Quotes from Jill Konrath

According to a recent survey by Forrester Research, only 15 percent of executives say their meetings with salespeople met their expectations. From that, only 7 percent of execs actually scheduled follow-up conversations. Ouch. That's not good!

Sales is an outcome, not a goal. It's a function of doing numerous things right, starting from the moment you target a potential prospect until you finalize the deal.

What differentiates sellers today is their ability to bring fresh ideas.

Identify stories that pique buyers' curiosity and move them to action.

Insightful questions build credibility and deepen relationships.

The longer a deal stays in your pipeline, the less likely you are to ever close it, even if your prospect claimed that he or she desperately needed your offering. If the sales process does get stalled out, the only person who loses is you.

Keep developing your expertise; it sets you apart.

In Information Overload: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us,* the authors state that distractions consume an average of 2.1 hours per day.

Women's IQ scores dropped an average of 5 percent. For men, multitasking was catastrophic: Their IQ dropped fifteen points.

People who focus on 'getting better' goals (also known as Personal Bests) as opposed to performance goals have a much better chance of success.