With business world in its present state, I really don't see how salespeople can afford to keep fooling away their time on old ideas that were once right but are now fatally wrong. It is this very feature of capitalism that is causing salespeople, managers and organizations to fail in record numbers. Capitalism is essentially "creative destruction." In other words, capitalism is a perpetual cycle of destroying old, less-efficient businesses and ideas and replacing them with new, more efficient ones. People and companies are clinging to old, obsolete ideas and are being dragged down to failure by them. Yet they still won't let go. I think reason they can't let go is simply because it wasn't all that long ago that they really did have right answers. It reminds me of a story I once heard about Albert Einstein when he was a professor. One of his student assistants who was preparing for an incoming class said, "Professor Einstein, what test are we giving them?" To which Einstein replied, "The same test we gave them last week." Bewildered, student assistant replied, "But Professor Einstein, we already gave that test." Einstein simply said, "Yes, but answers are different this week."

The bottom line is that answers are different. The rules have changed. Time is running out for those who do not adapt to new rules. As Napoleon Hill put it so well, "Whenever a nation, a business institution, or an individual ceases to change and settles into a rut of routine habits, some mysterious power enters and smashes setup, breaks up old habits, and lays foundation for new and better habits."

If you're not achieving sales success you desire, perhaps it is time for you to lay foundation for new and better habits.

I think most training is at root of this massive problem. Every course I've taken has gone through steps of a sale. The problem is, what if all steps don't take place? Consider "objection handling." When I was working for that company I mentioned earlier, many of my prospects had no objections because my marketing pieces took care of them in advance. By assuming that each of these steps are going to take place, a lot of salespeople will cause something to happen when it really shouldn't have to begin with. If a prospect doesn't come up with any major objections, don't give them a reason to!

I've seen a lot of managers require their reps to fill out a "lead sheet" that documents each step of sale. This assumes that each of steps will happen when they may not. If you're required to maintain these types of records, skip anything that doesn't happen naturally. Don't induce a prospect to enter a selling phase that may not only be unnecessary, but may cause you to lose sale entirely.

Use KISS test when you're selling. Always ask yourself if what you're doing is actually necessary. Believe me, you'll save yourself a lot of wasted time and lost sales by doing so. I did.