The Psychology of Selling By Brian Tracy

Introduction:

Why should I be concerned? To advance in sales, use tiny cognitive tricks.

You can either be naturally good at selling or you can’t do it at all. I assume that’s all there is to it. Some people simply have an innate capacity for persuasiveness, flawless communication abilities, and unwavering confidence. We’re just not, the rest of us.

But is this actually the case? It’s obviously not.

A good salesperson can be anyone. Just get the knowledge. These blinks provide you with a brief overview of the abilities every sales professional should possess. They are based on the ideas of one of the most well-known sales gurus in the world. Check out these blinks if you wish to succeed at work more than your rivals and earn more commissions.

You’ll learn more in these blinks.

Why a smart salesperson is a lifelong student;
Why the subconscious can be your best sales tool; and
Why you won’t get much from a terrified prospect.

Key Idea 1:

Encourage your subconscious to promote effective sales.

What tasks are you currently completing? Most likely a few unimportant tasks, like remembering to pick up toilet paper on the way home or taking out the trash. However, did you realize that the list isn’t simply a commonplace but also a useful sales tool?

Making to-do lists is a tried-and-true method for tapping into the subconscious and accomplishing your goals. Consider how intuitive responses to a prospect’s body language and facial expressions enable a salesman to maintain their interest in them. This is just one example of how the subconscious is vital in the job of a salesperson. You can offer your subconscious mind a framework to work with by simply jotting down your thoughts in a list.

Start by making a list of your motivations for achieving these goals rather than your sales goals. You’ll be more motivated if your list is longer. Why? Each justification, then, provides weapons for your subconscious mind.

Consider a sales manager who only has two motivations for meeting his sales targets: putting money aside for a new car and planning a road trip through the mountains. Another sales manager, however, can give a long list of justifications, including family vacations to China, home renovations, purchasing a puppy for the kids, and more. The second salesperson will be unstoppable, whereas the first will find it easy to become discouraged.

These inspirational lists are however a single instrument in a salesperson’s toolkit, one tactic among many that he implements to enlist the aid of his subconscious. Next blink, we’ll examine a different strategy: self-esteem.

Key Idea 2:

To increase your sales performance, raise your self-esteem.

Try the following: tomorrow morning, convince yourself you’re the best sales manager in the nation when you look in the mirror. Yes, this is incredibly corny. However, the advantages outweigh the embarrassment you would feel if someone observed you doing it.

Your subconscious mind creates a mental image with each statement you make to yourself, which it then tries to make actual. It’s not difficult to understand how this may work against you. Have you ever scolded yourself for making a mistake only to catch yourself performing the same error repeatedly?

However, it might also go in your favor. You can alter your internal self-image by just changing your self-talk from negative to positive. Positive affirmations like “I am calm, confident, and powerful” should be repeated by a sales manager so that he or she starts to believe them. Then, to further support his optimistic self-image, his subconscious will push him to act in difficult circumstances as though this were true.

This is especially helpful as you prepare to handle a forthcoming transaction. Great salespeople go back on their greatest achievement in order to put themselves in a mindset where they can replicate that success. Poor salespeople, on the other hand, obsess over their worst customer interaction prior to a sale. He’ll start stuttering and getting nervous during the pitch, while the more skilled salesperson breezes through the presentation with assurance.

Key Idea 3:

Embrace people who are driven and passionate like you.

Unbelievably, learning doesn’t stop when you receive your degree from college. We must educate ourselves as much as we can because we all start out in life with little practical knowledge. Those that don’t will rapidly lag behind!

Decide to learn something new every day, even if it’s simply something you overheard on the radio. Put this new information to use as soon as you can after that. You will get closer to excellence if you learn something new every day in your field of expertise.

One of the author’s clients, a salesperson, listened to an audio program every day on the way to work that provided guidance on how to improve self-esteem, plan a day, manage your profession, and create a self-presentation strategy. He would put the fresh knowledge he had acquired on his drive to use once he arrived at work. The outcome? His revenues nearly doubled!

Also, pay attention to others around you. Spend time with your reference group, which is a network of people who share your values. Their successes will inspire you as well. Imagine a sales manager who performed his duties only averagely. He might come to the conclusion that his reference group was made up entirely of negative and unmotivated individuals and recognize that he needed to look for new company. His confidence and sales abilities would undoubtedly increase significantly by surrounding himself with elite salespeople, soliciting their counsel, and applying their strategie

Key Idea 4:

Ask inquiries to learn more about your prospect's needs so you can adjust your pitch.

Say you want to purchase a product. However, when you go to a salesman and ask them about it, they appear more interested in talking about everything they know about the product than in how the product will help you, the consumer. Will you purchase it? Most likely not.

Before they know what’s in it for them, customers won’t be interested in the product’s history or any of its unique qualities. Great salesmen are aware that customers will purchase your goods if you can convince them that they personally require it.

For instance, a salesperson demonstrating a car could talk for hours about its color or the wonderful characteristics of its engine, but you won’t be persuaded if he doesn’t include you in the conversation as well. The salesperson can only convince you that their product has what you want by emphasizing how the car’s features will help you, such as how little petrol it uses, what a big trunk it has, and how useful the parking alert system is.

But what if a potential customer is unsure about what they want? What if you, a salesperson, are unable to understand it? So, you need to start posing inquiries. Why are they looking for a specific item? What are they hoping to get out of it? Is a family interested in purchasing a home since the price is so low? A good school close by for their kids? Or more room to raise a family?

Ask inquiries repeatedly until you learn what your prospect really wants. This then enables you to precisely customize your presentation to them, which will result in a persuasive pitch and a profitable sale.

Key Idea 5:

People purchase goods in an effort to gain social acceptance.

Consumption is what takes place when someone shops for anything, correct? Consumers typically choose the cheapest option, or at the very least, the one that offers the best value. It’s not exactly that easy, though.

We go out and purchase things in order to be noticed—whether it’s for our status, influence, power, personality, or recent transformation. Many people are more interested in the social status a product will convey than in its monetary value.

The best alternative can be presented to the customer once the salesman has determined what emotional value (the appeal in terms of status) they are seeking.

Consider yourself a salesperson in a retail establishment. A customer requests to examine your watch choices as they enter the store while carrying a pricey Louis Vuitton purse. A competent salesperson will lead the prospect to the Rolex department after determining that they are likely less concerned with the watch’s price and more interested in its symbolic meaning as a status symbol. Then, he or she will take the time to describe how unique, well-made, and coveted these timepieces actually are.

Key Idea 6:

Customers will trust you more if they see that you are concerned about their needs.

Know that sensation you get just before making a significant purchase when your feet start to shake? Everybody occasionally experiences hesitation when making financial decisions. Yet why?

Because when we buy, a certain portion of our independence and financial security is forfeited. In other words, we exchange financial security for a thing we want. Another component of the purchasing process that you need to emphasize is emotional anticipation if you want your prospect to make a purchase despite this.

A University of Chicago study demonstrated how consumers are influenced by the intense emotional anticipation of owning and utilizing the object while making purchases. The salesman has a considerably higher likelihood of success if they can make sure that this emotion surpasses the customer’s fear of suffering financial loss. A customer’s sense of security can also be increased by providing money-back guarantees. Whatever you do, though, it must be credible.

No matter how much you truly care about your business, product, or service, the prospect will always have doubts about your motivations. You must establish your credentials, your dependability, and your track record of wise decisions in order to earn their trust.

Let’s say a family decides to get a puppy. Any family making this choice needs to carefully evaluate the breed of dog that would work best for their needs. The greatest option would be a dog that is easy to train, good with kids, and can spend time by itself when kids are in school.

The family gives the salesperson the difficult task of selecting the ideal dog, certain that they will do a fantastic job. By proving your reliability and sincerity, you’ll win their respect and thanks and they’ll almost certainly seek out your services in the future or refer them to friends.

Practical suggestions:

Create a list!

Take out a pen and paper and list everything you wish to do. Contain everything. You desire to purchase some new socks. Put it in writing. Do you want to remodel the kitchen? Put it in writing. Master Mandarin. Put it in writing. Order a jet? I guess you get it. You’ll remain inspired if you keep doing these things. You are aiming to achieve these objectives. When things are difficult, they will keep you going.