The Psychology of Sales
The psychology of sales, relationships, and persuasion - and how we can leverage this to better our own selling-selves.
Hey friends -
My personal podcast queue is overloaded with both sales and non-sales focused content.
So when I happen to come across content that speaks to me both personally, and professionally, it’s a perfect storm.
Today’s newsletter is just that.
It’s getting granular into the psychology of sales, relationships and persuasion - and how we can leverage this to better our selling-selves.
It’s “non-traditional” or “non sales-focused” insights and tactics to help us all get better at leading or doing sales.
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
Greg McKeown talks about the genius of routine - and I take liberties to draw some parallels to us in sales.
Devin Reed and Sheena Badani talk with Robert Cialdini on “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”.
Plus more snippets to help us with the mindset of selling, persuasion, relationships and more.
THANKS for reading!!
-Grant
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- subscribe or share it with someone who might as well 👊.
STRETCH SHARES
The Genius of Routine
As I listened to this podcast with Greg McKeown, I immediately knew I needed to feature it here.
Greg starts with a detailed example of Michael Phelps (whom I coincidentally wrote about here) routine as the defining factor in his success. I kept thinking, of course this applies in all aspects of life, but this is especially pertinent to those of us in sales.
The repetition of a routine leads to a mastery of it - and becomes second nature
So how does an effective routine benefit elite sellers and sales leaders? Listen as Greg talks about the genius of routine and draw your own conclusions.
So what routines should we look at in sales? Some ideas:
Pre-discovery call prep and demo prep routines
Day to day prospecting, time chunking etc.
Post meeting follow up, email recaps etc.
Weekly review and planning
Check it out for yourself and let me know where else routines in sales comes in handy.
How to Influence Anyone
You may know Robert Cialdini - from his best selling book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” which has sold over 5 Million copies and helped countless salespeople learn the fundamentals of creating connections and influence in their sales efforts.
Robert joins Devin and Sheena to talk influence, specifically the four principles of strong relationships.
Four principles:
Reciprocation. People want to give back to those who were first given to them.
Liking. People like to say yes to those people they like. We can influence this.
Commitment & Consistency. Take time to invest in our people - show them we’ve committed to this relationship with consistency.
Unity. Perception that WE are partners. “One of us”…
STRETCH SNIPPETS
😵 Becc Holland says The #1 way to break trust between you & someone else is: Excluding them. So how does this relate to sales? The lesson goes, ALWAYS seek to build rapport, trust, credibility & respect with your buyer... And once you have it, don’t blow it by going around them. :)
🧠 What’s a stretch vp newsletter without an KD episode? Hear as Kevin talks with Mark Kosoglow about the psychology of closing. Learn why understanding the reason why buyers are passionate about buying is the best way to sell effectively.
📚 Better your sales skills by studying non-sales things. Andy Paul gives us his top 12 favorite non-sales books. I’d add Good to Great, Essentialism, Never Split the Difference, Atomic Habits, Extreme Ownership, amongst others. You?
✅ 82% of workers would think about leaving their organization for a more empathetic company!!?? I found this article from Fast Company on 5 things emotionally intelligent leaders do to retain remote workers very helpful.
💥 If you haven’t seen this yet - check out Gong’s “Words That Close” cheat sheet. Backed by data, learn which terms and phrases are more likely to move that deal to close.
🧠 Mindset
How Sports Psychology Can Benefit Your Sales Team
If you think about it, your sales reps are a lot like like athletes. Every time they are communicating with prospects, it’s the same as an elite athlete playing in a Monday night game or competing for the gold. This is because there is a clear winning and losing aspect to sales, a clear differential between natural talents, and the need to execute a game plan under high pressure.
Once you start thinking of your sales team as a sports team, it opens up many avenues of how you can coach and help them improve. One fantastic way that is often overlooked, is the use of sports psychology to drive sales rep performance.
Thanks for reading!
My hope is if you find this valuable, consider sharing it with friends (or signing up if you haven’t already).
— Grant 👋
About stretch vp: confessions, learnings, and insights from sales leaders in SaaS
Compiled and aggregated from a network of sales leaders in SaaS, Stretch VP showcases learnings, insights, and experiences as well as best practices to overcome common hurdles, obstacles, and setbacks in your quest for excellence as a sales leader in SaaS.
Are you a VP, Director, thought leader, or content producer in the SaaS space? We’d love to have you contribute. Just reply to this email and I’ll be in touch.
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Love it, just added that podcast to my queue!