I absolutely love observing sales interactions between salespeople and their prospects. Indeed, much of my personal learning about selling has occurred because of my passion for this type of observation.

Rarely do I see a salesperson engage prospects to a level of intensity that will propel the sales relationship into a category of a high probability sale. Most interactions between salespeople and their prospects lie at the shallowest depths, where trite language and ineffective sales techniques live.

The better you engage your prospects, the more you will sell. That's why I'm on a mission to teach people how to engage their prospects in a more authentic way, and with increased depth and richness.

But individual salespeople aren't the only ones who can engage their prospects and customers. Companies do that, too. Some do it well and some don't. Companies that emotionally engage their customers and potential customers have a much higher likelihood of being distinctive in their market.

I interviewed Martin Lindstrom, author of "Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy" for my sales training podcast series. Martin is a global brand futurist whose constant travels around the globe allow him to work with some of the world's biggest companies on branding and customer engagement.

The studies in his book are fascinating. Listen to the podcast interview with Martin Lindstrom at http://podcasts.sellingtoconsumers.com/2009/02/23/004-interview-with-mar...