A recent study shows that if you want to look trustworthy, you should also look happy.  What's the catch?  Looking happy doesn't necessarily make you look competent.  Kurt and Steve discuss this study and how persuaders can walk the line to acheive maximum trust and competence at the same time.

On this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss recent obervations they've made about Negotiaton's Dirty Deeds (yes, they are done dirt cheap).  When your prospects resort to infantile tactics that have worked for them since childhood, you have to tactfully let your prospect know "that doesn't work here" without jeopordizing the potential business arranagement. 

Finally, Steve throws a sleazy real estate developer under the bus for this episodes persuasion blunder. 

In persuasion, there are a few words and phrases that a lot of people say, but that they don't really mean.  In a recent article on Inc.com, 11 of these terrible sayings are reviewed.  It's an entertaining article and Kurt and Steve discuss it in detail.

Have you ever received an annoying voicemail from a salesperson?  Or better yet...have you ever LEFT an annoying voicemail?  We all have.  Many think leaving voicemials is pointless.  Otheres will leave them for days and not get any results.  On this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss how to leave an effective voicemail that will get your prospects to call you back. 

When it comes to persuading others (through owning a business, church, non-profit), it's all about networking.  Anyone who has ever been successful can attribute at least a part of that success to meeting the right people at the right time.  But what if you hate talking to strangers?  Can you be an effective networker?  A recent article published in the Harvard Business Review discusses this very issue. 

On this episode, Kurt and Steve answer an email from a listener who wants to learn how to ask more effective questions.  Effective questions should move the conversation further and bring the prospects pain and or motivation into clearer focus.  They should make the prospect feel in control while the persuader is actually the one calling the shots.  There are a number of ways to accomplish this and Kurt and Steve discuss them in detail on this episode!

If you're like most people, you don't really enjoy paying taxes.  A study in the UK recently discovered how to vastly increase the rate of collected taxes, just by adding one simple sentence to collection notices.  Kurt and Steve discuss this on the show.  You can find an article from CNN Money here.

Many say there is such thing as "beginners luck" in sales.  But is it luck?  Or is that beginners haven't learned some of the habits that plague veterans?  On this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss three of the key mistakes that verteran sales people make.  Getting back to basics and avoiding these mistakes will help you see an almost immediate increase in your sales results!