The Psychology of Selling: Increase Your Sales Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible pdfdrive com

Choose Your Role Models
At a seminar for more than a thousand sales professionals not long ago, a
salesman came up to me at the break and told me an interesting story. I knew
immediately that he was successful because of his appearance. He was well
dressed, well-groomed, confident, positive, relaxed, and easygoing. He had the
feeling of success about him.
He told me that when he started out, he hung around with the junior
salespeople. Over his first six months, he noticed that there were four top
salespeople in his company who seemed to associate mostly among themselves.
They did not spend time with the junior salespeople.
He observed the junior salespeople, himself, and the top salespeople, and
noticed one thing immediately. The higher-paid salespeople were dressed far
better than the lower-paid salespeople. They were sharp, chic, and professional
looking. They looked like successful people.
Ask for Advice
One day, he asked one of the top salespeople what he could do to be more
successful. The salesperson asked him if he used a time management system. As
it happened, this young fellow had never been introduced to a time management
system. The successful salesperson told him the system he used and showed him
where to get it. And he did. And he used it. And he began to use his time more
efficiently.
After that, he began to model himself after the top salespeople. Not only did
he ask them for advice about what to read and listen to, but he observed them
and made them his role models. Each morning, before he started out, he would
stand in front of his mirror and ask himself, Do I look like one of the best

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salespeople in my branch?
Look the Part
He was critical of himself, especially with regard to his dress and grooming. If
he did not feel that he looked like a top salesperson, he would continue to make
changes until he did. Only then would he go off to work.
Within a year, he was one of the top salespeople in his branch. He only
associated with the other top salespeople. He had become like them.
Moving Up
As a result of his high level of sales, he was invited to the national sales
convention. At the convention, he made a point of going to each of the top
salespeople from around the country sometime during the convention and asking
for their advice. Not surprisingly, they were flattered, and told him some of the
things that they had done to move from the bottom to the top of their field. When
he got back home, he wrote them letters of thanks and put their ideas to work.
His sales went up, up, and away.
Soon he was the top salesman in his branch, and later, the top salesman in the
state. Over a period of five years, he transformed his life. At the national sales
conventions, he was invited onto the stage to receive prizes and awards. By his
eighth year in the business, he was the top salesman in the country.
What he told me was interesting. He said that all of his success had come from
asking other top salespeople what they were doing and then following their
guidance. But what he learned was that, even though these top salespeople had
been going up on the stage and receiving prizes for sales excellence year after
year, he was the first person who had ever sought them out and asked them for
advice.