When you do actually connect, you need to be able to build strong relationships quickly and easily.

Three of our clients found that the easiest way to do that was to remove all sales pressure. That's not to say that these three are reformed high-pressure salespeople. Far from it.

Yet, each learned to eliminate the subtle language and thought processes they had acquired that inserted pressure into their relationships with prospects. They began to look at prospecting not as a process of making a sale but as a process of seeking the truth.

In other words, they found if the truth was that working together was a win-win situation, then the sale happened. If the truth was that working together was not the best option for either the prospect or themselves, then the sale didn't happen.

What each of our clients discovered was when they internalized and implemented this no-pressure mindset, their relationships started to strengthen. Their prospects started to trust them on a much deeper level and actually started asking to buy rather than being sold.

One client remarked, "I backed off and stopped caring whether any individual prospect bought from me. I now have faith that there are plenty of other prospects out there and I don't worry about any one in particular. This allows me to really listen for the truth instead of focusing on the sale. As a result, I hear things I never heard before and my prospects notice. I'm getting calls back and my sales have doubled. Best of all, I'm not stressed anymore about money or work and I'm going to get rid of all my debt this year!”

Another client put it this way, "When I

actually shut up and stopped worrying about my agenda and focused on my prospect, I connected with them. I doubled my business, which is great, but best of all I only work with people I really like now. Because business is now coming to me, I have the confidence to turn away sales that don't feel right.”

The lesson here is to look inside yourself and find the faith in your abilities and your product or service. When you stop trying to sell people and really focus on them, you allow yourself to connect on a peer-to-peer level. You are then able to evaluate your prospects and choose to work with those that will be the best fit. This, in turn, leads to happier clients and more referrals.

It won't matter if the economy is robust or in the can, you will attract the business you seek with a narrow prospecting focus and no sales pressure. Make 2005 a breakthrough year; make it a year of double digit growth.

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