Jill Konrath

One-by-one, the elephants marched down to the lake where they drank their fill and played in the water. Next, they moved to the mud pits to wallow in the muck.

Finally, they wandered over to dry ground, where they used their trunks to coat themselves and their friends with sand. It was fun to watch!

So what can we learn about sales from the elephants?

We were just approaching Des Moines, traveling at 72 miles per hour on I-35 when it hit me. My husband, who was driving, didn't even notice. But for me, the effect was jarring.

"Holy cow!" I exclaimed. (That's really appropriate when you're in Iowa.) I held up Wikibrands, the book I was reading. "Did you know that the Edelman Trust Barometer says that only 8 percent of people trust what companies say about themselves?"

No one I know wants to sound like a self-serving salesperson. So, as we prospect for new customers, we vow to never stoop as low as those product-pushing peddlers.

Instead, we decide to be paragons of professionalism. When we contact our prospects and get their voicemail instead, we'll leave a message like this one:

Have you ever had hot prospects who suddenly stopped returning your call? Then you know how disconcerting it can be - especially when they'd expressed so much interest in your product or service only days before.

At first, you assume their lack of responsiveness is an isolated situation that will quickly self-correct. But after repeated failed attempts to connect, you start to question your own sanity.

Shortly after my last newsletter went out, I got an email from Lauren. She liked my article, but was frustrated because she couldn't easily Tweet about it. Now that may not be one bit important to you, but check out what happened next.

You could be going too far on sales calls. Call me a prude if you will, but I've had it with sellers who are totally clueless that they're going too far, too fast in their initial meeting with me. The worst thing is, they have no idea how their actions are perceived.

"I really care about my customers," Terry told me as we were driving to an appointment. "I try to do the very best I can for them and make sure that their needs are met."

"Sounds good," I thought to myself. "But I wonder if it's true."

Most sellers I know go to great pains to point out to me just how customer-focused they are.They want to make sure I know that they're not pushy or manipulative or sleazy in any way. Yet when they get into meetings with prospective clients, they quickly switch into a seller-centric mode of operation before they even know what's happening.

That's exactly what occurred in my sales call with Terry. Before we went in, I asked her to tell me what she'd said to get the appointment.

Have you recently seen promised orders or projects literally evaporate into thin air? It's a phenomenon I'm seeing frequently these days - and I'm personally experiencing it too. Time to put on the thinking cap ...

Don't get me wrong! I love being a consultative seller. It's literally a part of my sales DNA. But a few years ago, I discovered that "being consultative" didn't convince decision makers that it was worth their valuable time to meet with me.

To show you what I mean, let me take you into their world and put you center stage as the designated future customer.

Killer Sales Disease Strikes!