The Psychology of Selling summary

Here’s something for you to try tomorrow morning: look in the mirror and tell yourself that you’re the best sales manager in the country. Yes, this is totally cheesy. But doing it – even though you’d be embarrassed if anyone saw you – is worth the benefits it brings.

Every statement you tell yourself gives your subconscious mind a mental picture, which it will then try to make real. It’s easy enough to see how this could work against you. Have you ever told yourself you’re an idiot for messing up, and then found yourself making the very same mistake again and again?

Believe it or not, the learning process doesn’t end when you graduate from college. We all begin our lives with a limited amount of practical knowledge, so it’s our job to teach ourselves as much as possible. Those who fail to do so will quickly fall behind!

So, set yourself the goal of learning one new thing every day, even if it’s just something you heard on the radio. Then put this new piece of knowledge to use as soon as you can. By learning new things within the area of your specialty each day, you’ll be one step closer to achieving excellence.

Say you’d like to buy a product. Yet, when you go and ask a salesperson some questions about it, they seem to be more interested in talking about everything they know about the product, rather than how the product would benefit you, the customer. Would you buy it? Probably not.

Customers won’t be interested in the product’s history or any of its special features until they know what’s in it for them. Great salespeople know that customers will buy if you can demonstrate to them why they personally need the product.

Consumption is what happens when someone goes out and buys something, right? And usually, consumers pick the cheapest product, or at least the one that gives the biggest bang for their buck. Well, actually, it’s not that simple.

In order to gain recognition – for our status, influence, power, personality or some recent transformation – we go out and buy products. Many people are more concerned with how a product will communicate their social status than with its monetary value.

Know that feeling right before a making big purchase, when you start to get cold feet? We all feel hesitant from time to time when making decisions with our money. But why?

Because when we buy, we give a quantified amount of our freedom and financial security away. We trade financial safety, in other words, for a product we desire. If you want your prospect to still buy in spite of this, there’s another aspect of the buying experience you need to bring to the fore – emotional anticipation.