Motivation seems to be one of the toughest areas to get a handle on. Sound familiar?

So many sales reps send me emails all asking the same thing, "How can I sell against my competition and win the deal?"

One of the most common brush-off's inside sales reps get all day long is the "I'm not interested" response from prospects they are cold calling (or even calling back). The reason this is so common is because it works!

I was reminded of a simple way to make more sales and develop a long term relationship with prospective clients via an email I received a few days ago from Virgin Wines.

I was up in Oakland last week training some inside sales software reps, and I asked the pivotal question - "Out of 10 leads you send out, how many end up buying?"

I get many requests each month for phone scripts. People want to know how to open the call, how to avoid being blown off, how to handle objections, etc.

First, I'd like to thank you all for your Ezine topic requests. I'll do my best to answer them, and generally I look for multiple requests on the same subject. And there are a lot of them because let's face it - we're all struggling with the same objections though in different forms.

I don't have to tell you that times are hard for companies these days. And that means hard on you, the sales rep, too. Now when companies tell you that they don't have the budget, you really believe them, don't you?

I remember a time -- and it doesn't seem like that long ago -- when voicemail was all the rage. There was no e-mail, so people tended to honor and even return voicemail messages. It was a good time...

Have you ever caught yourself doing it? You deliver a great presentation, think that your prospect is with you, but you just keep pitching.