​Proper influence and persuasion is about making it easy for people to do what is in their best interest to do. Our job in sales is to help people achieve whatever mission they are on. The best helpers are the most successful sales people. How do you know how to become more helpful? Amy O’Connor says to focus on these three character traits.

Ryan Taft and his wife Melissa were out and about looking at new homes. After looking at a few, he asked Melissa what she thought of her interactions with the sales people. She said, “They are nice enough, but none of them let me talk.” It was the “let me” that caught his attention. Allow your prospect to share more during the sales process and you will be much better equipped to actually close the sale.

It is up to you to create a strong and positive emotional tone for buyers. You are setting them up on a blind (ish) date and you want this to happen! Give yourself and your customer permission to enjoy the process as the real, live human beings that you are!

When a buyer wants to cancel, sometimes it is for legitimate reasons and other times the reason for canceling is based on a catastrophization in the buyer’s mind. Catastrophization stories may seem ridiculous to us, but in the buyer’s mind they are very real and therefore must be taken seriously.

Follow-up is so important in the sales industry, but most of the time, it doesn’t happen. No call, no email, no card …n-o-t-h-i-n-g. Do you want to stand out from the crowd and boost your sales? Ryan Taft shares five surprising and insanely powerful tips for great follow-up:

​Decision-making is really an exercise in how to process uncertainty. Where there is no uncertainty, there is no decision. But, uncertainty weighs on your mind. Each unresolved issue nags at you. Psychologists call the frustration you feel “cognitive disfluency.” I prefer a different term: brain strain.

​There is nothing worse than walking into a sales encounter and experiencing a one-sided “conversation.” These dreadful experiences are better known as monologues. Here are four simple sales techniques to personalize your conversation and help your customer feel the love

There are two positives to keep in mind about buyer’s remorse: One, it is predictable, and two, it’s a normal part of the buyer’s journey. Unfortunately, a buyer regretting their purchase decision catches too many salespeople off guard, and therefore they do not handle the situation properly.

There are a lot of irritating behaviors that sales professionals exhibit, I know. But let’s call these five the most irritating and common behaviors of less-than-professional sales professionals.

Ryan Taft coaches sales managers on a weekly basis. One of the most common topics they discuss is time. Whether you are a coach, a sales leader or a sales person, one of the most important skills you should master is the skill of productivity. Here are 10 topics that throw people out of being productive.