Isn’t it funny how there always seems to be that “one guy” in every audience that seems bound and determined to get the best of the speaker? I’m not going to oversimplify this by saying every tough question is asked for the same reasons, but we all know tough or even aggressive questions will eventually […]
My student finished presenting his persuasive case to the audience and then opened it up to questions. “Have you calculated the internal costs to our organization due to the downtime this project would cause?” When I saw my student’s face, I knew this hadn’t been part of his calculations. Every second the pause hung in […]
Out of all 4 mental hurdles, I struggle with this one the most. Agonizing… doesn’t that just sound awful? While the label may sound worse than what it really is, it can still crush your forward momentum. Agonizing creates a total lack of progress for one simple reason… Perceived Risk! When we see the risk as […]
Have you ever caught yourself making a statement like, “I don’t call on that customer because they only buy from big vendors.” Or maybe you’ve said, “I’m not going to bring that up in the meeting because she’ll just shoot it down again. She never appreciates my ideas.” Or maybe you’ve thought, “That guy needs to […]
You were expecting a call from your prospect yesterday and it never came. Immediately, the speculation in your mind begins to torment you. “What happened? Why haven’t they called? What did I do wrong?” Every question points you toward a feeling of loss. This is the voice of resistance and it’s your first mental hurdle. […]
I was introduced to Don Sanders through a mutual friend at lunch one day. Don and his co-author had written a book called Cut the C.R.A.P. and Resolve Your Problems. Kinda catchy, isn’t it! As psychologists they found that many of their patients could solve their own problems if they could just get beyond 4 […]
I was sitting in a conference-room meeting with one of our customers just observing. One gentleman did not speak much, but when he did… everyone listened intently. I tried to figure out what he was doing with his responses and I found something! He was using a simple structure for each response. Now, I’m sure there […]
Imagine an audience of 1,500 medical device salespeople in Las Vegas at their national sales conference. The speaker is introduced as a leading authority on cardiovascular disease. She begins with a request, “I want you to look around. Look at the people around you. In particular, look at the person to your left, your right, the person […]
“Play it safe.” “Don’t risk too much.” “Don’t let others know you’re struggling. Just act strong.” “Fake it because you know you’ll never make it!” You hear that voice whispering to you? That evil voice? Yes, I said evil. It’s the evil voice that convinced you to wear that mask in the first place. What would the […]
