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Sales Psychology

Submitted by Mitch Seigel on Tues, 1/21/2014

Early on in my career I did sports play by play announcing, both in college and professionally. I studied many other broadcasters to develop my skill and the sound I wanted to present to my listeners. I didn’t realize then that what I learned from listening to those other broadcasters would be the basis for helping me through the psychology of sales.

When I listened to the broadcasters on radio, often times I would hear announcers who screamed on each and every play. It was hard to decipher if every play was exciting or which play really was exciting. I also heard other announcers who would get excited when a play was exciting, and therefore the listeners could decipher big play versus the rest of the action.

I found it hard to listen to the announcers who were always excited-it got to my nerves and I found I was switching the station. I equate that directly to sales. If every time you make a sale, or better yet when you have a good first appointment with a client, you allow yourself to get overly excited, when the pendulum reverses and the sale does not come through, it is harder to take. The more you get excited, the more down you can be at the words I am not interested.

If you are planning to sell for any length of time, my suggestion is to take a sale in stride. What goes up must come down. Be professional about your rejections and learn from them so you can do a better job the next time around. When you get a sale, be positive and move to the service mode to make sure that client stays with you in the future. The more even keel you go, the longer you will be able to last.

What are your challenges when it comes to the psychology of sales? I look forward to hearing your comments. Until next time…