the psychology of sales
Many traditional sales training companies have made their millions focusing on the process of sales. On the contrary, the best way to unleash a salesperson’s true potential is to focus on the psychology of sales first. When psychology is mastered, then and only then, does process matter. We have spent a good bit of time over the past decade discussing this topic. Because it is so critical to the success of sales organizations and because I am still perplexed and amazed at how few in sales understand this concept, I thought it would be a good opportunity to revisit.
Let’s dig a little deeper. Sales is ultimately about results, wouldn’t you agree? Good. But there are many different kinds of results that one can achieve, so let’s talk about two simple types of results. The first is results that are sustainable and last through the test of time. The other is results that are attainable, but fade with time. Companies will pay big money to send employees through sales training, yet too often their happiness with the initial spike in results erodes when those results are not sustained through time.
So what then differentiates a sales training that yields sustainable results versus merely attainable results? If you said training that is focused on the sales mindset, you are right. Very simply, training that focuses on the sales mindset first and keeps with basic principles will generate sustainable results. Complex training is useless unless it can be understood and remembered. Socrates said, “Learning is remembering.” How many of you can recall coming out of training and feeling like you learned some pretty cool stuff? You learned some trendy new acronyms, some one-liners to use when overcoming objections, a step by step process to achieve closing. Now, how many of you can remember what those acronyms are today? Who remembers what those one-liners were? And who can remember in order all the steps of that “scientific” process to close the deal? AHAH! My point exactly. You were trained on process and formulas, but your mindset never changed. After three weeks most of you reverted back to old habits and were right back to being that same sales professional who entered the training.
So, stop and think about it for a moment. What part of the Paredo Principle (the 80/20 rule) do you fit into? Are you part of the twenty percent of people who achieve eighty percent of your company’s results? Why would you still be as successful if you changed companies and sold something completely different? The answer is because you have something that the eighty percentors don’t have. You possess the better sales mindset. We all have a variety of mindsets that we go through every day; but each of us has a prevailing mindset about our sales ability. The top 20 percentors simply believe they can sell anything. They have a superior mindset to the rest of the pack—the 80 percentors.
Mindset will always trump process over the long haul. With the proper mindset, any system, process or technique can yield outstanding results. The evidence is in the fact that the same people who are in the top twenty percent of one company continue to stay in that bracket when they switch companies and learn new techniques. Their process and techniques change. Their mindset stays the same. I am in no way discounting the need for an effective sales process. A process is critical once it has the foundation of a superior sales mindset.
So why aren’t all sales training companies or mangement consulting firms focusing on psychology first training? Why isn’t it talked about more often? Simply put, it’s just not as pretty. It’s too simple. It’s plain. We are in a society that believes in a quick fix; a society that wants a roadmap and process for everything we do. Psychology first training embraces the notion that sales is an art, not a science. It forces a sales person to look squarely in the mirror and admit that his or her results are solely dependent on who is looking back at them. The second reason we see so few organizations giving anything but lip service to the psychology of sales, is that it is more difficult to effectively train. Anyone can regurgitate a new technique or a new process that will temporarily increase results. But changing a mindset and creating new habits is a much more sophisticated, yet rewarding journey. And at the end of the journey all companies want—sustainable results that lead to serious profitability.
Be Your Best,
Joe
