5 Things I Learn About Sales Doing 1,300 Episodes It’s been a long and amazing journey for The Sales Evangelist. Content creation and podcasting have been the core of TSE and after 1,300 episodes, there are several lessons that Donald has learned. This episode will be about all the top lessons that have come from producing The Sales Evangelist since starting seven years ago. TSE has now been able to reach halfway around the world and has been mentioned and recognized in some of the most recognized business publications such as Entrepreneur and Forbes.     We all have moments in our lives where we give up an idea. Donald is grateful that he didn’t give up on podcasting even though he came close. Having TSE has allowed him to serve people in sales and by doing so they are better able to navigate the struggles they face in their industry. He summarizes these top lessons in Five Sales Principles:   You can’t sell higher than your level of belief. Nothing happens until you prospect. Value is in the eye of the beholder. Zig when everyone is zagging. Swing for the fences.   You can’t sell any higher than your level of belief  Henry Ford has a very famous quote: “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.” Wayne Gretzky said it this way: “You miss 100% of the shots that you do not take.”  These words all point to the first principle. Donald started this podcast with a desire that later turned into a belief. He began the podcast in April 2013 but realized early on that it was difficult. Luckily, Jared, one of Donald’s friends, invited Donald to his podcast. That experience made Donald believe that he could do podcasts as well and served to remind him how much he loved talking to people himself.    In sales, you cannot succeed until you believe it. The same is true in life. You need to visualize your success. In sales, visualize your success before it even happens. Believe that you can get into pitch with people, close a deal, and be a great seller.  Your belief will cause you to act, lead you down a path of opportunities, and open up a social circle of the people you need to be exposed to. Donald suggests that when you go out to a prospect,  believe you will contact someone. That belief and action will lead you to the inevitable success that you desire.  Nothing happens until you prospect  Nothing ever happens until you prospect. The TSE podcasts have invited many successful people to interview and one of the common traits among these successful people is that they took action. This is true for prospecting. Nothing happens until you do something. Donald was working with a client who just released a program; however, it turned out that people didn’t know about her new program.  Even when she announced it to her community, no one actually knew of it. Donald suggested she reach out to her community and to talk to them.   It wasn’t until this client started to prospect and call people that she was able to meet her goals. She was actually able to close a deal. This happened because she asked! Too often, sales reps get timid and get worried that people will get mad at them. There’s no truth in that.    The more time that we spend on calling and prospecting people, the more that we’re going to see success. Even an hour or two of dedicated time for prospecting will give you success. Prospecting is not just jumping back and forth doing research. Prospecting is making phone calls, reaching out to people on LinkedIn, or sending out emails to people two hours per day, uninterrupted. Whether you are prospecting in person or calling a client, set a goal, and follow-through. Send out personalized emails in your dedicated prospecting time every day to see success.    Spending 2 hours of dedicated time prospecting correctly guarantees success. #SalesProspecting   Value is in the eye of the beholder A sales rep cannot dictate what value is. The buyer must be the one to dictate, validate, or believe that your produc