One of the moments when a sales cycle can be tough for everyone is when you start getting to conversations about numbers. It can be any set of numbers — results data, sales numbers, project timelines, reference numbers or prices — especially prices. If one person in the conversation is unable to convey what the numbers mean, it can turn into a downward spiral of awkwardness.

As promised, here’s a list of perspectives and activities you probably engage in and should stop if you ever want to truly compete with the big players in your space:

It’s a well-worn path to comment on the most innovative, captivating, funniest Super Bowl advertisements each year, so I apologize in advance for not only being late with my perspective but potentially redundant as well. I thought this year’s Super Bowl had some innovative ads and, as usual, some real bone-headed ones too. (I can’t resist. Audi did a commercial with vampires promoting their headlights??? Seriously!?!? You want me to plunk down $42,000 because it’s got nice headlights? And you want to use the Twilight characters to motivate me? Morons.)