There will be a time where enough is enough. When all of us in sales look back and say, "What were we thinking?" And we ask, "Why would anyone accept a 20 percent win standard from 20 percent of the population?"

Let's start questioning the sales norms and redefining how we measure success. It will be up to you to decide what level you'll play at.

Will convention and the current misguided "expertise" keep you stuck, or will you have the conviction to challenge and carve your own path?

In this episode of Breaking Sales, Pam and Dan start to debunk the myth of sales. They move past the temptation to standardize and label prospects, push past closing ratios, and get to the heart of the matter—how to tear into that other 80 percent.

If you had one chance to build trust with someone, would you choose the path of sharing your competency or seeking to understand their point of view?

Common sense would dictate that most will choose "seeking their point of view," but why then during conversations does it so often switch? How many times have you caught yourself telling the other person what they should do, or sharing your expertise and experience hoping they adhere to your advice?

This snippet revisits Dan's conversation with Kent Grayson, an associate professor and researcher at the Kellogg School of Management and an expert on trust and authenticity in the marketplace. Kent and Dan unpack an analogy that demonstrates why competence in and of itself is not enough to build trust. To hear the full episode, scroll back to episode 96: Evolving Trust with Kent Grayson.

It's no secret: many salespeople dread participating in RFPs (request for proposals). Many feel they are unfair, unclear, inefficient, and otherwise difficult. However, with more businesses adopting RFPs as part of their decision-making process, it's crucial that sales professionals know how to approach them.

More importantly, the problem may be less about the process and more about your mindset.

In this episode of Breaking Sales, Dan and Pam discuss adopting a mindset that will help you to disrupt RFPs, and what tools and tactics can be used to help organizations in their decision-making during the RFP process.

While control provides us with a sense of comfort and security, it doesn't benefit us to keep an iron grip on every aspect of our lives. If you want to create something new, different, or special in your life, you'll have to learn to embrace things that you can't control and trust what you can.

In this episode of Breaking Sales, Kristie and I discuss different perspectives on control, and how to develop a healthy mindset around it. The conversation also explores how trying to control too much can cloud our judgment and prevent us from making good objective decisions.

How do we make sure we remain accountable to ourselves and our commitments when faced with discomfort?

Continually evolving ourselves and our mindset is essential to propelling our lives, careers, and businesses forward. Sustainable change requires a steady adherence to processes and principles that may sometimes be uncomfortable, but encourage long-term personal growth.

In this episode of Breaking Sales, Pam and Kristie explore what it takes to be accountable to oneself, and why this practice is one of the most important contributors to high performance.

Language is one of the single most important factors in shaping human behavior and psychology. The words we choose dictate how we think, how we behave, and what experiences we have, positive or negative. How do we use our words to control our own thoughts and approach new situations with clarity and confidence?

In this episode of Breaking Sales, Dan continues his discussion with Dr. George S. Everly Jr., a highly accomplished psychologist, researcher, and author. We discuss the relationship between language and psychology: How self-talk helps us find courage and strengthen our tolerance for rejection or failure. We also discuss how questions help build trust and create new possibilities.

High performers often cite their routines and sleep habits as essential ingredients to improving cognitive ability, productivity, and other aspects of performance. It's no different when we think of having meaningful conversations as leaders, teammates, or sales professionals. Powerful communication is no accident, and it can be learned.

In this episode of Breaking Sales, Dan continues his conversation with Dr. George S. Everly, Jr., a prolific researcher and author. George and Dan discuss how we can maximize our conversations and interactions with strong cognitive function through routine, sleep, exercise, and support.

Have you ever wondered what it would take to add some cognitive and behavioral horsepower to your routines and activities? Or what really influences the choices that you make?

In this episode of Breaking Sales, Dan sits down with Dr. George S. Everly, Jr., a highly accomplished psychologist, researcher, and author whose work spans multiple scientific disciplines. The conversation explores the neuroscience behind decision-making, reframing your mindset to be more conducive to what you want to achieve, and what you can do to maximize your cognitive power.

How has honest but difficult feedback helped shape the individual members of the Lappin180 coaching team for the better? In this behind-the-scenes episode, Dan, Pam, and Kristie share the stories behind the toughest feedback they have ever received, and how it has helped them learn, grow, and achieve better outcomes. This conversation highlights why feedback is so essential to personal and professional growth at all stages of life.

Our innate instinct to label things as bad may have worked to protect us 20,000 years ago, but it often works against us in today's modern world. How are people that work in the most high-stakes roles able to keep their composure despite the elevated sense of urgency?

In this episode of Breaking Sales, Dan shares how his recent conversations with pediatricians treating the sickest children have continued to shape his thinking around the power of detachment.

Dan and Pam discuss how these extreme examples of using detachment can be very useful in helping us stay calm and poised in difficult conversations. They also examine why we label potential threats through the lens of evolutionary psychology, and why this runs counter to the demands of today's conversations and experiences.