Month: July 2025

The Foundation and the Heart of High Probability Selling

by Carl Ingalls, with significant contributions from ChatGPT

I asked ChatGPT, “What is the foundation of High Probability Selling, what is the heart of it, and what is the difference?”

Here is a summary of its answer.

The foundation is the mindset and belief system that underlies all behavior in the HPS process.  The foundation is internal—your beliefs, attitudes, and approach to selling.

The heart is the core practice—what makes HPS different in action.  The heart is external—the actual behavior and methods you use with prospects.

Without the foundation, the heart of HPS could become just another technique for manipulation.

Without the heart, the foundation remains a good philosophy, but doesn’t translate into real-world sales behavior.

Together, they form a system that is both honest and effective.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this.  Please add your comments below, or use our Contact Us page.

When the Interviewer Says, “Sell Me This …”

Suppose you are applying for a sales job, and suppose you are a practitioner of High Probability Selling (HPS).

What would you do if the interviewer told you to sell them their laptop?

Here is a clever and entertaining situation and response found on Tumblr:

I was at a job interview today when the manager handed me a laptop and said: “I want you to try to sell this to me.“

So I put it under my arm, left the building and went home.

Eventually he called me and said: “Bring my laptop back now.“

I said: “$200 and it’s yours.“

Here is a response that I believe is a little more consistent with the principles of HPS, although not as entertaining.

Applicant: “Do you want this laptop?”

Manager: “No.”

Applicant: “Ok. I only sell to people who want what I am offering. Since that’s not you, I’ll find someone who wants it.”

Manager: “Convince me. Talk me into it.”

Applicant: “That’s not the way I work.”

Applicant: “What do you want to do?”

What principles of HPS apply here? Please put your thoughts in the comments, or use the Contact Us page.

Discovering Beliefs About Selling That May Be Holding You Back

Black and white portrait of a man with curly hair and a mustache, accompanied by a quote from Mark Twain about knowledge and trouble.

HPS Community Forum Discussion, Thu 3 July 2025 at 9:30 AM (USA Eastern Time)

During our last HPS Forum, one of our participants listed NINE separate sales training systems and trainers he had experienced in over a dozen years of his selling career.  There are over 70 sales training systems on the FIRST PAGE of a Google search for sales training. 

Most, if not all of them take the same general approach to selling; different tactics, motivation, processes, gurus, and psychological approaches abound.  All of them claim to be the end-all-be–all solution to everyone’s selling challenges and woes.  On the surface they are different, but underneath all the rhetoric and clever words; down deep they are all the same.  They are all founded on unexamined beliefs and thoughts from over 100 years ago.

The one premise that is sacrosanct and is “known” to all is that selling is about getting someone to buy, generally something the salesperson wants to sell but the prospect doesn’t want to buy.  Hardly anyone examines those principles and beliefs, and those who do question them are shut down by their managers and trainers.

The few who survive to transcend those beliefs become top producers and are no longer allowed near the group for fear that their perspectives will somehow damage the organization’s precious fragile status quo belief system.  They focus their time on the people who are ready to buy and do business.  But for heaven’s sake, don’t start thinking like them and scaring the rest of us…

Many of us, myself included, have been tempted by the lure of the irresistible offer… the no-brainer solution… the deal no one can turn down.  It’s not some kind of mass gullibility pandemic.  It’s unexamined beliefs and thoughts that keep us from a profitable outcome.

On this week’s HPS Forum we will uncover and examine some of these beliefs and thoughts that hold all of us back, waste our time and lives, or frustrate us far more than necessary.

We will, for an hour or so, stop chasing the dream pitch and the offer no one can refuse, and methodically take a real look at our collective and individual beliefs about selling, and share some ways to consider to change our perspectives, and therefore our results for the better.

Notes for the call itself:

  • Get back to the safety of Groupthink.  If there even were people who wanted to buy something, then there would be no need for a salesperson, right?
  • Nobody BUYS insurance; it HAS TO BE SOLD.  Everyone knows that.  And nobody (in their “right” mind) questions that because it’s so universally true.
  • All buyers are liars.  Prospects never tell you the truth.  Clients ALWAYS keep you from knowing what they can afford.
  • If there are no objections, then you’re obviously not working hard enough.  You can’t afford to leave money on the table.

Zoom Details Below

When:  Thursday 3 July 2025 at 9:30 AM (USA Eastern Time)
Google Calendar Link

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