A sales trainer calls me up for help.  Her husband was laid off in the recession and finally found a job at ½ his former salary.  They sell their house to downsize and cut expenses.  The sales trainer is now trying to re-establish her business and finds it tough getting new clients.

With emotions running high, she calls me for help.  I ask her how she is going about getting new prospects.  She shares her nine-part system for prospecting.  The first part is the script used on the cold call.  It is four paragraphs long with the first three focusing on her services and abilities.

I ask her how the response is going.  She dejectedly said there were no callbacks.  I then asked her if this is what she would teach her clients and she said no. So I asked her why are you doing it then?  She gave me an honest answer.  She is in such a bad way that she was trying to do anything to get someone to hire her.  Her emotions clouded her vision and judgment.  They forced her into doing actions that she wouldn’t even recommend.

Sound familiar?  All of us can relate to this story when we had our own emotions drive us to actions we would normally avoid.   (more…)