Last year, I started taking my two sons Toby and Nathan to Aikido classes.

Aikido is a Japanese martial art based on diverting an attacker’s energy to resolve conflict.

I’ve just picked up Aikido again, bringing my kids along, after taking a break from it for a year or so.

As I’ve begun to re-acquaint myself with the techniques and the philosophy of the power of diffusing conflict, more and more similarities are emerging to my philosophy about selling.

You see, if you’re selling the old way “going for the close” and “playing the numbers game”, you can’t help but to be create conflict with the very people you are hoping to sell too.

Sales pressure and the reaction to it, rejection, is triggered by the person initiating the sales relationship.

The more you use old-school sales techniques and sales thinking, the faster your prospect’s guard goes up, and then you hit what I call “the wall”. It’s a painful place to be.

And if that’s the only way you’ve been trained to sell, then it’s not your fault.

Because all you know, is what you know.
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