I don’t think that I can remember the last time I ate a nut out of a shell.  I have more than one nut-cracker in my house, but I cannot recall the last time I purchased or ate a nut that wasn’t shelled for me already.  And, to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I saw a nut-shell.  Yet, salespeople and other people presenting to me constantly use this phrase.

The point here is not that nobody looks at the shells of nuts anymore, its that it is maddening to me to hear salespeople or anyone for that matter using tired and meaningless cliche’s like this one in their pitches.

Happy New Year.  The new year can bring about positive and negative feelings for a salesperson.  Its a great new start to a year, and a new chance to crush it.  But… it also probably means, you lost your accelerator that you were enjoying from crushing it last year, and now you have to start all over.  You are on an even playing ground with other salespeople, when you were enjoying being on top.  If you missed your mark last year, perhaps this is your chance to shine and make sure that you beat your numbers this year.