THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SELLING (BOOK SUMMARY)

Brian Tracy’s The Psychology of Selling continues to be one of the most popular books on sales. It is filled with easy to understand insights, methods, and strategies that can help even the most novice salesperson become part of top performing salespeople in no time.

The 80/20 Rule in Selling or Pareto Principle – “The top 20% of salespeople makes 80% of the money. The bottom 80%, makes 20% of the money” 

• Do the small things consistently, over and over again. Remember that you have to be a little bit better and different in each of the key result areas of selling for it to accumulate into an extraordinary difference in income.
• Small increments of skill or ability can give you the winning edge. Once you develop a small lead, it continues to grow.
• Decide to be like the top salespeople in the country. Make it a point to do something differently. Get into the habit of repeating excellent selling activities bit by bit. If you do it consistently, you will definitely improve continuously.
• Remember that in sales, it is a winner take all transaction, no consolation prize.
• It is what’s going on on the inside of the minds of top salespeople. The success and failure in selling – all mental. If you develop these psychological qualities they then form the foundation for your own personal sales success.
• Use more of your potential. The average person in general never uses more than 10% of his potential. The 90% or more is left untapped.
• Follow the leaders. No one is better or smarter than you. If they’re performing better, it just means they have discovered the cause-and-effect relationships in selling success before you have.
• Do not hesitate to approach the top people because they are usually willing to help other people who want to succeed.
• Your Self-concept is a bundle of beliefs you have about yourself. It is the operating system that determines everything you say, think, feel and do. There is a direct relationship between self-concept and your performance and effectiveness:

1. 1. How you perform on the outside is consistent with your self-concept.
   2. Improvement begins when you alter and improve your self-concept, your inner programming.
   3. Mini self-concepts, determine your effectiveness and performance in each area of your life.

You can never earn 10% more or less of your self-concept level of income. If it is more, you engage in compensating behaviors to get rid of the money. If it is below, scrambling behaviors, you work longer, harder to get back on your “comfort zone”

Have a good self-concept and believe it. This is the very foundation of your being. It guides you in your ultimate goal of being a top salesperson. Believe that you are capable of being at the top. Have a calm, confident, relaxed attitude.

Change your comfort zone. Change your mind bit by bit. In your mind, you must already achieve your financial goals before you can achieve them in reality. Imagine as though you are already that awesome person.

Related Article: The Art of Closing the Sale by Brian Tracy

7 KEY RESULT AREAS IN SELLING

1. 1. Prospecting
   2. Building Rapport
   3. Identifying needs
   4. Presenting
   5. Answering objections
   6. Closing the sale
   7. Getting resales and referrals

Your fear comes from thinking that you are not yet good at sales. You need to have high self-esteem. Like yourself. Love yourself. Have high regard for yourself. Believe that you are already excellent in the KRAs in selling. Talk to yourself positively and confidently, everyday.

When is the best time to make a sale? Right AFTER you make a sale because your self-esteem roars and you feel like a winner.

Aim to close a sale. work hard enough to make the first few winning sales. Those starting wins will boost your morale and confidence. Do not stop after one win, go for more wins. The more sales you close, the more you get better at it. The more you become positive and enthusiastic.

Remember “Rejection is not personal.” If it doesn’t work out, just move on to the next prospect. Learn from your mistakes. Bounce back immediately. The more you practice courage, the stronger you become. Your self-esteem will allow you to overcome the two obstacles. Decide not that you will not (never) give up.

Build your self-esteem, which will improve your personality and increase your effectiveness. Do these steps:

1. 1. Positive Self-Talk
   2. Affirmative visualization
   3. Personal motivation
   4. Individual training

Top salespeople are extremely goal oriented. That goal orientation is associated with high levels of success and achievement. The highest paid people know in advance how much they are going to earn. After all, you are not going to hit the target you can’t see. So the act of writing your goals increases the likelihood of achieving them by 1000%. And even if you do not achieve your goals, it is still better than not having any goal.

The final step in setting sales goals is to determine the specific activities in which you must engage to achieve your desired sales level – the number of calls, appointments, presentations and callbacks. But the most important part of planning your activities is knowing that the sales activities are controllable.

Once you have programmed a goal into your subconscious mind, it takes a power on its own. It alerts you of opportunities and possibilities around you. By programming your subconscious mind with clear goals, you gain access to the 90% of your potential that lies beneath the surface, deep in your subconscious mind.

In your personal journal, make a list of all the things that would be, have and do if you were earning vastly more money than you are earning today (Note: the longer, the greater your level of motivation and determination).

If you have 50 or 100 reasons for increasing your sales and your income, you will become virtually unstoppable. And the more you want it, the more that you will do whatever it takes to achieve it. Commitment to goal setting has been the number one reason for the success of the top people.

Visualization is the most powerful skill that you can develop. See yourself as absolutely excellent in prospecting, presenting and closing sales. Before going calling your prospect, imagine him responding in a positive and enthusiastic way. See him smiling and engaged in the sales conversation.

When you repeat an affirmation as a command, you activate your mental powers. Every time you repeat these words, you feel happier and more confident. The thing is, the subconscious mind is neutral, you can shape it any way you want.

Related Article: The Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar

2 Ways to Visualize

1. Direct – You see the customer and sales situation through your own eyes. You see him smiling and responding positively.
2. Indirectly – You actually stand outside of yourself and see yourself and the customer in the sales situation.

Your choice of questions is often key to identifying needs correctly. Major reasons why people buy or don’t buy is their desire for gain and fear of loss.

• The desire for gain has motivational power of 1
• Fear of loss has a negative motivational power of 2.5
• Fear is 2x more powerful than the desire for gain
• People are more motivated to buy if they feel they are going to lose something by not buying.

• The best sales presentation shows simultaneously how much better to buy and how much worse if they don’t buy.
• People decide emotionally and then justify logically.

• Increase the intensity of buying desire and lower the fears of making a mistake

1. 1. Offer money-back guarantee
   2. Keep freebies with perceived high value

In Value Selling you put emphasis in the value and benefits rather than lower cost. It is important to uncover basic needs by questioning skillfully and listening carefully. Salespeople dominate the listening and the customer should dominate the talking. Remember that the one who is questioning has control of the conversation.

Related Article: Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

3 Ways to Stimulate Creativity

1. Clear Goals
2. Pressing Problems
3. Focused Questions

Important Areas for Creativity

1. Prospecting
2. Uncovering buying motives

When prospecting, ask the following questions:

1. What are the five-10 most attractive features of your product?
2. What specific needs of your prospective customer does your product satisfy?
3. What does your company offer that other companies don’t?

If you want to take a more strategic approach to selling, focus on these four areas:

1. Specialization – Determine exactly what your product does for your customers. Be a specialist instead of a generalist.
2. Differentiation – In what areas are your products better than 90% of similar goods or services on the market.
3. Segmentation – Which customers can most benefit from what you do better than anyone else.
4. Concentration – Set clear priorities and concentrate single-mindedly on prospects who represent only the very best potential as a customer.

If you brainstormed 250 ideas every year, it would have a tremendous impact on your life. You’ll become one of the most creative and successful salespeople in your field.

Related Article: The Way of the Wolf: Straight Line Selling 

Spending more time with better prospects. You can do that by following these rules:

1. Break prospect preoccupation – When you place calls, say, “I need two minutes of your time. Is this a good time to talk?” Only when the prospect confirms they have the time should you launch into your pitch.
2. Sell the appointment, not the product – Never talk about your product or pricing on the phone unless you can close the deal directly.
3. Choose your words carefully – Your prospect is likely on the other end of the line looking at their email. Develop an opening line the equivalent of a brick going through their window. Keep it benefit-centered without directly mentioning your product/service.

• Always aim to trigger the question/response: “Really, how do you do that?”

• Use these to capture the attention of your prospect: There’s something I need to show you. You need to see it personally. Would Tuesday be a convenient time for you?

• Do not allow them to sidestep. Make them agree on a time and if they are not available by then, they can message you at your contact info on the Specific Date agreed on.

• The first sale is the appointment. This gets you closer to the real sale.

The prospect needs to be sure of these 5 things before he or she agrees:

1. You have something important to communicate.
2. He or she is speaking to the right person.
3. It will be a short visit/talk.
4. He or she will not be placed under any obligation.
5. No high pressure will be used.

Begin with a well-structured question that’s interesting or unusual because good questions trigger good responses.

Related Article: Executive Summary of Books Billionaires Read

Human beings are greatly influenced by suggestive elements from their external and internal environment.

1. External elements are the people around them.
2. Internal elements include: Appearance, Voice and Attitude

Thus, 95% of impression comes from your clothing. It is then imperative that you dress well, use colorful and attractive visuals, and have a presentation material that is always clean, neat and presented in best light manageable.

Sales conversion is 55% Body Language, 38% tone of voice, 7% words used.

Treat someone as though they are a millionaire or the next potential millionaire. Whenever you do something to raise the self-esteem of another person, your self-esteem goes up the same degree.

The first words out of your mouth set the tone for the rest of your sales process, and eventually, either a sale or rejection.

Most prospects have “generalized sales resistance.” It’s normal and a form of self-defense. Instead of fighting it, understand it and work to break down your prospect’s barriers.

Two ways to deal with sales resistance effectively:

1. The approach close – This close gets the prospect to agree to making a decision after you’ve made your presentation. Instead of letting your prospect say, “Let me think about it,” or “I need to talk it over,” and that being the end of it, reply, “Relax, I’m not trying to sell you anything right now. That’s not the purpose of my visit.” Then continue, “All I ask is that you look at what I have to show you with an open mind, determine if it applies to your situation, and tell me at the end of our conversation if this product makes sense.”
2. The demonstration close – You can use this technique early in the sales conversation. Open with, “I could show you the best on the market today, are you in the position to invest [price] right now?” The focus of the conversation is instantly shifted from, “Will you listen to me?” to “How much can you invest if I can hold up my end of the bargain?”

It is important to understand the various personality types of buyers. These are the six basic profiles:

1. The apathetic buyer – Instead of trying to change this buyer’s mind, save yourself the time and move on to someone more likely to buy.
2. The self-actualizing buyer – They know exactly what they want. Make the most of these unicorn prospects and don’t try to talk them into anything they haven’t already set their hearts on.
3. The analytical buyer – This buyer is self-contained and task-oriented. Slow down and be exact with these prospects. Be able to prove — on paper — everything you say, and be precise with each benefit to make it easier for them to buy.
4. The relater buyer – This is a relationship-oriented buyer. They gravitate toward “helping” professions and like to be liked. To make the sale, focus on other happy customers, build a relationship, and don’t rush them.
5. The driver buyer – These buyers are direct, impatient, and concise. Get straight to the point with these buyers, because they’re busy and preoccupied.
6. The socialized buyer – This type of prospect is achievement-oriented. As soon as you reach an agreement, put it on paper and get a copy to them immediately.

Understand which type of personality your buyer has, and tailor your approach for a more successful close. As always, listen attentively, pause before replying, question for clarification, paraphrase in your own words, and use open-ended questions.

The Three-Part Presentation

1. Because of this…(product feature)
2. You can…(product benefit)
3. Which means…(customer benefit)

5 Keys to Effective Listening

1. Listen attentively
2. Pause Before Replying
3. Question for clarification
4. Paraphrase in your own words
5. Use Open-Ended questions

1. Do what you love to do and be excellent in it.
2. Decide exactly what you want.
3. Back your goal with persistence and determination
4. Commit to lifelong learning
5. Use your time well
6. Follow the leaders
7. Character is everything
8. Unlock you inborn creativity
9. Practice the Golden Rule
10. Pay the price of success