Are Salespeople Still Using the Hard Sell?

When you hear a phrase like the hard sell, do you instantly think of car salespeople?  Insurance?  Replacement windows?  No offense intended to those of you in one of those three industries!
While someone’s reference to a hard sell may differ, the perception of the hard sell is fairly universal.   After prospects state an objection, say they’re not interested, or tell the salesperson, “No,” prospects tend to raise their resistance.  Most salespeople have been trained to handle these objections and put-offs and therein lies the problem.  There are proper and effective ways to handle these, and there are improper and ineffective ways to handle these.  When you use the wrong approach it will appear to the prospect as if you are using the hard sell and their resistance will go up even further.
Most salespeople think that the hard sell consists of arm-wrestling, hammering or pressuring their prospect.  While all three of those