Your sales issue might be a hiring issue, not a training issue.
“We’ve booked them on another course.”
“They just need more confidence.”
“They’ll improve once they know the product.”
Familiar. Logical. Often wrong.
I can talk from experience: many businesses invest heavily in coaching, but see little change in results.
Over the years, I’ve found that the best salespeople usually share three natural qualities: they enjoy prospecting, they’re comfortable asking for commitment, and they don’t let rejection knock them off course.
What we do, though, is chuck a workshop at them, and that’s the training done. Now off you go and get the sales.
With changes in recruitment and AI, use science, good interview questions, and cultural selection.
You owe it to your team.
Let me know if you need this type of salesperson for your team.
One of the biggest mistakes salespeople make is asking too many questions. For once, shut up!
I know that sounds strange coming from a sales coach. After all, we’ve all been taught that asking questions is important. And it is.
But sometimes the fastest way to discover the truth isn’t by asking a question at all.
It’s by making a statement.
Let me explain.
Recently, I came across an example where someone wanted to find out how much a supermarket employee earned without directly asking. Instead of saying, “How much do you make?” they simply said they had read an article claiming that all employees had received a pay rise to $26 an hour.
The employee immediately replied:
“No, that’s not right. I make $17.”
Mission accomplished.
No awkward question. No interrogation. No resistance.
The employee simply corrected the information.
As humans, we have a natural desire to correct things when they are wrong.
In sales, this can be an incredibly powerful way to uncover information and move conversations forward.
I call it “creating space for correction.”
I have always loved allowing space in a sales conversation
Instead of asking:
“Who makes the final decision?”
You might say:
“It sounds like you’re probably the only person involved in approving something like this.”
The response might be:
“Actually, our CEO signs off on anything over $10,000.”
Now you’ve learned something valuable without putting the prospect under pressure.
Instead of asking:
“How urgent is this project?”
You might say:
“My guess is this is probably something you’ll look at next year.”
The prospect responds:
“No, we’d like to have something in place within the next month.”
Again, valuable information.
The beauty of this approach is that it feels conversational rather than confrontational.
One of the core principles from my book Selling is Not Optional is that sales should feel like a conversation, not a cross-examination.
When people feel questioned, they often become defensive.
When people feel heard, they open up.
That’s why some of the best salespeople I have ever worked with don’t sound like salespeople at all.
They sound curious. They make observations. They test assumptions. They allow the prospect to guide them towards the truth.
Here’s another example.
Instead of asking:
“Are you happy with your current supplier?”
Try saying:
“From the outside, it looks like your current supplier is doing a pretty good job.”
You will often hear:
“Well, mostly… but there are a few things we’re frustrated about.”
And now the real conversation begins.
This technique works particularly well when discussing:
Budget
Decision making
Timing
Current suppliers
Priorities
Hidden objections
Commitment to taking action
The key is not to manipulate.
The key is to genuinely test your assumptions.
You are not trying to trap someone.
You are trying to understand them.
Sometimes the most effective question is not a question at all.
It’s a statement that invites the other person to tell you what’s really true.
Because in sales, the truth is what moves the conversation forward.
And when people feel comfortable correcting you, they often reveal exactly what you needed to know.
Many years ago, I was introduced to the book Mindset by Carol Dweck.
Looking back, it changed the way I thought about sales and the way I coached salespeople.
The truth is this:
Selling is a mindset decision before it is a sales decision.
Most people think sales success comes from better techniques, better scripts, or better closing skills.
They help.
But before any of those things matter, a salesperson has already made a decision about what selling means to them.
Do they see sales as helping or persuading?
Do they see objections as rejection or feedback?
Do they see prospecting as an interruption or an opportunity?
In a recent workshop, I introduced this concept to a group of salespeople. For many, it was the first time they had stopped to think about how their beliefs about selling were influencing their results.
The breakthrough was simple.
When you change the way you think about sales, you change the way you show up in sales conversations.
Confidence improves.
Curiosity increases.
Resistance decreases.
And suddenly selling feels less like a confrontation and more like what it was always meant to be:
A conversation designed to help someone make a better decision.
Because every sale starts with a mindset decision long before it becomes a sales decision.
Have a great week selling your stuff.
Check out my book, where I go into more detail about what holds salespeople back from making Mindset decisions.
