When I ask this question in sales seminars, I consistently receive these five answers from the attendees:

1. Not enough time in the day to service that many customers.

2. My market is too small to support the kind of sales volume I need to earn a six-figure income.

3. Im lousy at prospecting for new business.

4. My compensation is tied to gross margin and my market is too competitive to yield the gross margin I need to get into a high enough bracket to produce a six-figure income.

5. Im not money motivated; Im content with my current income.

Assuming that you are not currently earning a six-figure income, can you think of any other reasons that are standing in your way?

I cant help you if your market is too small or if you lack the motivation to grow your sales and consequently your income. In other words, if youre doing business in a rural market where there are insufficient housing starts to generate $3 million to $4 million in sales, I totally understand. But if this is not the case; that is, if you are in a market that does have the potential for this level of sales, you can perhaps make a few adjustments in the way you sell and you can get there.

Sales is one of the most rewarding professions in the world because as a salesperson, your raise in most cases becomes effective when you do. Assuming that you are compensated via a commission-based plan, you dont have to sit around waiting for the boss to give you a raise. All you have to do is improve your productivity in either sales, gross margin or a combination of the two.

Many times salespeople merely need a few lessons in selling. It can be that simple.

If youre serious about your profession, youll take your job as seriously as you take your favorite hobby. When I work with salespeople, I often ask for a show of hands for the men and women in the audience that play golf or tennis. Usually a little over half the people in the room raise their hands.

My next question is, How many of you have ever taken a golf or tennis lesson?

Of the ones that raised their hands the first time around, I generally get around 80% who have actually forked out the cash for lessons from a golf or tennis professional.

Then I ask for another show of hands, only this time the question is: How many of you have ever taken a lesson on how to sell more effectively. The number that raise their hands in response to this question is embarrassingly few.

Well, how many of you have -- with your own money -- purchased an audio-cassette or CD album on sales training or purchased a book on how to be a more accomplished salesperson?

Again, embarrassingly few hands go up.

Why is this? Why do so few salespeople spend so little of our time and money equipping ourselves to boost our productivity and consequently our income?

Its a mystery! I dont know the answer.

The economy with the exception of a couple of short-lived recessions has been incredibly robust for a number of years. Salespeople who have been willing to work on their skills and put in the hours it takes to be successful earn as much income as a lot of doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc.

Yet, with so much opportunity abounding, there are salespeople in just about every region who are starving to death. Many cant feed their families. The primary reason is because they are spinning their wheels. Theyre perhaps working hard, but working hard doing the wrong things.

Are you spending more money on fishing, golf, hunting or vacationing than youre spending on YOU and YOUR PROFESSION? Are you green and growing or are you dying on the vine?

If the economy is softening in the markets you serve, its more important than ever to learn how to grow your business by taking sales away from your competitors WITHOUT using price as a weapon.

Please do yourself a favor and do one or more of the following:

1. Order a set of Sales Training DVDs and CDs. Google a search for sales training tools.

2. Send me an email to receive a FREE reading list for salespeople. Bill@BillLeeOnLine.com

3. Go to your local book store and purchase a copy of The One-Minute Salesperson.

4. Go to your local library and check out a good book on sales. If you dont see one you lik e, try The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino.

5. Call your Trade Association and find out when their next sales training seminar will be held and sign up.

6. Call your local Chamber of Commerce and find out if and when they are sponsoring a sales training session and sign up.

7. Spend a day with a salesperson who sells two to three times as much as you sell. Find out what this person does that you dont do.

8. Force yourself to make prospect calls. Call on qualified prospects that meet your companys ideal customer profile until they BUY OR DIE. Never, never, never give up.

9. Make a list of your five greatest strengths and play on them.

10. Make a list of your five greatest weaknesses and overcome them.