Jill Konrath

What a brilliant sales strategy! That's exactly what came to mind when I saw Rick Santorum's new television ad. But before you watch it, a little background:

If you follow American politics, you know that Mitt Romney's status as the "presumptive" Republican presidential nominee recently came to a screeching halt. After sweeping the recent caucuses in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota, suddenly Santorum was surging in the polls.

But just a few weeks earlier, Newt Gingrich had been the frontrunner. That is, until Romney's super PACs spent $15 million in Florida and flooded the airwaves with negative ads. This onslaught nearly collapsed Gingrich's campaign.

So Santorum's team decided to launch a preemptive strike in Michigan, the newest battleground state. They knew their candidate would be attacked on all fronts. Plus, having just a pittance of Romney's budget, they knew they couldn't fight him head on.

What did they do...

Never, in all my years in sales, did I ever think I'd write an article on this topic. But recently, I've been reading some interesting studies that show that liberals and conservatives have some real, genetically hard-wired differences. For example:

• An Italian study showed that negative stimuli is more likely to automatically grab the attention of conservatives as compared to liberals.

• Numerous studies have shown that differences in threat perceptions are significant predictor of political attitudes. Conservatives perceive more threats and react more strongly to them.

When I apply this data to the field of sales, it leads to some interesting conclusions:

• If I'm selling to conservatives,...

Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots threw a long "Hail Mary" pass as a last-ditch effort to win the Super Bowl. But, instead of connecting with one of their receivers, it got batted down in the ensuring melee.

Of course, this got me thinking about sales and football. I actually know a whole lot more about the game than you might expect.

My husband coached two state champion high school teams and also was a Big 10 coach. My son played Division 1AA football as a wide receiver.

Football is a game of strategy. Savvy coaches and players spend hours analyzing their competitors. Each week they design new plays to capitalize on their own strengths and the opposing team's weaknesses.

They never, ever count on Hail Mary passes to win games. It's an act of desperation. Their final chance.

The game of sales isn't any different from football. To be effective, you need to realize that your biggest competitor is...

Have you ever been called in to meet by a prospect that's all excited about making the change? They're busy meeting with vendors, looking at all their options. And, they want you to get a proposal to them right away -- or to do a presentation.

Stop, stop, stop! If you don't fully understand the why behind all this activity, you may be spinning your wheels for nothing.

1. Ask them, "Why, at this particular moment in time, did you decide that change was essential?" Find out what they say. Does it make sense?

2. Ask them again, "What's the business case for the change?" If your solution costs a lot or is tough to implement, they need to have a pretty...