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

by Brian Tracy

This book is the written version of my internationally successful The Psychology of Selling audio sales program. Since this program was originally

he asked a series of logical questions, from general to specific, that were ideally suited to a genuine prospect. At the end of this series of questions, it had become perfectly clear to the prospect that he could use and benefit from our product. The final question was simply to close the sale. Take Action Immediately I wrote everything down. Fortified with this new approach to selling, I went out and started calling on prospects once more. But this time, instead of talking, I asked questions. Rather than trying to overwhelm the prospect with the features and benefits of my product, I focused on learning about the prospect’s situation and how I could best help him or her. With this new method, my sales went up. Then I learned about books on selling. I had no idea that some of the best salespeople in the world had written some of the best ideas on selling in books. I began reading everything I could find on selling, spending the first two hours of every day studying and taking notes. Next I learned about audio learning. It changed my life. I began to listen, hour after hour, to audio programs as I walked from office to office. I listened to them in the morning; I listened to them in the evening. I rehearsed and practiced the best sentences and phrases from the best salespeople until I could recite them in my sleep. And my sales went up and up. Then I discovered sales seminars. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I had no idea how much you could learn from a sales semi...

he asked a series of logical questions, from general to specific, that were ideally suited to a genuine prospect. At the end of this series of questions, it had become perfectly clear to the prospect that he could use and benefit from our product. The final question was simply to close the sale.

But this time, instead of talking

I asked questions

I focused on learning about the prospect’s situation and how I could best help him or her. With this ...

The simple idea that changed my life was the discovery of the “Law of Cause and Effect.” What this law says is that there is a cause for every effect, that everything happens for a reason. Success is not an accident. Failure is not an accident either. In fact, success is predictable. It leaves tracks. Success is not an accident. Failure is not an accident either. In fact, success is predictable. It leaves tracks. Here is a great rule: “If you do what other successful people do, over and over again, nothing in the world can stop you from eventually getting

the same results that they do. And if you don’t, nothing can help you.”

Remember that everyone in the top 10 percent in sales today started in ...

Visualize this thing that you want. See it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint, and begin to build. —ROBERT COLLIER

The only real creators of wealth in our society are businesses.

Salespeople are the most vital people in any business.

Salespeople are essential to our way of life.

You can be proud to be a sales professional. Your ability to sell can give you a high income and lifelong job security. No matter how many changes take place in the economy, there will always be a need for top salespeople.

By becoming excellent in sales, you can accomplish any financial goal you set for yourself.

Seventy-four percent of self-made millionaires in America are entrepreneurs, people who start and build their own businesses.

And among entrepreneurs, the single most important skill for success is the ability to sell.

In the same year, I addressed two elite groups in two different industries. The people in these industries had all started off on the street, dialing for dollars out of the newspaper or the Yellow Pages. They all worked on straight commission, one sale at a time. But the average yearly income of the salespeople in these elite groups was $833,000 and $850,000. Some of the top people in these groups earned several million dollars a year on straight commission!

Your goal must therefore be to get into the top 20 percent, and then the top 10 percent, the top 5 percent, the top 4 percent, and so on.

It is to make you one of the highest-paid people in your industry.

“Small differences in ability can lead to enormous differences in results.”

Once you develop this small lead, like compound interest, it continues to grow.

inside of them than with what is going on outside

“The very best proof that something can be done is that someone else has already done it.”

Remember, everyone starts at the bottom and works his way up. If

Your self-concept is the “master program” of your subconscious computer. It is like an operating system that determines everything you say, think, feel, and do.

All change/improvement in your life begins when you alter and improve your self-concept, your inner programming.

you will ever need and only making sales calls because you enjoy meeting new people. This calm, confident, relaxed attitude, as if you were already a wealthy person, will help you perform at your very best, with much less tension.

When you start selling for the first time, your heart is usually in your throat. It is pounding so loudly that you think people around you can hear it. Your stomach is often churning when you go into your first sales call. Psychologists say that you often act as if you were a child in fear of getting a spanking.

Your self-concept is largely subjective. It is not based on reality. It is based solely on the ideas or thoughts that you have about yourself, especially the self-limiting opinions that hold most people back.

Fear and self-doubt have always been the greatest enemies ...

“Belief creates the actual fact.”

If you believe that you are limited in some way, you will feel and act as if you are limited, and it will become true for you.

They are very often illusions in your own mind.

Self-limiting beliefs develop early and easily. Sometimes you will try something, like skiing or skating, and do it poorly the first time. You will immediately conclude that you are no good at that sport. From then on, you will sabotage yourself by seeking out examples to validate your initial decision. Soon you will avoid that area of activity altogether.

concept. When you really like yourself in a particular role, you perform at your best in that role.

High-self-esteem people meet and marry other high-self-esteem people. High-self-esteem parents raise high-self-esteem children. High-self- esteem bosses build high-self-esteem salespeople and employees. High-self-esteem men and women set higher standards for themselves and practice higher levels of self-discipline. They have better friendships and get along better with the people they meet. They are generally happier and more fulfilled than people who don’t like themselves very much.

A person who doesn’t like himself or feels badly about himself in a particular area performs poorly in that area.

you become what you think about most of the time.

As a fundamental principle, every human action is aimed at an improvement of some kind. People buy products and services because they feel they will be better off as a result.

he no longer has the money and is stuck with the product. Since every prospect has had this experience more than once, there is always a certain amount of buying resistance.

Professional selling begins with needs analysis

You are not really in a position to sell until you have asked enough questions and listened closely enough to the answers.

This enables you to understand the most intense need of the prospect that your produc...

Once you have identified the customer’s key needs and wants, you can then structure your presentation in such a way that you demonstrate overwhelmingly to the customer that he w...

He only cares about what your product or service will do for him.

“What’s In It For Me?”

The prospect does not care what your product is. He only cares about what your product or service will do for him.

Your job is to clearly identify what arrives in the customer’s bucket as the result of his or her buying what you are selling.

He buys it chiefly for “peace of mind.”