The term, “cinch by the inch” generally refers to a difficult task. If you do a little at a time the task is more manageable. That saying popped into my head one morning as I was walking along the beach with my wife, but for an entirely different reason. When we first put our feet […]

How can there be scarcity when the economy is in the dumps? Scarcity does not have to only refer to supply, but can also apply to opportunities. If people think they may miss an opportunity, they will act. I have been considering buying a house for investment because prices are so low and I do […]

I was speaking to a financial society recently and was asked how I handled setbacks during my career. It was a great question and I thought that some of you might benefit from my response. I was with RCA 35 years ago when they actually manufactured computers and I had just been promoted to program […]

Which type of selling do you do most? Comparison selling or desire selling? Most salespeople have not considered the difference and others still do not even know what I am talking about. If you are not very good at desire selling then you are in for a long hard road during this economic downturn. Let […]

I have just completed a 360 assessment for one of my clients which required me to interview almost 100 salespeople. I was struck by the number of them that were on a “personal best” pace. Many told me that they would earn from 10% to 90% more this year than last year. What? How can […]

I was reading an article this morning by John Maxwell, one of my favorite authors, and in it he referred to a story about John Wooden the great basketball coach. Wooden was talking to a player that was not all there at practice and only giving about a 60% effort. He told the athlete that […]

Pardon the reference to poker, but I am working on my skills getting ready for my foray into the 09 World Series Of Poker, but I digress. We all know that referrals are worth their weight in gold, but how and why do we get them (or not). In the last two weeks I have […]

I can’t believe this, but I have not done a Ray’s Rule on the WITY. It is the single most powerful tool I have ever developed. Most of you have been to one of my seminars or have read my book and already know its value. This rule is for the rest of you. How […]

I do a speech called, “Fail Your Way to Success” and my opening line is, “What failure brought you to this place at this time?” My definition of failure includes any setback, caused by you on not. Failure is not a person. It is an outcome. You are not a failure. What you tried to […]

In an earlier edition of Ray’s Rules, I discussed Move Toward/Move Away as it relates to human behavior. I said that everyone is motivated by desire for pleasure or avoidance of pain. I also said that pain avoidance was a stronger motivator. That is why I use deficit questions to uncover latent pain because the […]