base hit. (more…)

Some salespeople are uncomfortable doing much more than presenting their offering. It’s their favorite part of the sales process. They get to show the product, handle it, and amaze their ‘audiences.’ If you’re great at presenting, that’s wonderful, but it won’t necessarily generage sales. You must ask for the business, directly and clearly! There can be no misunderstanding on the part of the client that it’s decision time. (more…)

Fear is the greatest enemy you’ll ever encounter as a professional salesperson. Your fear, the prospect’s fear, market and trend fears and so on.

What do we fear? As salespeople, we fear saying or doing things that may halt a potential sale. Hopefully, you’ll learn to recognize and conquer your fears through continual education, practice, drill and rehearsal of strategies and tactics that will keep you ahead of the pack.

A tough part of our jobs as salespeople is in helping others understand and overcome their fears so we can earn the opportunity to help them make decisions. Fear is what builds that wall of resistance we so often run into. You must master the skills to either climb over or break through those walls.

Here are some other common, normal and potentially paralyzing fears that many people face in decision-making situations and what you should do about them. (more…)

The average human being has the ability to achieve almost anything. Lack of basic capability is rarely the problem, but rather, finding out what you want and being willing to sacrifice, change, and grow to satisfy that want.

Here’s a step-by-step system of goal-setting to help you achieve your wants that can be applied to all walks of life. (more…)

Achieving sales volume goals for your business is one of the biggest challenges any owner or manager faces. There are so many factors that can affect that final number.

Hopefully, you have a staff of people who are dedicated, professional and motivated to help you achieve your business goals. If you do not, read no further. Instead, read up on how to hire the right people to sell your products and services.

Let’s assume for now, though, that you do have the right people in place. How do you set the sales goals you want and need without being pushy and demanding of your sales team? Some businesses ask every person on the team to meet the same sales goal equally. That’s the easiest thing for a busy manager to do. The challenge with that is not everyone is capable of achieving at the same level. Some salespeople are better with a certain product. Others work best with a certain type of client. Again, those darn variables. (more…)