I would describe David Kurkjian’s new book as an exploration of humanistically centered corporatism. Crony corporatism has long been the cliche inspiring media like the infamous Wall Street and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. But Kurkjian, true to postmodernist form, adopts a different approach, and a different philosophy. “As a salesperson, you’re expected to be passionate about the product or service that you represent, but sometimes that passion can get in your way.
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There is a biological reason behind this behavior. You’ll read several ways behavioral psychology comes into play in sales throughout this book. One of these aspects of behavior shows up when you meet somebody for the very first time,” Kurkjian writes in 6x Convert More Prospects to Customers. “When you meet someone for the first time, you are most comfortable when you’re talking about something you’re passionate or knowledgeable about. The science behind this is a well-known hormone called dopamine.
When you’re speaking about something you’re passionate or knowledgeable about, dopamine drips on your brain to make you feel good. The better you feel, the more you talk. This can lead to a feature and benefit dump in an early conversation with a prospect. In a volume of information, it’s easy for the most important information to get lost.
The result is confusion on the part of your prospect as they are trying to make sense of all the information you’ve communicated…You show up for a meeting with a prospect and communicate in a way that sounds and looks just like your competition. As human beings, we’re constantly looking for outliers: Things that are different or unique in our environment. It’s a survival mechanism so that we can quickly identify things that don’t belong and then rightly categorize them as a danger or not. In a selling conversation when you sound just like the last salesperson who walked through your prospect’s door, it makes it very difficult for your prospect to remember what is said, what’s unique, or what’s important about your product or service.
The other place this shows up is on your website. With a never-ending number of different companies within industries, it’s interesting that you could look at two competing websites and swap the names of the companies on the website and not be able to tell the difference. You’ll learn later in the book how to identify your unique value and highlight it in your conversations and your website so that you don’t sound and look like your competition.”
He also writes, “…There’s a simple question that you can ask yourself before you ever engage in a conversation with a prospect or customer to ensure that you have the right mindset—a winning mindset…When I asked the salesperson how creating those outcomes for their prospects makes them feel, the obvious answer is it feels good.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/6X-Prospects-Customers-Early-Stage-Conversations/dp/1958211168
Part of developing a winning mindset is being clear about why you’re selling a product or service. If the answer is only to make money, that will only take you so far. If your ‘why’ is to have a positive impact on another human being, it can have a ripple effect on your behavior. All of a sudden, cold calling isn’t as much of a challenge because you’re focused on how you can impact someone else’s life. Every activity necessary to create a customer now has new meaning.”
Garth Thomas