While debriefing a salesperson's evaluation there was an indication he had a number of Non-Supportive Beliefs. Non-Supportive beliefs have a way of neutralizing a salesperson's ability to perform correctly. In the case of this particular salesperson, he believed he could not get to the decision maker because the receptionist was not allowed to give out names of employees or departments. His actual statement was ‘I can't get their names; they won't give them to me."

The key words in his statements that disempowered him were I can't and they won't.

When a salesperson says they can't or they won't they are done and there is no place for them to go except fold up their tent go home.

What this sales person should have said is I do not know how yet. This new statement is supportive because it opens the door to opportunity, exploration and new strategies.

I was once faced with the situation of finding a key executive in a fortune 500 company. I went to the web site and looked for any information on key executives in addition to board members. I also went on Google and looked for news about the company and found an article written by the President of European Operations. I called the corporate office in the United States asked to speak with president. I was given the president's executive secretary. When we spoke I told her the reason for my call. She in turn gave me the name of an executive in the United States who referred me to another executive who referred me to another. After fourteen referrals to people in the organization I was finally able to speak with the individual I needed to talk with. During the process I collected the names of fourteen executives and asked them if I could send them my newsletter which resulted in nine e-mail addresses. This was all driven by one of favorite mantras, "I don't know how yet, but I know I can figure it out."