You know how it goes. Everyone on your senior leadership team gets along when the money is flowing, and everything falls apart when it's not.

When times get tight, the CFO wants to blame the COO and the director of marketing just wants to remind everyone that they have an MBA.

It gets ugly – and it's not good for business.

It was 1989. Robert B. Cialdini was a 43-year-old college professor and self-proclaimed "patsy" – he answered every phone call, even during dinner, and patiently listened to the telemarketers on the other end of the line. And then he would inevitably buy something.

But every time he made a purchase, he felt taken advantage of, embarrassed, and utterly disinterested in ever buying anything from that company ever again.

Smoothly functioning sales teams are great... but ineffective problem solving is a common issue that can turn the strong fabric of your team into little more than useless bits of thread. If this sounds familiar, perhaps you should take a look at the goals of your sales team.

There's a point in development that every company hits sooner or later – a wall in their growth and sales that they just can't seem to bypass. After you've grown for awhile, your ability to succeed is no longer dictated purely by how well you advertise your products; it's directly affected by elements like sales training meetings, how much you can improve your approach, and how you communicate with your customers.

In 1982, a little league team from Kirkland, WA, won the Little League World Series by defeating a team from Taiwan.

It was a remarkable victory. No American team had won an international Little League World Series Championship in more than 10 years. Taiwan had been riding a 31-game winning streak. Few gave Kirkland much of a chance.

But the players and coaches knew they were prepared for success. They had practiced hard. Coaches had meticulously tracked each player’s progress and helped them improve. They kept things simple.

And then, they won.

You can recognize them from a mile away.

They don't know where to park or where they'll be eating lunch. They walk with a little too much confidence, exhibit just a tad too much enthusiasm, and always have an uncertain look in their eyes.

They are new sales people, and the future of your company just might depend on their contributions.

This is the 2,015th year of the Common Era... the 15th year of the third millennium... and the "year of the sheep," if you're inclined to consult the Chinese Zodiac.

It's also the year that sales training became more personal.