Belton’s Laura Cohn offers tips for small-business owners in new book

By AMY ROGNLEE | Photos courtesy of LAURA COHN

“People who run small businesses have a significant impact on the people in their communities. If a small business owner doesn’t enjoy having sales conversations, it’s going to hurt their business,” said Belton’s Laura Cohn, author of a new book entitled Sales Without Being Pushy. “I can help them change that.”

Cohn knows what she is talking about. A long and successful career in internet marketing sales has prepared her to teach others how to represent their own company well.

“The reason I was successful in internet marketing sales and was able to do it for over 14 years was because I loved talking to small business owners about their marketing and used a sales system I developed from my experiences in life,” Cohn said. “I enjoyed listening to them and I learned so much. Selling a service was a solution I was happy to offer.”

Caring about the client and getting to know what each individual customer needs or wants is at the core of Cohn’s approach. As a successful salesperson and also a certified mediator, Cohn has learned the art of listening to her clients.

“Not every business owner thinks about what a conversation with a customer sounds like to the customer. They just want to sell their product,” Cohn said. “You have to listen. You have to care and genuinely want to help that person.”

Cohn’s new book, Sales Without Being Pushy: Write a Simple Sales System You Will Actually Use, is a workbook for small-business owners who are struggling with sales. The book was recently included in the Global Business Development Association’s Top 10 Business Development Book list on LinkedIn and was written in conjunction with 416 Sales, Cohn’s sales and marketing consulting firm located in Belton. Both her sales company and her workbook provide practical resources, so service professionals and small-business owners in Central Texas and the U.S. can learn to do sales without being pushy or fake. Her drive to pursue this mission and help other business owners comes from a strong belief that what she has learned and what she can provide will truly help business owners who are willing to try to think about sales in a different way.

“There are sales tactics and closing lines and all kinds of gimmicks that people learn to try to sell a product. But business owners need to be themselves and understand that that is what will attract people to them, not a certain phrase or closing technique,” Cohn said. “My workbook will help business owners to sit down and get clear about their company mission and what they are truly selling.”

Cohn’s workbook is designed to help struggling business owners stop, regroup, and find a new perspective that can give them better results.

In the workbook, she shares stories about her life, what she learned, and how she applied those experiences to sales. The exercises in each section ask questions so a business owner can really think about how their business serves their target market, because Cohn posits that you can’t sell something that you are not sold on yourself. She says that salespeople have to feel good about what they are selling and what they are doing to make people feel good about buying from them.

“Sales can be fun,” Cohn added. “When you love what you do, understand how you can help people, and why that really matters, a sales appointment becomes a caring conversation about what that person needs. Then you get to explain how you can help them and do the best you can to make it work for their budget.”

Starting in January 2027, Cohn will also be doing group sales training and private sales coaching for the Biblical Business Mastermind group that has started on Facebook.

“Being able to share my faith and how I put God’s promises into action in my work is something I am really looking forward to,” Cohn said. “My core values are grounded in focusing on God for everything I need, so I’m not concerned about money first in a business conversation. That allows me to focus on what my customer needs and what will bring the best results. Once the goal and the solutions are established, the money part is worked out.”

Get in touch
Email: Laura@416sales.com
Website: https://www.416sales.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/416SalesTX/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraanncohn/