lesson. The same concept applies to motivating your sellers. Ask your higher-performing reps to strategize how they would use the new content in their sales process. En- gage new or lower-performing sellers in visualizing what they might lose by not using collateral. Recent research shows that those who focus on losses are significantly more likely to use the material than those who think about what they might gain. These results line up with the deci- sion science concept of loss aversion. The idea states that, psychologically, losses loom larger than gains – even when equal. For example, people tend to weigh the loss of $100 more heavily than a $100 gain. Engaging in thoughtful planning makes sellers 98% more likely to use
SELLING TIP Building New Attitudes
In 1922, Dr. Emile Coue – a pharmacist who lived in a small brick house in Nancy, France – became world- famous. He had stumbled onto a remarkable cure for a variety of ills, a cure that became known as the science of auto-suggestion. News reports from that time marveled, “Week after week, people stricken with disease come to Dr. Coue and go away strength- ened, on the road to recovery, sometimes instanta- neously cured.” The fame of Dr. Coue’s achievements spread through- out France, then leapfrogged to England and the United States. Thousands of people began to repeat his formula for health and happiness. Coue’s technique was decep- tively simple and his honesty quite disarming. “I have never cured anyone,” he told reporters. “You can train your subconscious to radiate health and success.” What was Dr. Coue’s attitude-building technique? “Every morning before getting up, and every evening as soon as you are in bed, shut your eyes and repeat 20 times in succession, moving your lips (that is indispensable) and recounting mechanically the following phrase: ‘Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better.’” This sentence is so simple that its very simplicity makes it work: “In every way,” broadcasts to our subconscious that we are getting better physically, mentally, profes- sionally, financially, and in any other way we can possibly
the collateral than those who aren’t asked to complete any learning activity.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Three other elements also play key roles in enabling your sales team to leverage collateral: applicability, avail- ability, and accessibility. To optimize the content’s value, include seller and buyer input as well as analyt- ics. You also want to make sure reps know what content is available and where they can find it. A central, easily searched repository satisfied both those needs.
Sales materials are powerful. Don’t
let the time and money that market- ing has invested in creating the con- tent go to waste. The presenters you choose – and the story they tell – can enhance collateral’s use and positive
‘‘
When placed in command, take charge.
NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF
impact. Be mindful of sellers’ prefer- ences and get creative in your presen- tations. Challenge your employees to apply the concepts. This strategic approach will give your sales team more firepower to close deals.
Mark Magnacca is president and co-found- er of Allego, and the co-author of Master- ing Virtual Selling: Orchestrating Sales Success with Yuchun Lee and Tony Jeary.
imagine. “I am getting better,” regenerates our hopes for the future. I may be improved tomorrow, but the next day there will be greater and greater improvement. But why move the lips? Because Coue suggested
that the belief in the power of auto-suggestion must come from the imagination, not the will. “Whenever the imagination and the will are in conflict, the imagi- nation wins. The mechanical counting and the move- ment of the lips occupy the conscious mind, including the will, and leave the subconscious mind open to create positive images.” To illustrate that imagination is stronger than willpower,
Dr. Coue asked people to imagine the following experi- ment. “Take a 30-foot plank, one foot wide, and put it on the ground. Then, step by step, walk across the entire length of the plank. Next, place the same plank between two large buildings, 150 feet above the ground. Then step on the same plank and carefully walk across to the other building. Chances are that you would not walk on that high plank.” Does Dr. Coue’s auto-suggestion work? Try it. It has been tested and proven right by thousands of people for over a century. If Dr. Coue were alive today, he would tell you what he once told a reporter: “To become master of oneself, it is enough to think that one is becoming so. It is not in me but in yourself that you must have con- fidence, for it is in yourself alone that dwells the force which can make you the master. My part simply consists of teaching you to make use of that force.”
– SELLING POWER EDITORS SELLING POWER MAY/JUNE 2023 | 13 © 2023 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.
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