Why the Salesperson Needs to Know the Psychology of Sales

Every single step in the process of a sale is a mental process. The mental attitude and mental impression of the customer; the mental attitude and mental expression of the salesperson; the process of arousing the attention, awakening curiosity or interest, creating desire, satisfying the reason, and moving the will- all these are purely mental processes, and the study of them becomes a branch of the study of psychology.

The display of goods on the counters, shelves, or windows of a store, or in the hands of the salesperson, or the product shown in a banner ad, or a PPC advertisement, must be based upon psychological principles. The argument must not only be logical but must be so arranged and worded as to arouse certain feelings or faculties within the mind of the prospective buyer- this is psychology.

And finally, the closing of the sale, in which the object is to arouse the will of the buyer into final favorable action- this also is psychology. From the first glimpse of the product to the final. closing of the sale, each and every step is a psychological process. A sale is the action and reaction of mind upon mind, according to well established psychological principles and rules. Salesmanship is essentially a psychological science as all must admit who will give to the subject a logical consideration.

Elements of Personality in Sales - Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm in a salesman is the quality that makes him talk in an intense and earnest way that carries conviction. The enthusiastic salesman spontaneously overflows with self- confidence and belief in the goods and the satisfaction they hold for the customer. Confidence can only be secured by knowledge; knowledge of one's own ability, of the customer, of the goods, and of the selling process.

Enthusiasm based on confidence begets confidence and enthusiasm in the customer. It is contagious. The salesmen with enough confidence in the product and themselves to become enthusiastic, soon bring others to see their point of view. Sincerity, reflected by enthusiasm, is impressive and will command the attention and respect even of customers unable to share in their belief.

Enthusiasm backed by facts is a combination of the spiritual and the material. The latter lacks life without the former, while the former is hollow hypocrisy without the latter. Enthusiasm cannot be faked. Without the background of knowledge and belief it stands forth in all its shallow futility. Counterfeit enthusiasm can never pass for the genuine for it lacks in weight, sound and appearance. Salesmen who attempt to be earnest and eager in their sales talk will fool no one except themselves. Only by intelligent observation, reflection and study can salesmen create a harmonious background for the efficient functioning of enthusiasm.

Not only does enthusiasm stimulate self- respect and enhance the customer's esteem for the salesmen, but it also develops loyalty for the brand and its methods. To be loyal to a sales institution salesmen must have confidence in its integrity and belief in its policies. Enthusiasm developed from knowing the goods will go far towards developing loyalty to the store that sells those goods. Further knowledge regarding the store's history, its aims and ambitions, will generate new enthusiasm which will form the basis for a broader and stronger loyalty.

Perhaps it is not too obvious to note that loyalty to a store can only be based on its honest and square dealing. Truthful advertising, honest representations by salesmen and sympathetic treatment of customer's needs are some of the foundation stones for the building of the loyalty structure. Some firms that deserve it don't get it from all salesmen, but no firm that doesn't deserve it ever, wins it from any salesman.

Attracting Customers

There are always two lines of effort to be used by the salesperson: First, to help the uncertain customer, who doesn't know exactly what is wanted for the desired purpose, and second, to attract the desire, of the passing customer to the thing not thought about before. To be successful, in either of these directions, requires complete knowledge of the goods being sold.

The salesmanship that is shaky about the technical features of the products is going to be very weak about catching or holding the attention of the customer.

Every ambitious salesperson will be a constant and thorough student of the trade publications in his or her line of merchandise. In all lines of business these publications are usually subscribed for by the firm, or they will be subscribed for, as a rule, upon the proper request being made. Every merchant and manager will be glad to have salespeople request to see every issue of the trade papers, for it proves that they are earnest and thoughtful about their work, and desirous of improving their knowledge of the goods they sell and learning more about methods of selling them. If salespeople do not know the names of the various trade publications that they should read, they can get the information from the buyer or from the merchant.

In other words, even if you are just doing affiliate sales from a site like Clickbank, you need to have a knowledge of the products you are selling. You may be asked by a visitor to your site about some feature or even if it is suitable for what the customer wants or needs. If you have no answers, you have lost a sale.

Creating a New Want

Advertising may be defined as the art of creating a New Want, for successful advertising does not stop with publishing the claims that are made for a product. The advertising must not only tell the possible consumer all about the product, but must create in his mind a desire to possess it-in fact, I am willing to go far enough to affirm that advertising which does not create a New Want in many minds is not good advertising.

It is not enough to tell an automobile enthusiast of the good, strong mechanical points in a particular machine. The advertising should not stop with giving information to those who are already interested in automobiles; it should create "automobile enthusiasm."

In other words, it should imbue the mind of the reader with a longing to participate in the pleasures and delights of driving that particular car, for if the sale of the particular machine which is being put upon the market is to be limited to those who are already enamored of it, the possibilities of the industry would not justify a very heavy or extended expenditure for publicity.

Take the safety razor as an illustration. There are now many safety razors on the market, but the man who made the first safety razor and ventured to put it on the market had to spend a lot of money creating a New Waat in the minds of men. He had to talk to that portion of the race which grows, a beard on its face and which was anxious to escape the tiresome thralldom of the barber shop.

He had to appeal to the universaI desire of man to escape the enslavement of the imperial tonsoral fiend who, with reckless disregard for his time and patience, makes him fritter away precious momemts, even hours, in his shop awaiting his turn.

In other words, the maker of the first safety razor had to lay the foundations for all future business with an educational campaign. At mch expense and through the tribulation of possible loss he blazed the way for the manufacturers of safety razors yet unborn. It was his lot to convince mankind that they could emancipate themselves from the despotism of the barber shop.

It was his mission to point out the avenue of escape. It was his task to convince bewhiskered humanity that the safety razor was a practical thihg; that it was a time-saver, a money-saver, a blessing to tender faces and that it was possible for the man who could not shave himself with the old-fashioned razor to scrape his face quickly and smoothly with this new device.

Thousands of other examples might be adduced to illustrate the fact that modern advertising must seek to create a New Want, and the man who knows best how to do this through the medium of the English language is the successful advertiser of today. So go out there and create a New Want for your product.

THE CREATIVE POWER OF ADVERTISING

B EFORE advertising was developed into a fine art, and before it became a factor in the commercial world, the business of the manufacturer and merchant was to supply the normal needs and desires of the human family. Merchandising was bounded by man's necessities and by his meager knowledge of the luxuries which he deemed within his reach.

Modern advertising has made the luxuries of yesterday the necessities of to-day. It is something more than a "drummer" knocking at the door of the consumer--something more than mere salesmanship-on-paper. It is a positive creative force in business. It builds factories, skyscrapers and railroads. It makes two blades of grass grow in the business world where only one grew before. It multiplies human wants and intensifies human desires.

Advertising is not merely a method of diverting trade away from the merchant or manufacturer who does not advertise. Its function is not merely to pull business away from unprogressive competitors. It has "news" value as well as psychological power. It not only supplies regular information at stated periods concerning the best and most economical methods of supplying the needs of a normal 'and comfortable existence, but, operating through well-established psychological laws upon the human mind, it gradually implants in multiplied mentalities the idea that certain things are needed which were never before regarded as necessary to human contentment or happiness.

It enlarges and expands the horizon of man's daily life and experience by bringing to his attention new commodities designed for his comfort and convenience without which he would have been perfectly happy in his ignorance; but, having learned of their existence, he cannot find it in his heart to be happy or contented until he possesses them. It is the constant reiteration of the so-called "selling arguments" in connection with a product that convinces and finally impels the reader to purchase. The constant dropping of the water of publicity gradually wears away the stone of indifference. The human mind is so constructed that it is appreciably affected by repetition-and, after all, advertising is only repetition.

SECURING RE-ORDERS FROM A CUSTOMERLIST

I came across this article in a book from 1914. So if you think that using lists is something new that these "gurus" have created since the internet came about, think again. Read this for some good tidbits on using your list. Just update the thinking to today's world of the internet. One of the key points I took away from this is that you need to keep track of more than just email addresses with your customers.


By J. Harry Selz President, Selz, Schwab and Company

AVERAGE clerks or department heads are inclined to regard the cabinet of names called the "house list" solely as a piece of modern ingenuity for the expansion of business. While this is showing the proper spirit of push and progress, it is a mistake to think that so valuable a tool as a "house list" can be put to only one use. The cabinet of cards containing the names of the current, former and prospective customers, is one of the most flexible pieces of filing mechanism ever devised, and the active head of any large merchandising house can well spend hours in its company.

Suppose it possible for him to assemble in one great •hall all the men at the moment carrying live accounts with him and all who had traded with him in the past. That privilege would instantly arouse his enthusiasm. But where this list runs ten to twenty thousand individuals and firms, the assemblage would be somewhat unwieldy, so far as actual results are concerned. There might be much poise and good feeling, but small opportunity for the wholesaler to learn definite and directly helpful things about his trade.

But what are his privileges with the "house list" in the card catalog drawer? With it he can assemble his whole trade and quickly interview each customer. And customers, thus approached, consume no time in comments on the weather. These cards will tell him the fluctuations of each customer's trade, from month to month and year to year.

In these quiet card conventions with his buyers the merchant learns how much may be done with a right business system, besides adding more customers to his list. The word expansion has been as popular in business as in politics. There is something else to be done in the course of sound business progress besides expanding. To solidify your business structure is quite as essential as to expand it.

This fact is enforced with emphasis by an intelligent study of any system that really puts before the eye of the executive a complete picture of his relations with each customer on his list. There is nothing in which you can better invest two or three days' time, at intervals of three or six months, than in a direct personal study of these cards. Handle them with your own hands, read them with your own eyes and make your deductions and conclusions from your personal contact with the list.

WHEN you go through the customer list

get in mind a way to strengthen weak purchasers

and a plan for enlarging small accounts with frequent re-orders.

But what should you have in mind as you go through the "cabinet," turn one card after another and scan each customer's relations with the house? Two things: First, how to develop weak customers into sound ones; second, how to build small accounts into larger ones without increasing the tension of credit. In my opinion the first object to be held in view is quite as important as the second. It is more vital to have a trade that is absolutely sound and closely knit than to have a big trade full of weak spots that are causing work and worry. Enough weak accounts will strain the credit of the best wholesaler and will absorb more time and high-priced energy than they are worth — ten times over ! A glance at each card tells you how much your customer bought last month, how much the corresponding month of the previous year; how he has made his payments; and the whole character of his transactions.

After picking out the weak points which need to be fortified, the shrewd manager will carefully formulate the general lines of a campaign directed wholly to making stronger the customers he already has, without regard to getting new ones.

This must be done in a thoroughly systematic manner to be effective. In fact, it would be wholly impossible to make even the preliminary investigation necessary to such a campaign without having in operation a modern system, which, at least to a degree, is analytical in its operation. In this sort of campaign it should be remembered that the object is not to load your customers up with a larger line of goods, but to make them so strong that they will need more goods and can take them with less credit than under existing conditions.