Tough times call for tough talk

"You need to develop a resilient mind, and accept that not everyone wants what you've got. You need to overcome that fear of failure. And you also need to avoid paralysis by focusing on what I call 'the little picture.' Believe in your own value."

In today's market, Norman says that people want to deal with someone they know and trust, but he warned against using some of the very cheesy tactics he's seen at work in different fields — the car salesman who kept a bible on his desk, but admitted he'd never read it, or realtors who invariably always seem to have 20-year-old pictures of themselves on their business cards.

All of these upstanding notions are great, he says, but unless you're also willing to get out there and work hard and absolutely believe in what you do, it can all fall flat. Believing in yourself, becoming the go-to expert and authority on financial solutions, and then working on communicating that message will go further than any other convoluted sales idea.

As an example, Norman has crafted what he calls the "Waffle House speech," an ultra-simplified version of the "elevator speech," which both encapsulates your value and helps to entice potential clients to seek out your expertise.

"By determining your value and the ultimate benefit you provide, something like 'I help people protect their investments,' and creating an introduction that makes people ask for more, you will go a long way to establish yourself as an expert."

Norman also had some pure practicalities to increasing one's daily efficiency. Rather than checking e-mails for an hour every morning, reset your e-mail program to bring your "to-do" list up first thing every day.

Ultimately, Norman says the key is to focus on building your sales skills, starting at the beginning with every single customer, asking a lot of questions and always remembering to listen very carefully. He admitted that during an earlier career, he wasn't particularly skilled at the listening part, and a group of employees he supervised helped change his mind on that issue.

Finally, whenever the opportunity arises, try to close the sale rather than allowing an open-ended, "let me think about it" answer turn into a lost sale. "If you've done all that work, you owe it to the customer to find a solution and close the sale. You have an obligation to do so."