Solve your client’s problem – and you have a business.

Sounds right. That’s how it works. Does it?

Now imagine your favorite wine shop. You’re a wine salesman who just walked in with a bag full of bottles to taste, a suitcase with pricing sheets, shelf talkers, and brochures. You got a sales goal to hit every single month. You also have numerous new placements to make, new vintages to sell, different brands (often completely unknown) to introduce. The pressure is on.

No empty spots in a desperate need of filling with new products, nor free space waiting for new arrivals.

Your client doesn't have an obvious need or problem...

If not, maybe you should start! No, I don’t mean giving them a bunch of toys and puppies. I mean motivating them the same way you would if you were encouraging a child.

Remember how around 2 years of age, just as they mastered walking the stairs without falling on their tush – suddenly everything became “I will do it! Me! Myself!”?  From simple things like eating with a fork, peeling a banana (yes, even in the car!) to tying shoelaces. The progress is fast and enormous.

Sure, you can do it for them much faster and more efficiently.

But will your child ever feel the same sense of pride overcoming the obstacle and accomplishing the task? Would they learn?

They say, "show, don’t tell".

I say, "Ask, and let them solve it."

During my earlier days in wine sales, every once in a while, sales managers came up with a genius idea to boost sales. (When I say genius, imagine Bill Murray saying it with a smirk). They called it Fridays BLITZ. The irony it sounded like bliss!

It was never a...