Some beliefs about what it takes to cultivate a successful sales career - beliefs on which many selling strategies are built - don't hold up under close scrutiny. Here are a few.

Fallacy #1: Persistence and hard work pay off. - There seems to be a belief that the longer and harder you work, the more you are likely to accomplish. Certainly, persistence and hard work pay off in some endeavors. Digging a tunnel comes to mind. If you keep at it, digging straight and true through the darkness, you eventually see daylight and complete your goal. But selling shouldn't feel like digging around in the darkness - hoping to eventually see some daylight and, if you're lucky, complete a sale.

The adage " Work smart, not hard" may be a bit overused, but the message is nonetheless valuable. In the sales arena, it is essential to utilize an effective and efficient system to identify, qualify, and develop a selling opportunity. The system should revolve around specific criteria that must be met at various stages in order to keep the process moving toward a completed sale. If the criteria can't be met, it's time to abandon the opportunity and pursue another that is more viable. That's working smart. Continuing to pursue an opportunity that has stalled just because you've already invested so much time or because you're out to prove something is not the most productive use of your time. That's working hard. Work smart, not hard may be a bit of a cliché, but the message rings true.

Fallacy #2: Salespeople must be motivated. - Motivation is often regarded as a magic potion. The thinking seems to be that if enough of it is sprinkled on you, you will be able to accomplish things you were not able to accomplish prior to the anointing.

Getting hyped, energized, or excited doesn't enable you to do something. At best, it encourages you to do it. You must want to do it. And, to do it successfully, you must have the requisite ability. Some inspiring words and a pat on the back may be helpful in the short term, but motivation is not a substitute for will or skill.

To stay motivated, determine what de-motivates you and address that issue. If your effort to uncover new business, for instance, is consistently met by rejection by the prospect, at some point you are likely to abandon the effort. The motivation for new business is overshadowed by the de-motivating results - rejection and the likely frustration and disappointment that accompany it. A more effective prospecting approach - one that isn't met by rejection - will go a lot further to motivate you than any pep talk, contest, bonus, or other motivating reward.

Fallacy #3: Salespeople must be skillful handling stalls and objections. - While a prospect may voice an objection or attempt to slow down the process, handling these situations should not be a normal part of business development. Prospects make buying decisions for their reasons, not your reasons. When you take the time to discover the prospect's reasons and then present your product or service from a perspective that addresses those reasons and only those reasons, many of the objections disappear.

Stalls and objections tend to revolve around issues that should have been dealt with earlier. If, for instance, a prospect objects to a price or fee at the conclusion of a presentation or proposal review, it's an indication that all the relevant financial issues were not addressed prior to the presentation. If a prospect stalls making a buying decision, it's likely that you didn't previously obtain the prospect's commitment to make a decision after viewing the presentation.

Handling objections and stalls is an after-the-fact activity. If you identify the issues from which the stalls and objections emanate and address those issues early in the development process, you will not have to deal with them later. Stalls and objections should be eliminated early in the process, not handled later.

Perhaps it's time to examine your own beliefs about the strategies and actions required to be successful. Do those beliefs truly support success? Are the beliefs built on facts? Is there evidence to support them? And, most importantly, are the facts or evidence relevant in today's business arena?

The better way to make an impact on your prospect is by expanding your questions so that the prospect can see that you are sincerely interested in determining his/her true underlying reasons for changing, upgrading or improving. Ask "why" style questions and establish the kind of relationship that removes roadblocks. Bring these skills to your next sales call and have the kind of relationship with your prospect that gives you the critical edge.

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