The Psychology of Selling By Brian Tracy

It shares ideas for salespeople to sell faster and easier than ever before

Tracy begins his book by explaining why salespeople are important and how they can break into the top 20% of reps in any business.

He explains, “The only real creators of wealth in our society are businesses,” and “Salespeople are the most vital people in any business.” Tracy continues, “Without sales, the biggest and most sophisticated companies shut down.”

If that doesn’t get you fired up to head into the office today, I don’t know what will. While a vibrant sales team is crucial for success, not everyone is bound for greatness. The 80/20 rule was an eye-opener for Tracy, early in his career. He knew that in order to break into the top 20% of salespeople, he would need to abide by the “winning edge concept” which states: “Small differences in ability can lead to enormous differences in results.”

He believes if salespeople focus on getting a little bit better in key areas of selling, it accumulates into “an extraordinary difference in income.” These seven key result areas, or KRAs, are:

Prospecting

Building rapport

Identifying needs

Presenting

Answering objections

Closing the sale

Getting resales and referrals

Tracy also believes a salesperson’s “self-concept” is important to success. A bad self-concept in any one of these key areas means you’ll avoid it, make mistakes, and feel frustrated. If you have a positive self-concept about prospecting, Tracy argues, it will be no problem for you.

Every day is full of opportunity and your pipeline will likely stay full. If you have a poor self-concept, however, you’ll view prospecting as something to be fearful and anxious about.