Selling to an idiot isn’t difficult as long as your inner idiot is not in charge. Don’t blame your idiot customer if you can’t close the sale. Selling to a genius will be a disaster if your inner idiot is in charge. Because of the natural power advantage a current or prospective customer (idiot or genius) has over the sales professional, superior knowledge, ability to communicate, persistence, and passion are among the requirements needed to bridge the gap. Practicing the specific skills described in this and every other book ever written on the art and craft of salesmanship will sharpen your scalpel and put you in the driver’s seat, no matter how bright or dull your customers are, or, more importantly, how bright or dull you are on any given day.

Tough customers are nothing more than a reminder that you have more to learn. You have more to learn about them and more to learn about yourself. Learning about one does no good without learning about the other. At some point and at some level your inner idiot and your customer’s inner idiot share the same space in the universe. That’s the place from which to begin applying all of the natural and acquired talent and knowledge you continue to accumulate and refine. Many times, the tougher that customers are to close, the more they’re likely to buy. They just want to know if you’re really serious. Just how serious you are is up to you.

Culled from Introduction to the book "How to Sell to an Idiot" by John Hoover & Bill Sparkman