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In the last post, we looked at a process using questions to identify and build a sales opportunity and selling to the gap.

In addition to building the opportunity, the questions your salespeople use shape their prospect’s mindset and perceptions, allowing them to achieve persuasive influence.

The questions your people ask are important. But so is how they ask their  questions, when they ask them, as well as how they order them. In creating their questions, they need to be cognizant of all of these factors. They want to leverage them to create a favorable environment in their prospect’s mind, conducive to moving the sale forward.

Asking the Right Questions vs. Asking the Easy Question

Let’s return to the car lot example we used previously to show how an effective sales starter can shape the evaluation process.

So there you are, browsing in the open lot, and a salesperson approaches.

“Can I help you?” he might ask. “I’m just looking,” you would say.

Now, you both know you didn’t find your way there by accident. You didn’t just sleepwalk out of bed and end up in a car lot. It’s a stupid question because it doesn’t give the salesperson any relevant information.

He should say: “I’m Lance. And you are?” And you would give your name.

Then he might go on to say: “Really nice to meet you. Listen, if you’re like most of the people who walk onto the car lot, you already know a ton about why you’re here and what you’re looking for. I don’t want to interrupt that thought process, but I just want to give you some idea how we’re set up. Over here are the pre-owned vehicles and over there are the new ones. I’m simply here to answer any questions or comments you might have while you look. Hopefully I don’t waste your time, you get to see what you’re looking for, and you get to ask the questions you need to. Are you looking more for a pre-owned vehicle or a new one?”

In this instance, the salesperson has a better chance at advancing the sale forward. Not only has he used a progression of questions, starting with ‘who are you’ and finishing with an either-or question, but he’s also done a pretty decent job of establishing scope and boundaries.

But if he opens up with a self-centered question like, “Can I help you?” he’s going to lose ground.

And when you lose ground in sales, you lose sales.

The Questioning Process for Selling

Now, take the simple interaction we just ran through and complicate it tenfold to understand the challenges involved in a B2B sale. To navigate the complexities involved, the salesperson must be able to open really well. Part of that goes back to adequately qualifying the prospect. But the next step in influencing the prospect involves the salesperson asking the right questions at the right time. Remember, it’s not about just asking questions. It’s about asking the right questions.
You can find more ideas for using questions in my book, Selling is an Away Game, available on Amazon.

The way the salesperson knows how to ask the right question is to start with the prospect’s current situation. Next,  they will move to asking about the buyer’s desired situation. Then, they will ask about the obstacles. Eventually, the salesperson wants to know about the impact of the desired situation and what that will give the prospect. Remember, no one buys a quarter inch drill bit because they want one. They buy the drill bit because they want a quarter inch hole. You want your people want to discover what the hole will give them.

Here’s the secret sauce.  A skilled salesperson is always trying to see through the buyer’s eyes and can quickly leverage that perspective. Remember, If they can see things through the prospect’s eyes, hey can sell what the prospect buys.  If the salesperson uses this mindset to lead the buyer through this process, they will ask questions in the right combination and the right order and ultimately be a persuasive force in the sales process.

Another Example of the Questioning Process – Selling Fitness Memberships

I recently started working out again, so I decided to seek out a gym. There’s a big Lifetime Fitness near my house that has a pool, a spa, and you can even get your nails done. You can get food there, go rock-climbing, and do yoga. Free weights. Basketball. Cardio equipment. You name it; they have it.

As I proceeded to compare the gym against the local rec center, I discovered that the options were overwhelming. So I sat down with the general manager of Lifetime Fitness.

He said, “Can I ask you a few questions before I give you the tour? What are you currently doing or not doing as it relates to fitness? I’ll show you what we have and see if we may be a fit. Then we’ll go from there.”

He opened with a great Why Speak Statement. His questions revolved around four things:

“So what’s been holding you back? Why hasn’t that been happening?” he asked.

I said, “Quite frankly, time.”

He nodded. “What else?”

“Probably know-how,” I said. “That’s why I’m here.”

“If you did have that access, what would be the perceived benefit?” he asked.

“I’d be healthier.”

Essentially, the general manager achieved persuasive influence by selling to a gap. He sold to my desired situation, rather than to my current situation. Lifetime Fitness was a vehicle to get from where I was to where I wanted to be. It wasn’t necessarily going to solve the problem, but it was the vehicle to get me there.

As a result of this manager’s skill in using questions in the sales process, both my son and I now have memberships.

Achieve Persuasive Influence Over the Prospect’s Mindset by Asking the Right Questions

Let’s run through an exercise that shows how you can set the environment by asking the right questions: Pick a number between two and nine. If you can’t add, subtract, or multiply, then be sure to pick a low number. Got your number? Now take your number and multiply it by nine. You should have a number with two digits now.

Next, take those two digits and add them together. Whatever that answer is, now subtract five.

Are you with me so far? So with A as 1, B as 2, C as 3, D as 4, and E as 5, select the letter in the alphabet that corresponds with your number. Everybody got it? Now, with your letter in the alphabet, pick a state in the US, or a country in Europe that begins with that letter.

Okay, now using the second letter of your state or country, pick an animal that begins with that letter. For those people counting with their toes, make sure to put your shoes back on.

So did you pick Delaware? Or Denmark?  How about elephant? Or elk? Emu? Eels?

Pretty freaking cool, right?

So who was making all the decisions in that example, you or me? You were! I was just asking questions. You were the one making all the decisions. I simply limited the scope of your selections with each question.

In essence, I set foul lines. I didn’t ask a question that involved you choosing a number from one to a thousand. What I said was, “pick a number between two and nine” because every time we do the math, the end result is always the same.

The Challenge in Sales and Asking the Right Questions

The problem with selling is that most salespeople don’t have a reproducible process to build predictable results from asking questions. Therefore, every time they sit down with a prospect to diagnose a challenge, they start  from ground zero with no map to guide them. Remember, a good lawyer and a good salesperson never ask questions they don’t already know the answer to.
You can find more ideas for using questions in my book, Selling is an Away Game, available on Amazon.

But if you’re being really smart, you go back to your Why Speak Statement. If your agenda is solid and your Why Speak Statement is sound, you’re establishing boundaries from the start.

So as we ask questions, we’ve got to have a process. We’ve got to think about what types of questions we ask and how we ask those questions and lead the buyer towards an answer, much like the Socratic method.

The Socratic Method – Gaining Persuasive Influence by Asking Questions

When trying to get someone to see his point of view, Socrates would engage people in deep dialogues, asking a series of seemingly innocuous questions that slowly created a sense of common ground between him and the other person. Once enough common ground was established, the dissenter had no choice but to agree with Socrates’ perspective.

That’s what made Socrates the ultimate salesman. He understood the process of evaluation. And ultimately, evaluation all comes down to the Sales Song.

Here is how the Sales Song goes. The tune sounds kind of like “The Wheels on the Bus.” Feel free to sing out loud, even if you’re reading this on an airplane. There are bound to be others around you who will join in.

What do they want, and why do they want it;

What do they want, and why do they want it;

What do they want and why do they want it;

all the way to the close!

Salespeople need to ask questions around what their buyer wants and why they want it. And salespeople need to get better at asking the questions that will help them understand their buyer’s needs. Equally important, however, is to influence the prospect to see the wisdom of considering our proposed solution. Show them how your product can resolve their most pressing problem, and you’ll win the deal every time.

For more ideas on using sales questions in the evaluation process, order Lance Tyson’s book, Selling Is An Away Game available on Amazon.com.

In our programs, when we talk about building rapport, most people think of the NLP process that involves mimicking a person’s behaviors and speech. They think that somehow, doing this will magically give them the upper hand in talking with people.

Don’t get me wrong. That stuff enhances the communication process. However, when we talk about building rapport in the sales process, I want you to focus on one thing.

I want you to start the process by “trying honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.”

Most other programs that teach rapport building techniques forget this underlying principle and focus only on the activity.

In our sales programs, the affinity rule is the first rule we discuss. It deals with building rapport and overcoming our prospect’s preoccupation. That rule is:

Get your prospect’s attention by talking briefly about something in which they are interested.

Now, to know your prospect’s interests, you need to do your research. You also need to understand their business processes. But more importantly, you need to see things from their point of view.

Building Rapport Requires A Different Perspective

When I started my sales career, my manager stated this simple sales principle a little differently. But the sentiment is the same. He said, “If you can see through John Brown’s eyes, then you can sell what John Brown buys.”

Today, I want you to remember this:

Sales is an away game.

In today’s sales environment, you need to get out of your own head. You have to be able to leave your own “stuff” behind and get into the head of your prospect. If you can see things from their point of view, you can sell them what they want.

“How you look”, “what you say”, and “how you say it” are all communication pieces we use for building rapport with our prospects. However, this one principle of seeing things from the other person’s point of view is paramount. If you can’t get in their head and see the world through their eyes, then everything else becomes nothing more than cheap tricks designed to con your prospect.

Before you open your sales call, remember that selling is an away game. Build rapport by seeing the world through your prospect’s eyes. You’ll make your sales process infinitely easier to manage.

As I addressed in the previous post, much of your success as a salesperson will hinge on an effective sales starter. Contrary to the popular belief, there is no skill in closing sales – it’s all about creating a great opening.  Your opening should quickly establish rapport with the prospect by engaging in brief pleasantries. But, you should also gauge how to make the best use of their time. Help them see that you value your time together.  You’ll find substantial part of creating that value is understanding what your prospect really wants and why they want it.

Get to The Heart of Your Prospect’s Why

Once you’ve established how much time you have together, and you’ve made an impact statement that has captured their attention, it’s time to remember why you’re there and what you are really trying to sell. Remember, your prospects will want to cut to the chase. So, get to the why and how. A point I make in my sessions uses this example. When people buy a drill bit, they don’t really want the bit. They really want the hole the drill bit makes. So, help them understand why they want the hole and selling the bit becomes easy. The secret to closing sales is understanding what do they want and why do they want it. You can find more ideas in my book, Selling is an Away Game, available at Amazon.

Many salespeople fail to realize they are not truly selling their product or service. They are selling the product of their product, or the service of their service.  For instance, when somebody wants to refinance their house, they actually don’t want to refinance their house. They want to be able to pay their bills, build a porch on the back of the house, take a vacation, or pay for their kid’s tuition.

The point is, you must see things from your prospect’s perspective. You must also understand how having your product or service will impact their world. If you can understand what they want and why do they want it, you will walk away with the sale.

A Lesson on Closing Sales from Benjamin Franklin

In April of 1755, Ben Franklin was commissioned by General Braddock to secure 150 wagons, with four horses on each wagon. The General wanted them for what proved to be an ill-fated expedition against Fort Duquesne.

Franklin went to Lancaster and on April 26, 1755, published an advertisement. The purpose of the ad was to get farmers interested in supplying the required wagons.

What did the ad contain?

One single paragraph about what Braddock wanted, and six numbered paragraphs about what the farmers would get.

Being the excellent salesperson that he was, Franklin told the farmers how they would benefit from the transaction.

Franklin comments in his autobiography on the great and sudden effect it produced. He goes further and says, “In three weeks, 150 wagons with 259 carrying horses were on their march for the camp.”

Now, suppose instead of focusing on what the farmers were getting and arousing the interest of the farmers, Franklin focused on what Braddock wanted. Unfortunately, this is the action most salespeople take all the time. Incidentally, Braddock had tried to do this before in Maryland, taking a “we want wagons or else” approach. The net result, Franklin wrote, was only twenty-five wagons, some not in serviceable condition, showed up.

Connecting is what we do, whether it is through social media, direct face-to-face interaction, phone interaction, or any other means. When you finally make that connection, it’s up to you to look through the lens of your prospect and see the situation from their perspective. If you do, you’ll have a higher degree of success and an easier time closing sales.

You’ll find more sales strategies for executing your sales process in Lance Tyson’s book, Selling Is An Away Game: Close Business and Compete in a Complex World. Get your copy today!

Use a Sales Starter to Get Your Prospect’s Attention
Opening a sales call to get your prospect’s attention is no different than introducing yourself to someone of interest in your personal life.  Both situations require authenticity, interest, and relevance.

Beginning the conversation hinges on a good sales starter – something that captures your prospect’s attention favorably. To make this happen, you can compliment a prospect on an achievement or positive quality. You can highlight a referral. Also, you can leverage statements that educate or even startle your prospect to capture your prospect’s attention.

And you can ask questions to guide your prospect’s attention.  Getting a two-way conversation going is crucial, and questions are a great way to do it.

Consider this example I experienced firsthand. I was at a meeting with a VP at Comcast with one of my new hires, Ellen Valudes. Now, sometimes pleasantries can get out of hand and take over a meeting. But when Ellen couldn’t find her opportunity to bridge out of the pleasantries, she made one.  She said, “Did you know your salespeople are stealing from you?”

You can find more ideas for Sales Starters in Lance Tyson’s latest book, Selling Is An Away Game: Close Business and Compete in a Complex World.
Order it from Amazon, today.I looked over at her, jaw wide open, not knowing what to say.

After a dramatic pause to let that statement fully sink in, she continued. “Every time they go into a sales call without a plan and a process, they steal time from the prospect, and from Comcast.”

Ellen had both me and the VP at hello.

She went on: “Our meeting today is going to focus on ideas of how Comcast salespeople can leverage a predictable process to grow sales.”

In that short period of time, Ellen not only captured the VP’s attention, she also generated a ton of interest!

Get Your Prospect’s Attention by Leveraging the Importance of Time
Here’s another tactic you can use as a sales starter when opening your sales call.

Understanding your prospect’s anticipated and desired time allotment can be critical to delivering your impact statement and using the time efficiently.  An effective approach the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns use when meeting a potential partner in person is asking a question pertaining to time. They’ll say something like, “How much time is too much to talk today?” And the prospect will respond, “Jeez, I’ve got about thirty minutes.” Now, the prospect has a sense that this is going to be a two-way conversation and that their time will be respected.

We use Sales Starters as a question bearing on time (QBOT) in a layered attack. So, if I ask a prospect, “How much time is too much time today?”

Check out this example, showing when all of these items are aligned, the close happens naturally and organically.

Selling Financial Services Where There is no Perceived Value

By age twenty-five, I was a young professional making my way in the world. That’s when a colleague of mine, Bill Chafee, told me to meet with some guy named Doug Moran.  Doug was Bill’s financial advisor. I respected Bill. He was an elder statesman and great salesperson. In spite of that, I didn’t initially think this meeting was something I needed as a 25-year-old.

Despite not understanding why I should contact Doug, I did.  What I encountered in that meeting was an extremely effective close.  Let me share the conversation:

Once I arrived at Doug’s office, he asked me to sit down.  He pulled out an egg and asked me,

“Do you know what this is?

I looked at him. “Yeah. It’s an egg.”

“Do you know what this egg represents?”

“I have no clue, Doug.”

“This represents your nest egg,” he said. “Do you know what a nest egg is?”

“Yeah. It’s what I would use to retire.”

Get more strategies for directing the sales call and leading your prospects in Lance Tyson’s latest book, Selling Is An Away Game: Close Business and Compete in a Complex World. Get it here, today.”That’s right,” he said. “Now, here’s the deal, Lance. Over your lifetime, you’re going to have a lot of people that influence, hold, carry, or do things with your nest egg to help it grow. You’ll do things. Your 401(k) will do things. All kinds of things, people, and institutions will affect this egg. Do you know what’s really important about this nest egg?”

He totally had my attention by that point. “No. What?”

“You’ve got to make sure whoever is handling your nest egg, at any time, they’re really careful with it, and that they don’t…” and from about shoulder height he dropped the egg on his desk where it cracked open and oozed.

I popped up!  I looked at his beautiful desk. And that’s when I noticed he had laid paper around to protect the surface.

Selling Financial Services with an Effective Sales Presentation
Then he pulled out another egg. “Lance, do you know what this is?”

“It’s a nest egg.”

“That’s right,” he said. “What does this nest egg represent?”

“My financial future.”

“That’s really good. Lance, what’s important about this nest egg?”

He had me. “It’s important that people handle it with care.”

“And what will happen to your nest egg over time?”

“Well, somebody’s going to drop it. It’s going to fall.”

“Good. You’re really thinking now.”

Then he took the egg, and he dropped it on his desk in the same spot. It didn’t break. He picked it up. “Do you know what the difference between this egg is and the first one?”

“That one’s hard-boiled.”

“That’s right. You’ve got to make sure whatever you do with your nest egg, that it’s protected at all times. Whoever uses it, whoever is going to grow it, whoever is going to invest it, make sure it’s protected.”

“And that’s what we’re here to talk about, for now and the future.”

There are a couple of things we can learn here about the sales presentation and the close:

Leveraging Multiple Decision Makers
In another post, I introduced the concept of Spiderwebbing. In most B2B sales, you will need to deal with more than one decision maker.  To avoid getting limited by corporate politics and the whims of one decision maker, you should enhance your entry efforts by contacting all decision makers who can have an impact on your sales process. You can find Spiderwebbing details in this post here.

But you should know that during your sales process, you will contact:

An Example of What This Looks Like
Here’s an example of why you need to reach multiple decision makers in your target company. And why you need to see the world from their perspective.

Back when I ran a lead generation service, a salesperson contacted me about a call-management software suite. When he pitched me, he said that this software package would change the nature of my business for the better by making the calling team more efficient.

Intrigued, I scheduled him to do a product presentation. When he arrived, I called in several members of my team to review the presentation:

Why This Salesperson Got the Meeting
Yes, I was intrigued and invited him in for a product presentation. But it wasn’t because of his scintillating personality or his flashy sales talk.  I invited the salesperson in because after my initial conversation with the rep, I spoke with my Dir of Technology about the software. He said, “Yeah, I got a call from that sales rep. It’s something worth checking out.”

When I told my VP of Service about the product, she said, “Yeah, he gave me a call. I think that product might help our team be more productive.”   And when I approached my VP of Sales about this software, she said, “I spoke with him about a week ago.We can leverage that service in our own sales efforts.”

This salesperson got the opportunity to make his presentation because he had created an internal support base. He had contacted other members of my management team and uncovered their challenges before he contacted me.

Conclusion
With this example in mind, I return to the beginning of this post. If you find yourself asking, “How do I reach the C-suite executives of a company” because you are looking for the quickest route to the sales close, stop and think. Ask yourself these questions:

Recently I learned that Tyson Group received recognition as Selling Power’s Top 20 Sales Training Companies for 2018. I’m honored that our company has received such accolades. But I also have to acknowledge the effort and the commitment that my team has made to bring about this accomplishment.

The landscape of sales is changing. I recognize that our industry is constantly undergoing evolutionary changes but recently, with the advent of digital technology, it seems as if the changes have become revolutionary.

Customers have the ability to perform instant price comparisons. Google and Bing allow customers to “shop” for what they want down to the color on the front right panel. Our prospects can get recommendations and referrals through their social and referral networks.

These changes combine to create an extinction level event for salespeople who rely on order fulfillment and use activities practiced before the turn of the century. In this digital age, the salespeople who are successful are flexible in their approach. They play chess instead of checkers, positioning themselves strategically. And they build affinity with their prospects by establishing rapport and building trust quickly.

A New Sales Landscape Requires a New Training Mindset

I bring this up because I recognized that if salespeople are required to undergo a revolutionary change, then as trainers and coaches, we were also required to undergo similar changes, delivering services that help salespeople address the new challenges in this ever-changing landscape.

In my training sessions, I teach sales teams about the value of flexibility, innovation, strategy, teamwork, and leadership. How together, everyone works to achieve a common outcome.

This achievement of being mentioned by Selling Power magazine is no different.

This Selling Power recognition would not have been possible without the commitment from our sales team dedicated to selling our services and our account management team committed to client services excellence. An accomplishment of this magnitude would not have happened without the hard work from the team managing our internal processes and the creativity from our training team.

And it definitely wouldn’t have been possible without the support and feedback from our clients.

Without all of these individuals, this achievement would not have been possible.

We had a wonderful year in 2017. We’ll be working to make 2018 even better!

Good Selling!

What This Means for You
With this increased involvement from consumers, the sales process has changed and needs to be tailored in similar fashion. The buyer is going to be concerned about how much things cost, whether their opinion will be taken into account, and if they even have the time to listen. And the buyer is going to be armed with more information than they would have been in the past, which is going to make them a lot more confident than they once were.

As a result, sales professionals need a strategy—a sales process—that takes into account all of those pieces of the buyer’s mindset. It has to be flexible enough that they can tailor it to individual clients, but sturdy enough that it can be scalable and repeatable. There needs to be an element of predictability in the process despite the unpredictable consumer and their concerns.

Be Strategically Prepared
Once you are thinking strategically about the sales process, you can incorporate the tactics and skills you will need to use throughout the process. How? You’ll think in terms of if this, then that. If I get someone’s voicemail, what do I say? How do I deal with an objection about price? How do I give my impact statement? How do I present things in a logical fashion?

You’re also going to be developing skills that apply in any process: things like verbal brevity, resolving objections, being able to facilitate, selling over the phone versus selling in person. Remember, the sales process is simply the buying process in reverse.

In today’s marketplace, being a forceful, charismatic salesperson will not do the job. Consumers are different. They’re savvier, armed with more opinions based on the good and bad information. You need to have a repeatable system to address these and other complexities in today’s market. Learn more about what this proven and repeatable sales process is by visiting, the Tyson Group website or by purchasing your copy of, Selling Is An Away Game: Close Business And Compete In A Complex World.

Good Data, Data Management, and Facts Matter
People tend to believe just about anything they read on the internet, especially when it’s shared on a reputable site. Here’s an example. My Inside Sales Manager once showed me a former Tyson Group employee’s LinkedIn profile, in which he claimed he won Rookie of the Year at my company. Trouble is, we don’t have a Rookie of the Year award. I sent him a note apologizing for missing the ceremony with a P.S. explaining that he might want to represent himself accurately.

Sometimes, it’s easy to simply accept what you find in an online forum or on a popular website.  These inaccuracies and outdated information impact a salesperson’s performance. This means a salesperson has to be asking the right questions at the right time in live conversation or through thorough research. It’s critical throughout the sales process for your salesperson to constantly ask if the information they are getting correlates with the body of knowledge they already have in their information management system.

Buyers Require Useful Data and Better Data Management
Not only has the role of sales professionals changed after meeting with a prospect, but the time and effort it takes to get to that meeting has also increased. Identifying an opportunity, pre-approach, and initial communication, are the most time-consuming parts of the sale process .

In B2B sales it takes six to eight touches to get someone interested enough to even talk with you and another six to eight touches to get time on someone’s calendar. Those touches can come through LinkedIn, Twitter, even postal mail.

Making these critical milestones with potential buyers not only requires a steady, strategic sales process, but it also requires transparency. In a recent Inc. article, they cite a 2016 Label Insight Transparency ROI Study which confirms the need for more transparency from companies and their representatives because of the following reasons: consumers want to know everything about a product; consumers want to know about more than just your product; and if your company isn’t providing the transparent information, consumers will look elsewhere to get it.

Every team needs a winning offense strategy. Some of the top franchises in sports turn to Tyson Group to help their sales teams move to the next level. Fenway Sports Management (large naming rights and sponsorship sales), the Dallas Cowboys (sponsorship, premium new stadium), the New York Yankees (premium space), the Boston Red Sox (tickets) and the University of Notre Dame (gifting and donor) are just some of the organizations we work with.

Despite the varied sports, our approach is one they all understand and easily adapt: when they adapted our process with an offensive strategy, they are successful. Whether it’s selling suites to Fortune 500s, closing multi-million-dollar naming rights deals, or selling tickets to the masses, it really doesn’t matter because it is the exact same process.

That’s the crossover power of our process that makes Tyson Group so successful. Throughout the years, I’ve worked with many of the same individuals who move from franchise to franchise and the feedback is this, “What you did at the Browns I want you to do at the Padres. What you did at the Cavs I want you to do at the Vegas Golden Knights. What you did here in San Diego I want you to do at Tampa Bay.” Regardless of the sports franchise, the process has been proven time and time again through a series of six steps that can be customized in a thousand different ways. Simple is genius.

Running an Offense Strategy Regardless of Your Industry

Last time I was in Salt Lake, I was with insurance brokers working with them on sales. We plug the same offense and process into tech, insurance, or financial as we do for major sports organizations. What these sales professionals—across all industries—learn is the same offensive strategy each of our major sports organizations leverage – a strategy and approach built on solid sales management, sales leadership and what I’ve referred to previously as, “grit.”

Like a top football, basketball, or baseball team, you can coach skills and knowledge all day long; however, the most successful sports stars have an “it” factor of persistence and grit. We not only help our clients the necessary sales skills, we help them access the grit within themselves—the element needed for true success in an offensive sales strategy.

There’s an exercise I like to do with management teams and salespeople in which they list attributes that would make their replacements successful. “If you had to hire somebody for your job and would get a bonus of 20 percent of your salary, what are things you would hire on?” I ask.

They will make a list of twenty or thirty things. But it comes down to three broad categories forming a triangle. At least 60 percent of success is based on attitude—things like grit, endurance, and perseverance. Another 20 percent to 30 percent revolves around skills like goal-setting and communication.

No matter your industry, when you approach your sales process with a proven offensive strategy—built on effective sales management, skill, and grit—your sales professionals will be unstoppable. Learn more about applying our proven offense strategy to your sales organization in my book, Selling Is An Away Game: Close Business and Compete in a Complex World.