Why you’re not selling more

If only you had these seven things, you’d be able to make many more sales:

1. Better product. “My product sucks. Everybody else has better stuff.” Can you imagine how much easier it would be to sell if only you had a better product? Think how easy it would be to sell if people were lining up to buy.
2. Lower pricing. “Our prices are too high to win.” Low prices aren’t your strategy, huh? It’s tough to sell something at a higher price than your competitors sell it for. Imagine how easy it would be to sell if you had lower prices.
3. Better territory. Look across the way; the neighbors’ grass is way greener than yours. It would be a breeze to sell in their territory. They might say “It’s not the man; it’s the land,” but they haven’t seen your lousy territory.
4. Easier prospecting. “No one will return my calls!” Calling prospective clients sucks. Prospecting should be a lot easier. That would make selling awesome, wouldn’t it? And so much easier.
5. Better prospects. “Our prospects only care about price.” “They want the solutions we don’t sell.” “They have deep relationships with our competitors.” All of the best prospects are already taken. Selling would be easier with better prospects. Yeah.
6. Better management. “My manager doesn’t get it. He thinks I should have more activity. He keeps asking me about my pipeline. Selling would be easy if I weren’t micromanaged.” Selling would be easy with better management or leadership, for sure.
7. Better compensation. “My comp plan stinks. If I had a decent compensation plan, I’d be motivated to sell. I’d be a top-20-percent salesperson with the right comp plan.” No doubt, you would. Your comp plan really makes selling difficult.

Listed above are seven lies. And here is one simple truth: None of these is the real reason selling is difficult. Selling isn’t easy, of course. It has never been easy, and it won’t become easy in the future. But your attitude toward the profession of selling can make it seem a whole lot harder than it really is.