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Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith Become an Author

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When thinking about the word earn, what images come to your mind? Do you see someone hard at work toiling in the fields? Or maybe you see someone in a manufacturing assembly line placing the correct piece in the right location.

Another question for you, what emotions are you feeling when you see these images in your mind's eye? For many, the word earn generates positive emotions that provide a sense of accomplishment, a job well done. For some the phrase “8 for 8” may come to mind, eight hours of work for eight hours of pay.

Now think about the word close. Do you see a door shutting or a manager shutting down discussion regarding a certain business issue? Again, what emotions do you associate with this word, close? Are the emotions positive or negative?

What I truly do not understand is why business and sales professionals do not use the word, earn, specific to gaining a commitment from a new customer. Instead what I hear as a sales coach to business building speaker as the most common sales challenge is "How do I close the sale?" When I hear or read of this sales skill "close the sale," I literally shiver because in my world, the last thing I would ever want to do is to close off, shut down, any potential customer.

The words that we think, read, hear, speak and write have a powerful affect on the results that we seek be they organizational, professional or personal. There are a plethora of books that reinforce the power within words such as Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich to What to Say When You Talk to Your Self by Shad Helmstetter to Get Out of Your Own Way by Robert Cooper.

During the last several years, as I have worked to improve both my marketing and sales skills expertise, I have come to realize that to increase business results is an earning process not a closing one and comprises these 7 earning steps:

1. I need to earn the attention.
2. I need to earn the trust.
3. I need to earn the relationship.
4. I need to earn the appointment.
5. I need to earn the right to ask questions
6. I need to earn the sale.
7. I need to earn the referrals.

Dr. Norman Vincent Pearl once said "Change your thoughts, change your world." What I know now to be true is that I by "Changing my words, I improve my results."

Earn is a word I now cherish and use in my daily thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. Consider replacing this word in your daily sales skills and behaviors and let me know if how much you increase sales.

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