From the Desk of Peter Droubay

President, Salestrainer.com

Ten Reasons
Most Sales People Fail
Are you doing what is necessary to avoid these ten mistakes?
Sales professionals have varied levels of success. Some have brilliant careers and happy,
abundant lives. Others fail miserably. Many more plod through their days in quiet desperation,
hoping to some day succeed. Ive worked with thousands of sales people over the last 15 years.
Many have worked for one of my companies. Many others have worked for clients. Ive spent
many hours working to figure out what makes the difference between those who succeed and those
who fail. Ive come to the conclusion that, while there are certainly some genetic and environmental
influences, sales skills are like any other skills, they can be learned. Success as a sales person is
largely the product of learned habits. Failure in sales is the product of errors in judgment that are
repeated over and over again.
Ive identified ten mistakes that I find are committed repeatedly by most sales people. Besides
these ten mistakes, there are, of course, many reasons sales people fail. But, for this report I chose to
focus on the most prevalent. These are the mistakes Ive found are being made in all types of sales
including business-to-business sales, retail sales, in-home sales and other sales efforts to consumers.
These ten errors in judgment lead to failure for many sales people, and the frustration of underachievement for many more. These errors are easily corrected if a sales person is able to identify the
mistakes and then pursue a course of action meant to develop new habits and skills. In fact, the best
sales people, in each type of sales effort, are the ones that have been able to avoid, or overcome,
these mistakes. The best sales organizations are those that have built systems of operations and
sales management that reinforce good habits amongst the sales people. Sometimes they are even
able to eliminate the possibility of these mistakes being made within the organization.
So, what follows is a brief description of the ten mistakes most salespeople make that cause
them to fail. If they seem simple, its because they are! Because of their simplicity, they are easy
mistakes to make. The question you need to ask is, Do I, or my sales people, ever make these mistakes? To help you answer this question, we offer a Sales Success Evaluation. There is one for
individual sales people and another one for sales managers seeking to evaluate their sales forces.
After filling out a comprehensive sales skills questionnaire, you will spend an hour on the telephone
with one of our professional sales coaches answering questions meant to evaluate your current abilities and skills. You will then receive a Sales Action Report detailing a course of action to take in
order to maximize your sales revenues and success. So, I invite you to read this report from start to
finish, ponder the information, ask yourself if you are guilty of some of the mistakes most sales people make, and then participate in a Sales Success Evaluation. I am confident you will be very
pleased that you did.
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

Mistake # 1:
Im just not a sales person.
One of the most frustrating things Ive encountered is sales people who are not proud to be
sales people. Many sales people have never owned their position as a sales person. To be successful as a sales person you must start by being a sales person!
Sales people who fail because they have not developed positive beliefs about sales are partly
the fault of sales management. Management in some organizations has been willing to hire people
simply because they can fog a mirror. This usually starts because of poor recruiting efforts and
managers who are stressed to find the time to recruit quality people. In these organizations, management usually develops very low expectations of sales people and many times treats them with
disdain, rather than seeking to build the pride and the ego of each sales person. There is no formal
sales training in most of these organizations and no attempt to elevate the skills of the sales people.
Sales people in these organizations develop a low opinion of themselves and others in the organization because, Anyone can get a job here. Turn-over is rampant in these organizations and there
tends to be a lot of discipline problems. Sales revenues are usually a fraction of what they could
be. The sad part is that there are some very easy ways to reverse this cycle.
Not everything can be blamed on sales management though. Many sales people never develop strong beliefs about what they do because its an excuse for poor behavior and poor results. Its
easier to say, Im really a computer programmer (or some other profession), but when they downsized my industry I wound up selling, than it is to be successful. Until someone is able to proudly
say, I am a sales person! he or she has a built-in excuse for failure.
The truth is that everyone is a sales person. Sales is simply the act of influencing people to
take action. Everyone influences other people at some point in their life. The only question is,
How well are you going to do it? People who do not consider themselves to be sales people,
never seek for ways to be good at influencing other people. Its similar to someone who says they
are not a reader. The truth is that everyone needs to read, but those who decide they are not readers
never seek for ways to excel at it. If you are going to do it, you might as well excel at it.
Top sales people have very strong beliefs about who they are and what they do. These beliefs
cause them to pursue ways to increase their abilities. Most people think that the best sales people
must have been born with these beliefs, but the truth is that they developed the beliefs, and they
constantly work to reinforce the beliefs. If you want to increase your sales revenues, start by
strengthening your beliefs about what you do. Be proud to be a sales person and then seek for ways
to improve your abilities.
If you are in management, be careful about who you hire. If you hire sales people with the
same care that a hospital would take in hiring a surgeon, then you will wind up with people who
have the same sense of pride that most surgeons have. Your job of reinforcing that pride and
increasing sales revenues will be much easier.
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

Mistake #2:
No Urgency; No Missionary Zeal
Most sales people are not passionate about what they sell. They have not identified a unique
selling proposition they can be excited about. A unique selling proposition is the way you express
your advantage in the marketplace. Every product or service offered in the marketplace must have
some advantage over other products or solutions in order to survive. Unfortunately, most sales professionals I meet are not able to express what their advantage is. Worse, many I talk to do not think
they have any advantage! They complain to me saying, My competitors offer the same thing, and
they do it for less money. This is a recipe for disaster! You must determine what is unique about
you, your company, or your products/services and you must be able to passionately express that
uniqueness as an advantage over your competition.
There are many different categories in which you, your company, or your products/services
can excel. Some of the many categories in which you can be better than your competition include:
Types of Products In Which You Specialize
Quality
Service
Expertise
Price
Availability
Ease of Purchase
Speed of Delivery
Friendly People (The Ability to Deal With You)
Amenities, or Extras, Offered with the Purchase
Guarantees and Warrantees
You dont have to be everything to everybody. In fact, if you try to be everything to everybody, nobody remembers you and you will fail. Simply try to be the best in one category. It is true
that some people always buy the lowest price, but it is also true that some people always buy the
best quality, regardless of price. Others buy the easiest way, regardless of price (If you doubt this,
look at how many of us buy expensive items at a convenience store).
Once you have determined your unique identity in the market place, you must develop a
passion for, or an urgency about, your ability to deliver your advantage to your clients. To do this
you must be able to focus on the benefits you give people. You must also be able to feel the pain of
what life is like without your product or service. People will buy your energy and enthusiasm for
your product or service, regardless of how polished you are.
Again, sales management is sometimes to blame for a lack of passion amongst the sales force.
In most organizations, the training actually reinforces a dispassionate feeling about the products and
services being offered! You see, there are three types of training that must be conducted for sales
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

people. Unfortunately, only one of the three is usually conducted in most companies and it is not
usually conducted well. The three types of training that must be conducted are:
Product and Industry-Specific Training
Sales Training
Personal Productivity Training
In most organizations, the education and training provided, if they are provided at all, usually consists of product or industry-specific training. Unfortunately, most of the product and industryspecific knowledge that is dispensed is boring and lacks passion. You see, product or industry-specific training is really about ensuring each sales person knows the facts. Once the facts and features have been memorized, there is usually no emphasis on the benefits to the clients. Therefore,
sales people never get passionate about what the facts and features will do for a client.
Sales training is what teaches us to focus on, and express, benefits. At least 80% of your training time should be spent on teaching and reinforcing sales and personal productivity skills, with an
emphasis on what your products and services do for your clients. This is where the passion comes
from.
If you find yourself less than passionate about what you sell, or if you are a manager who
sees the need to change the way you train your people, call us. Wed be happy to evaluate your situation and provide you with some very practical solutions.

Mistake #3:
They Already Know How to Be Positive
In our high-tech, fast-paced world, we often overlook some of the simple, yet profound ideas
and skills that affect our success in sales. This seems to be the case with one of the most fundamental skills that any sales person can possess: The skill of managing your own mental and emotional
states, or, in other words, the ability to create a great attitude.
It seems that this used to be one of the most fundamental skills that sales people were taught.
How to have a positive mental attitude was one of the frequent sermons preached in most sales
meetings. Unfortunately, I dont find the same fervor amongst most sales forces today. Most tell me
that they already know all about it and they would rather focus their attentions on the latest technical innovation that may increase their sales. This is a huge mistake!
The results can be seen in the millions of less-than-enthusiastic sales people you can
encounter in the marketplace today. These sales people are also less-than-effective for three reasons:
1. Your mental and emotional states affect the actions you take.
What we can do is awesome and wonderful. What we often do is somewhat disappointing,
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

and it has little to do with how much we know and even less to do with the technology that is available to us. It has everything to do with what state were in when we take action. Knowledge does
not guarantee action. You may know what to do and still not do it if you are in a lousy state.
Technology does not guarantee action either. You may have the best computer system in the world
and still choose not to use it because you arent feeling good. Sales people who do not constantly
work on improving their attitude find themselves often neglecting to take the actions they need to
take in order to be successful.
2. If you cant affect your own emotional state, then theres no way youre going to affect anyone
elses, let alone your clients, and thats the foundation of selling.
Influence, according to the best in the world, is not about explaining the logical facts and features of something. Its a very emotional process. Its really about creating energy about something.
You cant possibly do that unless you have the energy yourself. A great attitude is a major part of
being able to influence people. One of the greatest reasons that sales people lose sales is that they
werent energized. Your ability to sell is based on your ability to create emotion for people. Your
ability to create emotions for others is directly related to your ability to manage your own emotions.
3. You must maintain a great attitude so that you can create positive anchors for yourself.
Anchoring is a naturally occurring effect in which the emotions we are feeling get mentally
linked to what we are experiencing in our environment. In the future its impossible to experience
one without the other. In other words, anything thats going on around you literally becomes linked
to whatever emotional state youre experiencing at the time that its happening.
For instance, do you have a song that, when you hear it, it immediately takes you back to an
excited, or a romantic, or a passionate state of one sort or another? The reason for this is that you
were in an intense mental or emotional state (excitement or romance for instance) and the song was
playing simultaneously. It got linked in your mind to the state that you were in. The song has
become what is known as an emotional or psychological anchor.
A psychological anchor is a created association between a stimulus and an emotional or mental state. Anything around you, whether it be a visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, or gustatory
stimulus can become an anchor.
One of the challenges that many sales people experience comes because they are not always
in a great state while in the presence of what they are selling. Consequently, they literally begin to
anchor negative feelings to their own company, products, services, coworkers, or even clients!
Managing mental and emotional states requires a set of skills that most sales people are never
taught. Most of those who have the skills rarely practice them. Contrast that with elite athletes who
practice the skills that are fundamental to their sport every single day. For instance, the best hitters
in baseball still take batting practice almost every day.
There are many simple and easy ways to work on, and improve, your attitude everyday. We
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

teach several very practical ways to elevate your energy level and then maintain a great attitude.
Let us show you how good it can be.

Mistake #4:
They Dont Need to Practice the Basics
A mentor of mine once shared with me a very simple formula for success in my sales career.
The formula was:
ExE=R
Here is what it stands for:
Effort X Effectiveness = Results.
Now on the surface this is a very simple formula. Anyone that has been in sales for any
length of time understands this formula to some degree. If you work 20 days (thats your effort)
and you average one sale per day (thats how effective you are) then its a pretty simple formula. 20
x 1 = 20 sales this month. Thats not rocket science. Everyone understands that.
But heres what my mentor told me that most people dont really get. He said, Pete, most
people dont really understand the formula and thats why they dont earn very much; its why they
get frustrated, burnt out, or disillusioned. You see, when most people want to increase their results
they only really think of one factor in the formula. Effort! You hear it all the time: I want more
money so Im just going to hit it hard, put the petal to the metal, work my tail to the bone, put in
extra hours, and so on.
He said, The challenge with this is that out of the two ways to increase your results, theres
only one of them that is limited, and it happens to be the effort side of the equation. Think about it!
Sooner or later you run out of effort to give. Sooner or later theres no time left in the day.
He added, Whats worse is that in our society great effort is expected and therefore it will
always get you only an average income. Those who have earned more, havent done it just by giving more effort. Theyre the ones who have figured out a better way of doing things. They have
gotten more effective.
He told me that I had to start focusing on being more effective. Most people are broke, he
said, because they are too busy working in their business and they never work on it. Because they
never work on their skills and abilities they continue to work harder and harder to perpetuate the
same mistakes.
Then he gave me the greatest secret of all. He told me that increasing my effectiveness was
very simple because in any endeavor there are typically a half of a dozen things (give or take a couSalestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

ple) that make up 95% of the success in that endeavor. He went on to say that there are hundreds of
things that make up the other 5%. The challenge that many people have is that they focus their time
and attention on the hundreds of things that contribute to the 5%, rather than on the half of a dozen
things that make the most difference. When we make this mistake, it is usually because we have
become bored with the basics or because we actually have become arrogant and weve begun
thinking that we dont need to focus on the basics!
Some of the most successful people are those who continue to focus on basics. Vince
Lombardi, the great football coach, was famous for drilling his players over and over again on basic
blocking and tackling skills. In fact, hes famous for starting every season with a meeting in training
camp in which he would tell his players that they were going back to basics. To illustrate his
point he would hold up a football and say, Gentlemen, lets start at the beginning. This is a football.
Probably the greatest coach in the history of any sport, certainly in the history of basketball,
was John Wooden. Coach Wooden led the UCLA mens basketball team to an unprecedented number of national titles, including seven in a row! He was also famous for drilling the basics. Every
season he started with the same clinic. Even his experienced players were required to attend. It was
a two-hour clinic on how to put your shoes and socks on properly!
Most sales people I meet do not spend much time trying to improve their effectiveness. They
rarely read books, take courses, listen to tapes, or practice their sales skills. The few times they do
work to improve their skills, they usually wind up focusing on one of the hundreds of skills that
make up the 5%. They usually tell me that they dont need to focus on the basics because they
already know them all. Meanwhile the best sales people are always seeking to improve the basics.
They are always reading, listening, attending courses and seminars, and, most importantly, practicing the basics.
Unfortunately, most sales organizations do not do a great job of reinforcing the idea that it is
important to continuously practice basic skills. Management knows intuitively that there should be
some skills training, but because they are usually pressed for time and lack the tools to deliver consistently good training, they usually give up. Can you imagine a good parent asking his or her children, Should I send you to school? and then leaving the decision up to the children? Can you
imaging a winning coach saying, You dont seem to like all of the practices and team meetings we
hold, so Im not going to make you attend them. In fact, well just cancel them all together because
they arent easy! Both ideas are preposterous, and yet Ive heard hundreds of sales managers say
exactly these things and many other things that are ridiculous when you really think about them!
Because sales managers have given up on teaching the basics, most sales people have given up on
learning and practicing the basics.
Your industry, like most industries, includes many people who are great at the complex academics of the business, but not as many people who are good at the basic skills that produce business. Be one of the few who focus on, and master, the basics of the business.
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

We supply sales people and organizations with the training tools to be able to master the
basics of selling without having to spend enormous amounts of time and money to do so. We
would be happy to supply you, and/or your organization, with the very same tools.

Mistake # 5:
Not Enough Leads
Most sales people never present their product or service to enough people to have the kind of
success they dream about. Like it or not, sales is somewhat of a numbers game. The more people
to whom you present your offer, the more sales you consummate and the better your skills as a sales
person become.
Many sales people Ive interviewed dont have a clue as to how to change the amount of
leads they have. Many of them dont even consider it to be their responsibility! Unfortunately,
many organizations have reinforced this attitude by taking charge of all of the marketing and lead
generation and never teaching their sales people how to generate additional leads. They toss their
sales people a few bones in the form of leads that the organization has generated and then they
are surprised when they realize that they have some really good bone-catchers working for them.
Lead generation, if taught well, is a very simple process. There are only a few steps involved.
They are:
1) Identify your ideal client and build a database or contact management system full of
qualified leads. Most sales people I meet have not identified what a good lead is. And
even more sales people have not built a robust database full of good leads.
2) Build an identity for yourself that is top of mind in your area. Most sales people remain
quite anonymous. They dont realize the impact of a little PR. Even when they do, they
dont know how to go about building an identity for themselves.
3) Determine multiple ways of reaching your ideal client. Most sales people rely on one
method of reaching clients, usually the same method that all of their competitors use.
4) Set up a system for each way of reaching your ideal client that is both measurable and
duplicable. The idea of systems is beyond most sales people. They certainly have the intelligence to set up and operate great marketing and lead generation systems, but no one has ever
taught them how.
5) Measure, manage and celebrate. Most sales people never measure or track their performance, therefore they cant manage their systems and they rarely get to celebrate.
Each of these steps obviously has some complexity to it, but each is easy to master and implement. The top sales people in every industry are people who have mastered the lead generation
process. They do not rely on management to produce sales leads. They produce so many of their
own leads that they often have to give leads away! This is true in every sales environment, including retail sales.
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

We routinely teach sales people and sales organizations exactly how to set up a lead generation machine for themselves and then we coach them until they have achieved the number of sales
leads they need in order to be successful.

Mistake # 6:
Short-Term Relationships
Another mentor of mine once told me that business boils down to two things: People and
money. He told me that I needed to master the ability to work with both. He then went on to tell
me that, of the two, the most important skill to master was the ability to build great relationships
with people. He said, If you know enough people, you can always get someone to help you with
the money.
Most sales people I meet are not intent on developing and maintaining relationships. They
are intent on making the next sale. Unfortunately, selling presents you with an interesting paradox:
Seek only for more sales and youll struggle. Seek to build relationships with people who
need and want your products or services and you will have more sales than you ever dreamed of.
The sad part for most sales people is that, because they dont do a good job of building longterm relationships, they miss out on the residual income in their sales career. Most sales people do
not even realize that there is residual income. Residual income in most sales professions comes in
the form of the three Rs: Reputation, Referrals, and Repeat Business. Most top sales people I
know benefit tremendously from sales that other sales people think just fall in their lap. The truth
is that these sales come because top sales people have created tremendous relationships in their marketplace. They often get calls from people who want to buy because of their reputation. They
receive a tremendous amount of referrals. They also sell a lot to the same clients. Reputation,
Referrals, and Repeat Business.
Relationships are not built up overnight. In every business there is a period of time in which
you must be actively engaged in relationship-building for the effects to pay off. Typically the full
effects are seen when you have been actively maintaining relationships for half of the life of your
product or service. You see, in almost every sales profession there is a life to the product or service. In some professions the life of the product is very short. In other businesses its very long. At
the end of the life of your product or service, each client will probably be buying again. If you have
maintained a relationship with your clients, they will buy from you. So for instance, if the average
life of your product or service is five years, and you maintain great relationships with each of your
clients for five years, then much of your business will be repeat business after five years. But the
truth is, if you maintain great relationships with your clients, you will begin to see tremendous benefits in just two and a half years. Half way through the life of the product or service is when people
start to evaluate the benefits of the product or service. They will begin talking about you and about
the great benefits they have realized. Some of your clients will already be seeking to upgrade or buy
again. You will have some repeat business, your reputation will build and referrals will flow.
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

Notice, though, that I have stressed the importance of maintaining great relationships with your
clients. It is not enough to simply wait for the life of your product or service to expire. Unfortunately, many salespeople I meet have been working at their sales profession long enough to reap the
rewards of the three Rs, but they dont see the rewards because during that time they have done
nothing to foster and maintain great relationships. They are doomed to repeat their first year in the
business over and over again.
Unfortunately, many companies and sales organizations are also doomed to repeat their first
year in business because they do nothing to capture information about each new client and then
build a relationship with that client. They leave it up to the sales people. The sales people dont do
it and, worse, many times the sales people leave and all of their efforts are lost to the organization.
The excuse that most sales people use to justify not building and maintaining relationships is
that they are not planning on being in the business long enough for the relationships to matter. So
why even bother? they ask themselves. This whole attitude goes back to the first mistake covered
in this report. Most sales people never truly decide that sales will be their career. Consequently
most sales people never truly build lasting relationships.
Ive also met a few sales people who perhaps have the desire to build lasting relationships,
but lack the strategies and skills to do so. This is an easy fix. I, and my team of sales coaches and
trainers, have dozens of effective strategies for building rapport quickly and then maintaining a positive relationship with clients. As long a sales professional has the desire, we can help him or her
implement great strategies and develop great skills.
The best sales people are more interested in building long-term relationships than they are in
making the next sale. Rapport skills are some of the most important skills they have. They work
hard to take care of their clients, knowing that their clients will take care of them.

Mistake # 7:
Rush To Sell Rather Than To Serve
The average sales person is intent on delivering a great presentation. The best sales people
are intent on finding out what a client wants and needs and then getting it for them. Average sales
people tell. The best sales people ask. One of the most powerful skills a sales person could ever
learn is the skill of asking effective questions. Average sales people talk too much. Need I say
more?
Ive found that most sales people talk too much for three reasons. First, they are afraid of not
getting a sale. Their fear causes them to try and force a sale. The only way they know to do that is
to talk endlessly.
Second, they are more in love with their product or service than with their clients, and more
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

in love with making a sale than with creating a solution. The best sales people work to understand
their clients. They fall in love with their clients and they see their product or service as a way to
help them. They sell solutions. They ask questions as a way to uncover problems that need solutions.
Third, most sales people just dont know how or when to ask effective questions. It takes
some practice, but in the end, selling is a lot easier if most of your approach consists of asking effective questions and then providing solutions. It is easier to serve than it is to sell. Average sales people look at the best and wonder how they wind up with so many easy sales. Besides all of the
reasons already covered in this report, the best have an easy time because they ask questions and
then deliver what people want and need. What could be easier?
Again, many sales organizations reinforce poor behavior in this area. They do it by teaching
the last steps in the sales process first. For instance, they usually start by teaching sales people all
about the products and services and how to deliver them effectively. Then they teach them the buying, or closing process (sometimes with some ways to overcome objections thrown in for good
measure). Then they teach them how to deliver the sales presentation. A lot of time is spent getting people to memorize the presentation, the closing process and the product or service deliver
process. By the time a sales person has mastered these areas, they have usually been working for
many months. They have learned the bad habit of delivering sales presentations without first asking questions. They have even sometimes gotten to the point that they feel they dont need any
more training. Many of them never learn to ask questions and serve clients.
Wouldnt it make more sense for an organization to teach people how to generate leads first?
You can always help people work the leads they bring in. Wouldnt it then make sense to teach people how to build strong, lasting relationships with clients and then teach them how to ask effective
questions? The world is a lot better place when you teach things in the correct order.
Learning to ask questions takes practice. I am very good at teaching this skill. My associates
and sales coaches are very good at teaching this skill. Let us assess your skills and then share with
you several ideas for improving them. Click here for a sales success evaluation.

Mistake # 8:
Trying to Be a Closer
One of the most ridiculous sales training mantras is, Remember the A, B, Cs of sales:
Always Be Closing. What a silly statement! Asking someone to always be closing, is similar to
asking someone who is using the telephone to always be hitting the 0 button. Youll never get
through to anyone! Just like dialing a telephone number, there is a sequence of events that must
happen in order to sell effectively. There are times when it is appropriate to ask for a sale, and there
are many times when it is not.

Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

Unfortunately, many sales people are taught otherwise. They not only become very obnoxious, they miss out on vital opportunities. For instance, I am staggered at the number of telephone
calls I receive in which the person is trying to close me on the first call. They dont know anything about me. They dont create any interest. They havent set an appointment with me. They
havent explained much of the benefits they offer. They simply ask me to buy and they do it repeatedly until I hang up.
Another poor example can be seen at most networking functions. How annoying is the person who is trying to close business in the middle of a networking function, civic event or social
event?!!
I am certainly a big fan of enthusiasm. I am also a big fan of assertive people who confidently assume the sale at the right time. I am even a big fan of persistence. But all of this must be tempered with an understanding of proper syntax. Its like opening a combination lock on a safe. All
the enthusiasm, confidence, and persistence in the world will not open the lock until you have the
right combination.
Most sales processes involve at least four contacts with potential clients. The first contact is a
qualifying step. The whole goal is to ascertain whether or not you should spend time working with
a person or organization. In other words, do they meet whatever criteria you have determined to
identify your ideal client? Many sales people try to close during this step and they wind up wasting
a tremendous amount of time selling to people who are not qualified.
The second contact in most sales processes involves creating interest for your product or service and setting an appointment to meet with, or speak to the prospect. Most sales people do not
have a clue as to how to quickly create interest for their product and they are even less adept at setting sales appointments. If you doubt it, look at their schedules. Are they full of upcoming sales
appointments? Most are amazingly blank. About half the sales people I meet dont even keep a
sales appointment schedule!
The third contact with a prospect is one in which you find out what they really want and
need. You ask effective questions. You conduct a great needs analysis. As has already been covered, most sales people dont do this.
The fourth contact with a client is when you propose a solution to their problems. It is during this contact that it is very appropriate to ask for an order and expect a sale. Closing before this
step is usually a waste of time and only damages your reputation.
Now it is important to note that in many sales situations these four contacts can all be accomplished very quickly. There are some sales situations in which you let your advertising be the first
contact (done well, only qualified people call in). The second contact happens when they call or
walk into the office or store. The third and fourth contacts can happen in the same meeting or over
several. The important point though is that all of the steps must take place, in order, before you
close.
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

If you understand the sales process, you will have a much higher closing percentage and you
will actually spend less time selling. The average sale is typically much larger as well.
Sales people who dont understand the sales process are destined to spend many hours being
rejected. They also become convinced that what they need is a better closing technique. The
number one skill that is requested of me by average sales people is the skill of closing. While I can
certainly offer many very effective skills in this area, the truth is that these skills are not what most
sales people need. But herein lies another problem with the closers mentality: They wind up
spending a lot of time seeking out and practicing more closing skills at the expense of many other
skills that would have a greater impact on their sales performance.
Commit to a Sales Success Assessment and let us work with you to improve the whole sales
process. You and/or your employees will be much more effective and much more relaxed and
happy.

Mistake # 9:
Low Standards & Poor Work Habits
The main component of success is character. Character is your ability to stick by a commitment youve made, even after the emotion in which you made the commitment is gone. Its the ability to do what is right when theres nothing compelling you to do so. Its the ability to keep your
word. Its the ability to make decisions and take action based on a set of correct principles.
To develop character you must be willing to make and keep commitments. These commitments become your standards. A standard is a commitment to yourself that lasts throughout time;
something that you do over and over again. The best sales people are typically the best because
they have high standards. Most sales people either dont have any identifiable standards, or the
ones they have are very low standards.
There are many areas of your life and your career that would be improved by elevating your
standards. Ive already discussed in this report the failure of most sales people to set standards in
the areas of personal development, relationships and attitude. It is certainly important to commit to
learning, growing and increasing your skill. Its important to commit to doing what is necessary to
develop long-term relationships. Its also important to commit to maintaining a great attitude.
But there is another set of standards that top sales people set for themselves that is perhaps
more important than all of the rest. The best sales people consider themselves to be doers. They
take action. They almost despise talking, analyzing, worrying, or anything else that is an alternative
to taking action. Therefore, they set standards for quantity & quality of action on a daily or weekly
basis. In other words, top sales people commit to a specific amount of action. They strive to reach a
daily or weekly goal for the amount of activity they are involved in.
For instance: A mentor of mine who is very successful had a very simple rule. He deterSalestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

mined that he would, in addition to all of the work he did with existing clients and their referrals,
make 25 prospecting calls every day. His rule was, I dont go home until Ive made the 25 calls
Ive committed to make on a daily basis. I never saw him stay after hours because he kept his commitment to himself every single day. Years of keeping this commitment created incredible success in
his career.
Most sales people do not have daily or weekly standards of action. Most are not sure how
much activity they have produced each day because they dont even measure or track any of it.
Some days they work a decent amount, but most days go by without any significant activity being
undertaken.
Now this is the toughest of the mistakes outlined in this report to prove to people, because
everyone thinks they work hard. They may put in hours, but they are certainly not productive during those hours.
I learned this first hand, early in my career. I began my professional career as an investment
broker. I thought I was working hard, but my results were poor. I was failing. I would have quit
but for a mentor of mine who offered to help me succeed. The first thing he did was he asked me to
significantly raise my standards. He had me commit to making 300 cold telephone calls per day to
prospective clients! He touted great rewards if I would do it and he threatened to fire me if I didnt.
I was, needless to say, very motivated. I placed 300 telephone calls per day for six months straight!
By the end of six months I had more business than I could handle, but, more importantly, I
had really gotten good at the business. The shear volume of activity had given me incredible
amounts of practice. I obviously lowered my commitment after the first six months, but it still
remained higher than what most sales people ever commit to.
I am not suggesting that to be successful you just need to set a goal to make prospecting calls
on the telephone. You do however need to set a goal to complete some sort of measurable activity
each day. The activity must be one that will directly impact your business success. You must also
commit to an amount of the activity that stretches you. Unfortunately, most sales people I meet
spend just a little bit of their day working on activities that directly impact the volume of business
they do. They then spend the rest of the day shuffling papers, complaining about their life and their
job and pursuing trivial fascinations. Very few people commit to themselves to complete a certain
amount of work each day. Even fewer people live up their commitments.
Again, some sales organizations sometimes bear some of the responsibility for this mistake.
Very few demand high work standards from their sales people. Most do not even track the sales
and marketing activities of their sales people!
What would it do for you, or your organization, to raise the level of activity for a while?
How would you be different if you knew there was a certain amount of business you had to conduct
every day? Let us help you make these kinds of commitments and then let us help you honor them.
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

Mistake # 10:
The Lie
One of the biggest complaints I hear from sales managers in every industry is that their sales
people do not plan for success the way they need to. Sales people say they are going to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars this year, but when questioned about how they plan on going about it,
they either dont have a plan, or they have a plan in which the numbers dont make sense. For
instance, they say they are going to make $250,000.00 this year and they are going to do it by finding
a couple good sales and that the way they are going to do that is by making a few calls. It
drives sales managers nuts because they know that, barring some unforeseen miracle, the person in
question will never accomplish what they are setting out to accomplish, because the numbers just
dont add up.
Stories like this are very common. In fact, a few years ago I saw some research that attempted to figure out why people didnt succeed at what they set out to accomplish. The result of the
research was very interesting. It concluded that the most common characteristic of people that did
not achieve what they set out to was that they lie! I dont mean that they lie to other people,
although that usually winds up happening. I mean that they lie to themselves!
They tell themselves theyll earn money, even though they havent made any attempts to contact clients that day. They tell themselves that the prospects they have right now will all wind up
working with them and that they will all buy huge amounts, when deep down they know that it is
unlikely that it will happen. They lie by telling themselves that if they make 10 calls, they will talk
to 10 decision makers and set 10 appointments and close 10 deals. Now I certainly believe in being
positive, but there is a difference between being positive and deluding yourself!
In addition, what I found interesting about the study was that, once people started lying to
themselves, they developed other habits in order to compensate for the guilt they felt after lying.
For instance, the study found that after lying, people seek to sedate themselves with drugs, alcohol,
TV, food, music, etc., and then they blame other things and other people for their failures. Sound
too familiar sometimes? It did for me, because I saw myself, at times, blaming and seeking to
escape. Both of these characteristics come from not being able to admit the lie and tell the truth.
The way to avoid this pattern is to begin by creating a plan for attaining your goals that is
absolutely foolproof, one that is based on truthful statistics. Its a step you need to take with each
one of your goals. You need to create a plan that you know will get you there. For instance, if your
goal is to earn $250,000.00 this year, then an effective plan may include determining the number of
sales that need to be closed, based on your average sale. Your plan should also include step-by-step
plans for each one of the sales methods you plan to use. It should include the numbers that go
along with each method, so you know exactly how much of everything you need to do to achieve
your goal.
What would it do for you to have a plan this detailed? It makes selling an easy and fun
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

process, because youre no longer wondering whats going to happen. I can help you create just
such a plan. I have helped thousands of sales managers and sales people to increase their income
and Id like to do the same for you.

So Heres What You Need to Do:

I take a very simple, yet effective approach to improve sales revenues for my clients. I start
by doing a Sales Success Evaluation. After finding out exactly what results your sales team is currently achieving and what their level of skill is in a variety of areas, I work with you to create a
Sales Action Report. This report will give you a detailed plan for how to achieve your goals. The
plan will include the actions you need to take as well as the skills and abilities you, or your sales
people, need to develop. It will also include ways you can develop the skills necessary to carry out
your plan.
The development of the skills you, or your sales people, will need usually requires a mixture
of training and coaching. Its important that the training and coaching you receive be very effective. A great example of training that is generally very effective comes to us from the world of professional sports. Elite athletes and their teams seem to have mastered the training regimens necessary to succeed. The regimens have several components to them:
1) They have frequent practice sessions. In these practice sessions they usually have classroom time, during which they watch, listen, read, and write. They also have active practice
time in which they role-play and drill the basics over and over again.
2) They seek out and are led by outstanding coaches. These coaches are outside authorities
or experts. They are different from the team captain and they are not actively playing the
game (player coaches rarely succeed).
3) They routinely get away together to celebrate and prepare for the next season. Training
camp is an important part of the regimen.
I specialize in following this same regimen while teaching sales, marketing and personal productivity. The results are outstanding. In fact, as Ive already stated, they are so good that I even
guarantee them:
You will receive a 300% return on investment in the form of increased sales, or its free!
For some clients who can, and want to, afford it, I conduct all of the training and coaching in
person, on site. Most clients cannot afford to do this though. In order to address this issue, I have
designed training materials and services that sales managers and sales people can use to create the
same results. The training approach, which can be implemented as a whole package or one piece at
a time, consists of three important components you must implement:

Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

Step 1:
Conduct outstanding daily or weekly sales training meetings.
These meetings should be focused on teaching sales and personal productivity skills. You can
accomplish this easily by purchasing MGSALS: How to Out-Produce the Best Sales People in the
World. It is a 30-part course complete with lesson plans that are delivered through video, audio and
written materials. With this tool, a sales manager is able to walk into sales meetings, with little or
no preparation, and facilitate one of 30 outstanding training sessions, in which I teach the basics of
sales success and then give exercises and assignments that cause sales people to practice and drill
the skills. Each session is entertaining and practical. These training sessions can be repeated over
and over again at no additional cost to you and each sales person receives audio CDs and written
materials for review. There is a version for training a sales team and there is also a version for individual sales people to use by themselves. For a free trial of this tool, call 1-800-987-1300.
Step 2:
Provide great sales coaching.
One-on-one coaching is an important and useful way to follow-up on, and implement, the
skills being practiced in the sales training meetings. Coaching can be conducted over the telephone
by our certified sales coaches, or, if you prefer, we can teach your management team the art of sales
coaching. For more information on sales coaching, call 1-800-987-1300.
Step 3:
Plan and carry out periodic training events.
Great athletes go away to training camp or spring training periodically. Great sales people do the same. We can facilitate an outstanding sales training event that re-enforces the training
and practice you and your team have been working on throughout the year. We also conduct events
throughout the year that are open-enrollment so that individuals who are seeking to improve their
sales revenues can do so on their own. For more information on sales events, call 1-800-987-1300.
The proof is in the results.
Using each element of this package provides for outstanding increases in sales without much
cost. In fact, sales revenues increase, sales cycles decrease, confidence and motivation increases,
management spends less time trying to boost sales, and the company spends less money on sales
training! Because we are so confident in our ability to help you create these results, we offer an
unprecedented free trial of the MGSALS training course (Try it free for free for three weeks. If you
are not completely satisfied, well pay to have the materials returned to us.). We also offer an
unheard of guarantee on all of our services (If you do not increase your income by at least 300% of
the investment you have made with us, within three months, then its free!) You have nothing to lose
and everything to gain.
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

Heres How to Start:

Before anything else, we do a complete evaluation so that we can pinpoint strengths and
weaknesses and help you create a customized plan of action. This evaluation will be one of the
most valuable gifts you will ever receive because it will cause you to think about yourself in a whole
new way. It takes about two hours of your time: One hour to fill out and send in a comprehensive
questionnaire, and another hour to speak to one of my sales coaches on the telephone.
The results of doing this are spectacular! Youll know exactly where you stand. Youll get a
very honest look at your career and youll have a definite plan for how to get to your goals. Youll
be more confident, determined and successful. The ultimate result is that you will earn more money
because of it.
The investment for a Sales Success Evaluation is $295.00 dollars. You need to ask yourself,
If I could improve my income by 10%, 20% or even more, would I be willing to spend a couple of
hours and $295.00 to accomplish it? What if all you did was create one new client or one more sale
because of an insight you gained from your Sales Success Evaluation? Would it still be worth a
couple of hours and $295.00? If all it did was make your job easier, would it be worth it?
We are so certain that youll receive tremendous value from the Sales Success Evaluation that
we are willing to guarantee it:
If after going through the process you dont feel that it was the single most important
thing youve done to improve your career, then we will refund your whole investment,
on the spot, no questions asked!
So the question to ask yourself is, Is there room for improvement for me or my organization?
If you have answered yes, then I have a very unique offer to extend to you. For a very limited time I am looking to boost my file of testimonial letters. If you would be willing to write me a
testimonial letter within 30 days of completing your Sales Success Evaluation (If youre not willing
to do so at that time, then I will gladly refund your money), I would be willing to offer you the evaluation for just $49.00 per person or organization. Thats a savings of over $240.00!
Now you may ask why I am willing to do this? The short answer is that up-to-date testimonial letters are very valuable to me. Your letter will be used to help persuade many more sales managers and sales people to participate in this program. I am also well aware that, after experiencing
the profound power of your Sales Success Evaluation, you may want to pay me for other products
and services to help increase your sales revenues. I am not ignorant of the fact that the $246.00 dollars I am giving you in exchange for a testimonial letter will come back to me ten fold. So I am not
really losing money, but you are able to save a lot of money and still increase your sales and your
income significantly. Its a win-win scenario.
Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

Take the first step today!

There are two ways to begin. You may choose to call us directly and get started, or you may
choose to get started online.
If you wish to call us directly, you may call us at 1-800-987-1300 from anywhere within the
continental United States or at 1-916-760-4107 from anywhere else. Dial extension 1 and ask for one
of my customer service representatives. He or she will ask for the information necessary to complete the Registration Form. He or she will then request a credit card number, which we will not
charge for three days. My representative will then send you our Sales Success Evaluation
Questionnaire and he or she will schedule your coaching session.
If you wish to get started online, go to www.salestrainer.com. Enter the site and follow the
link on the right hand side for the Sales Success Evaluation. You will be taken to the Registration
Form. After filling out the registration, click on the Submit button and you will be transferred to
PayPal, an online, secure payment service. You will enter your credit card number and we will be
notified of your request. We will immediately email you the Sales Success Evaluation Questionnaire and a member of our team will call you within two business days to schedule a time for the
coaching.
The whole process is easy and yet so valuable. There is a lot to gain and nothing to lose. So
take action now. Do not be one of the millions of sales people or sales organizations who pay huge
tuitions to attend the school of hard knocks. Be one of the few who truly succeed.
Warmly,
Peter Droubay
President
Salestrainer.com
PS
My offer to pay you $246.00 for a testimonial letter will be ending soon. As soon as I feel I
have gathered enough letters, I will end it. So take action now! You will be very glad you did.
PPS If you feel that you know exactly what you need and would like to skip the Sales Success
Evaluation and proceed immediately to purchasing one of our products or services, please do so
immediately. While we feel the Sales Success Evaluation is a great way to start, there is certainly a
lot of benefit to be had by simply implementing great training and coaching.
PPPS Feel free to pass this report on to others you feel would benefit from it. Make as many copies
of this report as you feel you need and pass it on to those who need it.

Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107

Salestrainer.com, a Rainmaker Academy company, 8725 Cherrington Ln., Elk Grove, CA, 95624, 1-800-987-1300, 1-916-760-4107