Patrick Carroll

Have you ever talked yourself out of a sale? Selling is not about telling. It's about helping the prospect relate to your product or service to the satisfaction of their wants and needs. It's also about helping them discover needs of which they were previously unaware. How do you accomplish this? By asking thought-provoking questions and then listening, really listening!

I had a position coach during my freshman year in college that made the comment, "Point the thumb, before you point the finger," and it has stuck with me ever since. Our football team was in a transition period, new coaches, new players, new strategies and we stunk pretty badly.

Companies have a systematic approach to complete almost every task; from the production line to accounting and payroll. Companies rely on clearly defined ways to get the job done effectively and efficiently. There are some areas of organizations that are commonly left to play by their own rules; like the sales and business development departments. Management exclaims, "go get 'em; bring in some new business! We believe in you!" In the current competitive and entitled market, the fly by the seat of your pants sales team almost never achieve the results they are looking for.

Imagine if there was no order. No procedures, no systems, no processes and no checks and balances. Chaos!? More than likely. People would be playing by their own rules and would be unpredictable at best. Without systems and processes we would be flying by the seat of our pants, with no clue as to what's going to happen next or how to figure out when things go wrong.