Sales Maven

Sales Maven Entrepreneurs and small business owners from a wide range of disciplines hire Nikki to show them how

Sales Maven founder and best selling author, Nikki Rausch, is an award-winning sales executive with 23+ years of sales experience selling to organizations such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett Packard, Seattle Public Schools, & NASA. By combining her sales experience with her master certification in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Nikki teaches business professionals ho

w to close more business. Her simple, yet powerful techniques allow for authentic conversations without being pushy or fearing rejection. Her two books, Six-Word Lessons on Influencing with Grace: 100 Lessons to Genuinely Connect with Colleagues, Friends, Family, and Lovers and Buying Signals, How To Spot The Green Light & Increase Your Sales are both available on Amazon.

08/18/2026

What do you do when a prospect asks for a proposal, yet won't tell you their budget?

It's a common challenge when selling consulting services to corporate clients.

You have the discovery call and ask about budget. You may even offer a typical price range to help guide the conversation. And still… no number.

Then they ask you to send a proposal.

Now what?

Before you start guessing what they can afford or putting pressure on yourself to create the "perfect" proposal, there's an important mindset shift to make:
"The proposal isn't the finish line. It's an invitation to the next conversation."

When a corporate prospect can't or won't provide a budget, you can still create a proposal that gives them something concrete to respond to and use their response to get closer to the right solution.

This week on The Sales Maven Show, Nikki breaks down exactly how to handle this situation, including how many options to include in your proposal, how to structure your pricing, and what to do after you send it.

If you sell to corporate clients, this is one you'll want to tune into.

08/12/2026

What turns a presentation from informative into something that actually generates curiosity and potential clients?

Expertise matters because it establishes credibility and gives you the foundation for what you teach.

And according to this week’s guest expert, Carol Cox of Speaking Your Brand, that’s only the beginning.

When you layer your expertise with a strong core idea, thought leadership, and pieces of your personal journey, your audience gets to experience more than what you know.

They get to understand how you think, what you believe, and why your work matters which creates curiosity about you and your work and how you can support them.

That’s where those all-important sales seeds start getting planted naturally.

In this week’s episode of The Sales Maven Show, Carol joins Nikki to talk about thought leadership, lead generation, storytelling, and how to create presentations that do more than showcase your expertise.

If speaking is part of your business (or you want it to be) tune in to the full conversation wherever you listen to podcasts!

08/05/2026

Have you ever finished a sales conversation and realized you never actually invited the person to take the next step?

Many sales conversations stall because the prospect isn't sure what happens next.

Instead of hoping they'll ask, use Invitation Language to guide the conversation forward.

Simple questions like:
✔️ "Is this something you'd like to move forward with?"
✔️ "Is this something we should have a deeper discussion about?"
✔️ "Is this something you'd like to get signed up for?"

These aren't pushy questions, they're invitations and when you invite, your prospect can say yes, say no, ask a question, or share an objection.

Every response gives you the clarity to know what to do next.

You don't have to guess, just have to ask.

What's your favorite way to invite a prospect to the next step?

08/04/2026

Have you ever caught yourself trying to figure out what a prospect really meant?

"They haven't responded... maybe they're not interested."
"They said they needed to think about it... maybe the price is too high."

It's easy to fill in the blanks with assumptions.

The challenge is, assumptions rarely move a sales conversation forward.

Instead, try this simple framework:
➡️ Ask.
➡️ Invite.
➡️ Test.
➡️ Gather information.
➡️ Decide what to do next.

When you replace guessing with curiosity, you gain clarity which leads to more confident sales conversations and that's relationship selling at its best.

What's one assumption you've caught yourself making in a sales conversation?

07/29/2026

Have you ever felt guilty for wanting more?
More success, income maybe even freedom.

For many people, that feeling didn't start in adulthood.

In this week's episode of The Sales Maven Show, Sarah Walton shares a powerful perspective on how many of us were taught from a young age to seek approval, minimize our needs, and avoid making others uncomfortable.

Those beliefs don't disappear when we start a business. They often show up when we think about things like raising our prices, growing our income, asking for opportunities, or dreaming bigger.

One simple question can uncover what's really happening:
"Who am I to have that?"

Sarah offers a thought-provoking response that may completely shift how you think about success.

Have you ever noticed a belief from your past influencing the way you think about your future?

07/28/2026

What if the path to abundance has been there all along, you just couldn't see it?

Sometimes the problem isn’t that there’s no path forward, it’s that you’re standing in the dark, trying to make a decision without being able to see all the possibilities available to you.

In this week’s episode of The Sales Maven Show, Sarah Walton shares a powerful way to think about wealth consciousness: like putting on night vision goggles.

The opportunities, ideas, and next steps may have been there all along. Once you can see them clearly, taking action becomes much easier.

The people around you may still think the path looks risky or unclear because they’re viewing it from a different perspective. That doesn’t automatically mean your path is wrong.

Sometimes clarity comes from learning to trust what you can see, even when others cannot see it yet.

Have you ever had a moment when a path suddenly became clear to you?

07/22/2026

How many times have you spiraled after getting business feedback from someone?

In this week's episode of The Sales Maven Show, learn a mindset shift that has taught me and many of my clients to pause before making emotional business decisions.

Feedback can be incredibly valuable. Yet not every comment deserves to change your strategy.

Sometimes the most important thing you can do is create enough space to evaluate the feedback before reacting to it.

Listen to this week's episode to learn how the "Earn the Right Filter" can help you protect your confidence while making smarter business decisions.

07/21/2026

How much influence should one person's opinion have over your business?

It only takes one comment to make you question your offer, your messaging, or even your entire strategy.

Before you know it, you're thinking, "Should I change everything?"

In this week's episode of The Sales Maven Show, learn a simple mindset shift that's made better business decisions:
Instead of asking, "Should I change everything?" ask yourself, "Has this feedback earned the right to change my strategy?"

That one question creates the space to respond thoughtfully instead of reacting emotionally.

Not all feedback deserves equal weight. The key is learning how to discern which feedback helps you grow and which feedback is simply one person's perspective.

What's the best piece of feedback you've ever received, and why did it stick with you?

07/17/2026

Have you ever noticed that two people can say the exact same sentence, and one instantly sounds more confident?

The difference isn't the words, it's the way they're delivered.

One of the quickest ways to project confidence is by paying attention to your vocal inflection. If your voice naturally rises at the end of a statement, it can unintentionally make it sound like you're asking for confirmation instead of speaking with certainty.

This doesn't mean changing your personality or becoming someone you're not. It's simply a communication skill that helps your expertise come across as confidently as you already feel it.

The good news is that it's something you can practice, and once you become aware of it, you'll start hearing it everywhere.

Have you ever listened to a recording of yourself speaking and noticed something you didn't realize you were doing?

07/16/2026

Have you ever heard someone say something during a sales conversation that instantly made you feel talked down to?

Most of the time, it isn't intentional and is usually a small phrase that creates distance instead of connection.

For example, saying "What you don't know is..." may seem harmless, yet it can unintentionally sound like you're assuming what someone knows or doesn't know.

A small shift in your language can completely change how your message is received.

Instead of telling someone what they don't know, try introducing the information in a way that invites curiosity rather than making assumptions.

What's one phrase you've heard in a sales conversation that immediately made you tune out?

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