Sales trainer Jim Meisenheimer has a new spin on Neil Rackham's SPIN Selling.

Meisenheimer suggests you consider S.P.I.N. as four pieces to the selling puzzle:

S = Shrug it off"Right now most of the world's news is negative," says Meisenheimer. In the USA the real estate market is hurting, financial markets are in chaos, and just when you think gas prices can't go any higher - they go higher. Shrug it off. That's right, dismiss the bad news or it will eventually consume and overwhelm you."

"If the news gets you down, do something that picks you back up. You can't afford to be down and negative when you're working with your sales prospects and customers. Change your routine. Exercise more. Read motivational books. And stay away from negative people because it's amazing how contagious negativity can be."

P = Preparation and practice
"Inject a little preparation and practice into every selling day," says Meisenheimer. "For example, when you're planning sales calls for the next day, you can prepare several questions in writing. While you're driving to the account practice them. If you don't practice what you're going to say before you get to the account you end up practicing on your sales prospects and customers. Nothing could be worse!"

I = Initiative
"The initiative I'm referring to is personal initiative," says Meisenheimer. "This word covers all aspects of professional selling. When times are tough it requires that you become tougher."

"Doing things the way you've always done them will not differentiate you from your competition. Take the initiative to learn more about personal salesmanship and selling skills. Literally - hit the books."

"Take the initiative to pick up the telephone and schedule more appointments. Take the initiative to allocate more face-to-face time calling on sales prospects which represent new business opportunities for you." And take the initiative on every sales call to exceed your sales prospect's and/or customer's expectations."

N = New
"Focus on what's new, not what's problematic," says Meisenheimer. "Get excited when you're talking about what's new to your sales prospects and customers. If you're excited, they'll become excited."

"It's not easy being positive when all the news is so negative," he explains. "You have the ultimate control over your thoughts. So choose optimism over pessimism, positive over negative, sunny versus gloomy, and winning over losing."

"You'll be glad you did and so will your customers. Growing your business, increasing your sales, and making more money is easy when you put the right S.P.I.N. on it."

Former U.S. Army Officer Jim Meisenheimer is an author, speaker and sales trainer with years of successful selling experience. He publishes the bi-weekly No-Brainer Selling Tips Newsletter, which is packed full of information to help you win bigger sales and KO the competition. Learn more at www.meisenheimer.com