Prospecting by telephone can be a tough grind. It seems that fewer and fewer prospects and decision makers are taking calls from salespeople. This affects not only your sales, but your sales motivation too.

Do you lie to yourself?

You may not think so but I suggest that you probably do. Here is what I mean...

The vast majority of sales proposals I have read during my career miss the mark. They either do not address the key issues that the prospect is facing or they fail to demonstrate how the prospect will benefit from buying the seller's solution.

If you need to create proposals, here are a few ways to make yours stand out from the competition's.

"Get the sale at any cost." "Make more calls." "Tell them what they want to hear."

Sales professionals in virtually every industry are under tremendous pressure to close sales. It is not uncommon for them to hear comments similar to ones above from their sales manager, supervisor, or boss. But this approach does not create trust with customers and does not encourage repeat business or a lasting relationship.

It's a known fact that salespeople who consistently follow up generate higher sales than their colleagues who don't. However, mastering the art of effective sales follow up is challenging.

During the last 16 years I have worked with many great salespeople and they all do one thing more consistently than their colleagues...they ask questions.

If you want to increase your sales and grow your business you need to develop the ability and skill to ask for a variety of things.

A recent editor's note in a sleep products magazine discussed how many people suffer from poor sleep and the editor referred to these individuals as zombies. Instantly, I thought of dozens of salespeople I have encountered over the years who could be classified as zombies, too.

Here are 14 signs that you might be turning into a sales zombie.

Many people wonder what separates a top performing sales person from the rest of the pack. In most cases, it's because they apply a number of best practices in their daily routine. Here are 17 best practices of top performing sales people.

Webinars have become a low-cost way for people and companies to promote their products and services. In addition to using them frequently in the last year, I have also attended many webinars on a variety of topics. However, I have noticed that many webinar organizers, hosts and panelists, create a variety of mistakes that reduce the effectiveness of their program.