Salespeople often blame factors such as product deficiencies or price for lost sales, but most selling opportunities are lost when the buyer decides not to make a decision, writes David Brock. To address this, salespeople should focus on helping customers work through the buying process and feel more confident about making a decision, Brock concludes.

Innovation doesn't always require completely new ideas, as sales leaders can often innovate simply by taking ideas from other industries and applying them to sales, writes David Brock. Sales leaders should regularly consider other business functions, study other industries and discuss ideas with individuals outside of sales in order to find new concepts that can be applied to sales activities, Brock writes.

Managers should regularly conduct reviews with their sales teams, but reviews can quickly become a waste of time if they occur too often or are used as a way to micromanage every aspect of the sales process, writes David Brock. "When we change our perspective to a coaching and process focus, we have to conduct fewer reviews and have a greater impact in those we do conduct," Brock writes.

Forms and templates can be critical to the success of sales teams, but not in the way many sales leaders think, writes David Brock. While sales managers and reps see entering data into forms and templates as a thankless chore, the proper use of these tools can greatly improve sales, Brock writes.