The Psychology of Selling—My Takeaways

 I have been in the business of school textbook publishing for over 12 years now and a part of the workforce for nearly two decades. My first job, a summer affair, was as a sales executive for Times of India. The task was to accompany newspaper boys/men on their routes in the narrow lanes of Patel Nagar, Ranjit Nagar and Baljit Nagar, (areas in West Delhi with a heavy Punjabi population) knock on doors in the morning hours and convince readers to take up a combo offer of Navbharat Times (a Hindi newspaper of the Times Group) and Times of India (an English paper). In a market that was predominantly a Punjab Kesari readership, the task seemed uphill to begin with. However, within days I had found my rhythm and am proud to this day about the number of customers I had converted and the first pay-check that I had earned and the friends I had made.

After completing my graduation, I forayed into the product side of things and as recently as 2010, I joined the cult of editors! I say cult because we are whether we admit it or not. Wren and Martin and the Editorial Style Guide from University of Cambridge are our holy books, we believe that we can uplift humanity converting more and more people into grammar Nazis and our modus operandi is correcting spellings and grammar!  

Early on in my journey I chose to be a part of a sub-sect of this cult—the Digital Department. We enhance books, bring in the drama of cinema in form of animations, further the cause of correcting diction and pronunciation by providing audio support, add the element of interaction by designing games, tasks, quizzes, and thanks to high speed internet our biggest promise is access to resources anytime and anywhere!  

I have been fortunate to have worked with the senior most and best in their respective fields professionals in both the Publishing Houses that I have worked in. I seemed to have found my people in both the organisations with ease as the people I chose most to be influenced by are people who match my passion towards any project they take up and give their all in hope that it will succeed. I admit, I see very little wrong, if at all, on the product side of things and yet my brain cells are constantly working towards improving the product, the internal processes and finally the experience for the end user.

Of late, however, I have been trying to educate myself on other functions that have an equally important role in any product succeeding or failing. And the only way I know how to do that is to read and/or, these days, listen to a book. So, I picked up The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy—a book that I have heard many describe as the Bible of selling. The more I heard the nuances and strategies he described the more I could see how gaps can be filled. It afforded me an opportunity to retrospectively pat my back for incorporating some of those strategies in my first and only sales job. It also gave me a chance to evaluate how much more successful I would have been if I had employed these strategies consciously.

My takeaways, which can be life lessons too, about sales:

1.      Be passionate about your product. In my experience as soon as a salesperson’s tone indicates that the product lacks in any way, that’s the energy with which they talk about the product. Their body language, facial expressions and the choice of words all indicate the lack. Same holds true if a salesperson is excited about a product. Then there is no stopping them. They tend to promote the product to the product team too in their excitement.

I do understand that there is no such thing as a perfect product. However, one can train the mind to focus on the positives rather than the negatives. Remember, what you feed, grows. Tracy gives a very simple exercise to combat the negativity. List out at least 10 things you like about the product. Do this exercise for the same product for 10 days and you’ll have 100 positives in your hand to be excited about. And with your pocket full of 100 positives you become the expert of your domain and you are in a position to guide the client on why they should make the purchase and how the product will help them ease their lives.

This exercise is crucial to ensure that you are always prepared. The chances of you fumbling during your pitch will be lesser if you are proud of your product, and that pride is an outcome of your in-depth knowledge of the product.

2.      Choose who influences you. You are known by the company you keep sounds like a cliché because it is true! Choose to be surrounded by people who are positive. Be a part of conversations that talk about positives, progress, and resultant growth. This way your thoughts will focus on everything good about the others, about you, about your product and about your customer. And when you talk to someone they will bask in your positivity too. And a positive, happier mind will be better able to convince someone to spend money than a grouchy, tired-from-the-woes-of-the-world kind of person. 

Again, not everyone you meet will be positive and you cannot be the annoying person preaching good to everyone. But you are not a tree, you can move. So, remove yourself from any situation or people that come across as negative. If you can, remove yourself physically from the situation if not, cut off from the conversation and situation mentally.

3.      Know your customer. The best way to find about someone is to ask questions and listen to their replies. Be prepared with a list of questions for your customers that will help you find their key pain points. Practise the art of listening. Once the customer finishes speaking, pause, think and then reply with a follow up question (if you need to) or reply with a solution. The customer is likely to buy a product from you if they feel that they are important for you and you understand their problems. Even if you can predict someone’s train of thought it’s rude to interrupt them. The solution, even though brilliant, will lose the battle to bad manners.  

4.      Focus your energies. This works in every walk of life, whether you are purchasing groceries, planning a party or a wedding or managing your daily tasks—MAKE LISTS. Very few things in life are as satisfactory as ticking things of a to-do list. Make a list of clients you want to target. Assign them weightage based on how likely they are to make a purchase. Focus on the clients that score high on your parameters. Spreading yourself thin trying to approach everyone with the same pitch does not work because everyone’s needs are not the same. Customisation is the name of the game. Focus your energies into customising your pitch. This way the client feels that they are special for you (which they are) and that your focus is to help them above everything else.

5.      Set targets. Walking aimlessly might lead you to a great restaurant or a dingy diarrhoea-ridden shanty. But at the beginning of your journey if you decide that you want to reach the restaurant with delicious food and work towards getting there, there is a 99% chance of you having a wonderful, delicious and satisfying meal where you create happy memories with your family or friends. Same is the case with work. If you decide to say convert 10 leads by the end of the month. You know that now you need to:

    a.      Find 20 customers who are most likely to make a purchase

    b.     Zero-in on why each customer is looking to purchase by asking questions. Based on their replies/conversation categorise them into the following three

        i.     making a first time purchase,

        ii.     are not happy with the features of a similar product from another company

        iii.     are not happy with the service and sales teams of the other company

    c.      Find the key pain point that each customer wants to get rid off

    d.     Customise 20 pitches suited to each lead

    e.     Believe in yourself and your product and close the deal

By doing all this, you would have stacked the odds in your favour, and chances are you’ll achieve the target of converting 10 leads into profitable business.

6.      Invest in yourself. Remember that there is no better marketing or sales weapon in your arsenal than you. So, take care of yourself and invest in all aspects of your personality.

a.      Stay healthy and fit.

b.     Dress well.

c.      Read books.

d.     Update your skills.

e.     Interact with experts from your field. Learn what they are doing and incorporate those techniques in your operations.

f.       Keep your product knowledge up to date. And keep adding to the list of positives about your products on the daily. This will also help you reply to anyone who challenges you with any negative about your product.

g.      Find ways to stay happy. Like attracts like. If you are happy and successful you’ll attract more prosperity.

Hope some of you are inspired to pick up the book after reading this article. Please feel free to suggest some books I must read.

For Sachin!

My words fall on deaf ears. He continues to stare at the TV. Some random guy, wearing all whites, hitting a ball with a bat, holds his interest more successfully than me in my white shorts and pink gunjee. I roll my eyes so far back that I can clearly see the memory of us when we were five and he was sitting ignoring me as I pleaded for a chance on the swing. I decide to play the ace, ‘Vikrant, please fill the water bottles. Do it for Sachin.’ 

Almost as if he is helpless and ecstatic at the same time, a smile rests on his face and he leaves the couch for the first time at 11 o’clock this Sunday, with a loud sigh. I meet no resistance as he meticulously fills up all the bottles, stacks them at their anointed place and even wipes the slab clean and keeps the rag back in its designated spot. I could have a lot of complaints against him, but I could not accuse him of being a sore loser. His chore done, he hugged me from behind, nuzzled my neck gently and planted a soft kiss just above my ear, and whispered, ‘You can’t use it again for the entire day.’

Over the years, the most effective way of getting things done from Vikrant has been to tell him to do it, ‘for Sachin’. I have been using this tactic since before India won the World Cup for Sachin in 2011, or it became a popular hashtag on Twitter. I made him do the art work for my science practical this way. I also employed the same strategy to make him tell his parents that he was keen on being a filmmaker. It did not work with them but at least the matter was out in the open. ‘For Sachin’ worked when I wanted him to plant our first kiss on my lips and then later when I was ready for much more.

Our friends and family were convinced that marriage was the next step and the best thing that could happen to us. They tried to reason with him and emotionally blackmail me, or in their words cajole me. They failed miserably with him. I was an easier target. I could not resist the festivities associated with a big wedding, the shopping, the fun, and the fact that I would be at the centre stage. The promise of wonderful gifts also tilted the scales in the favour of the wedding. Conveniently, the burden of convincing Vikrant was placed on my less than slender shoulders.

I knew, I could have at the onset just said, ‘Do it for Sachin’ and the whole thing would have fallen into place. I am an adventure-loving girl, so I decided to take the difficult road. I reasoned with him. Did not work. Generally, my tears wore him down. Did not work this time around. He tends to weaken when faced with a well-orchestrated tantrum. But that failed too. Using sex as a weapon would never work. Frankly, it never even crossed my mind. That part of our relationship was sacred, never to be used for any manipulation. Historically, he used to come around as soon as I was ready to give up. My giving up also did not seem to work this time around.

Months passed. Friends and family found fresh preys to bug about marriage and settling down. Someone else was led to temptation by promises of wonderful gifts, endless shopping sprees, and never ending festivities. According to our friends and family and even us, Vikrant and Trisha were a couple who would live out their days, laughing, fighting, nagging, chilling, and travelling.

TV was the focus of our living room and on days when India was playing cricket (which was everyday if you ask me), of our lives. My nagging increased on such days and during the worst of our fights, Vikrant addressed me as Nag-eshwari. The glint in his eyes very much intact during the teasing. Generally, while Dhoni and his men led India to victory or losses, I sat on the bench below the window, a cushion supporting my back, a cushion covering the bulge of my tummy, engrossed in a good fat novel, or a thin romantic Mills and Boon. A bowl of freshly popped corn and a tumbler of cola or juice were faithful companions.  Since, I am a large hearted person I always served a fair share of popcorn and cola for Vikrant as well.

One such Sunday, after a breakfast which could fight its case to be called brunch based on the hour it was relished, we were on our coveted seats. Very unlike him, Vikrant intermittently kept calling me to see a shot that Kohli parked out of the field. I, just like the umpire kept ignoring pleas by the opposing team, ignored all of Vikrant’s calls. Just when the hero of the MB I was devouring was going to profess his love to the girl and kiss her, Vikrant towered over me. In all these years, I had never seen him look at me so earnestly. He held out his hand, the slight movement of his neck prodding me to give mine into his. At this point, I just did not have it in me to say no, even though a part of me was dying to read how the hero professed his love, how the girl melted in his arms and how their love needed no more words for the intensity to be expressed and how they communicated all their love and passion through that one time-stopping kiss.

Alas, I got to my feet. The cushions tumbling here and there. Vikrant did not give me enough time to tidy up the spot. It was as if he was on a schedule and timing was everything. I plonked myself on the sofa facing the TV, my neck nestled in the hook of his arm, the bowl of popcorn resting in cavity that my crossed legs created. His right arm enveloped my shoulders and lightly dangled over my right side, stroking my bare arm out of habit.

Suddenly, all the fans in the stadium were holding up multitude of signs, all of which read, ‘For Sachin.’ There was ‘For Sachin’ in red, blue, pink, green. You name the colour and there it was in the stadium. Even I could not control my amazement at the scene. I squealed at Vikrant in amazement. And in a swift move I saw him bending on one knee, holding out a ring for me. The ring was a princess cut diamond resting on a platinum band, exactly like the one resting on one of my Pinterest boards for years. In the backdrop, the commentator seemed to be saying we hope that Trisha says yes to Vikrant. And the stadium chanting ‘For Sachin’. 

Bewildered I looked at the TV and then at Vikrant who was looking at me as if waiting for me to comprehend it all. And hopefully soon since his knee was not used to carrying all his weight. From behind the veil of streaming tears I saw that the ring was inscribed. I almost snatched the ring from him. He thought he received his answer and was about to get up. But with the move of my forefinger I signalled him to continue sitting. At the same time, I took a closer look at the ring, it said, ‘For Sachin.’ I smiled. It was a perfect fit. I let Vikrant stand up so that he could hold me and we could have our own time-stopping kiss.