The Psychology Of Selling: How To Sell More, Easier, and Faster Than you Ever Thought Possible

by Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy, one of the top professional speakers and sales trainers in the world today, found that his most important breakthrough in selling was the discovery that it is the "Psychology of Selling" that is more important than the techniques and methods of selling. Tracy's classic audio program, The Psychology of Selling , is the best-selling sales training program in history and is now available in expanded and updated book format for the first time. Salespeople will Salespeople, says Tracy, must learn to control their thoughts, feelings, and actions to make themselves more effective.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Psychology, Self Help, Personal Development, Audiobook, Entrepreneurship

220 pages, Hardcover

First published April 6, 2016

About the author

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.

He has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 55 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year.

Brian has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

He has written and produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs, including the worldwide, best-selling Psychology of Achievement, which has been translated into more than 20 languages.

He speaks to corporate and public audiences on the subjects of Personal and Professional Development, including the executives and staff of many of America's largest corporations. His exciting talks and seminars on Leadership, Selling, Self-Esteem, Goals, Strategy, Creativity and Success Psychology bring about immediate changes and long-term results.

Prior to founding his company, Brian Tracy International, Brian was the Chief Operating Officer of a $265 million dollar development company. He has had successful careers in sales and marketing, investments, real estate development and syndication, importation, distribution and management consulting. He has conducted high level consulting assignments with several billion-dollar plus corporations in strategic planning and organizational development.

He has traveled and worked in over 80 countries on six continents, and speaks four languages. Brian is happily married and has four children. He is active in community and national affairs, and is the President of three companies headquartered in San Diego, California.

His most popular training programs are centered around teaching authors how to write a book and helping public speakers create successful careers.

Reviews

[Obed M. Parlapiano · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is both great and a farce at the same time.

Let me explain myself.

The book is filled with explanations on how to be a better salesperson, but these references and explanations are almost from a meta psychical standpoint.

The explanations come from experience, as the author says, but it's not hard to imagine that these explanations are only given to get readers and potential sales people excited and nothing more.

Many of the explanations and ideas sound true, but lack greatly in the sense of scientifically truth. You wouldn't be able to prove most of the statements in this book.

Moreover, what made me be extremely cautious of EVERYTHING. explained in the book is the fact that I found many of the so importantly quoted "experiments" or '"test" to be false. These experiments and studies did not take place and are purely invented of myths altogether.

This leads me to think, if these examples are not true, then what else is not?

A perfect example is the "people who write down their goals achieve them 90% more often that people who don't". This is a myth, there has been no study whatsoever proving this to be right.

Yet the author uses the same example over and over as if it was the secret to sell millions.

I leave the rest to your own judgement.

[Vaishali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when you thought he couldn't get better, he does. Brian Tracy's words simply cannot be missed, no matter who you are or what you do. Selling strategies couldn’t be listed here; please read the book!
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"The most successful organizations in the world are all superb selling organizations.They recognize they have certain products, but they rise or fall depending on the quality of their sales efforts."

"There’s a direct relationship between your self-concept, and the performance of your effectiveness in every area of your life. Each one of us has a self-concept, and … always performs in a manner consistent with it."

"Once you know you are successful at selling, you can go anywhere in the world and write your own ticket."

"We cannot earn in the outside world what we cannot in our own minds. We must achieve it in our minds before we achieve it in our realities. This is just a fact of life."

"We must become more confident and skilled in a new area."

"How much you like yourself is the key determinant in how you perform in everything you do. The more you like yourself, the less you fear rejection."

Fact: 80% of sales are closed after the 5th request to buy.
Only 10% of salespeople make 5 requests

"If you become a perpetual self-esteem generating organism, that alone will contribute to your income more than any other thing."

"All successful sales are based on one factor: friendship."

"A person will not buy from you until they are genuinely convinced that you are their friend and acting in their best interest."

"You have a healthy personality to the degree to which you can get along with the greatest number of types of different people."

"The person who really likes himself has the greatest facility for making friends wherever they go."

"When you are really down with yourself, you can only get along with very few people, and then only those of average temperament."

"The very best salespeople have the natural ability to make friends easily with prospective customers."

"A sale is a transfer of enthusiasm… a transfer of your emotional commitment and belief in that product."

"We back our sales efforts with will power and determination."

"The reason why so many people fail is that they do not stay at it long enough and hard enough to get those first few winning experiences that raise their self-esteem and self-concept that set them off to a successful career in selling."

"No matter what happens, say to yourself 'I will never, ever, ever give up. I will never stop pushing. Nothing is going to make me stop until I am successful.' Making that decision alone causes your self-esteem to go up. "

Psychological Make-up of the Superior Salesperson
1. High levels self-confidence/esteem
2. Accepts 100% responsibility for their results
3. Above-average ambition and desire to sell
4. Empathy
5. Intensely goal-oriented
6. Belief in themselves, their product, their company, and the value their giving to the customer
7. Honesty
8. Turns strangers into friends

"Winners work damn hard. Winners are absolutely determined to win, and are willing to pay the price."

"Average salespeople look at a prospect as a one-time ask; top professionals look at each customer as if they will be doing business with them for the next 20 years."

"Empathy: we care about our customers and would never sell them something that wasn’t good for them."

"Superior salespeople like goals: They know what they will earn each quarter, each day, each year. They know how many calls they’re going to make, and what they’re going to do with the money."

"Money doesn’t come quickly or easily. It comes only with persistent work continuously over an extended period of time."

"If you cannot put your whole heart into selling, you will never be successful."

.

[Rick Yvanovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good sales book whether you are new to sales or a veteran, it's stuffed full of wisdom and nuggets of gold.

[Jeff Hennore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book! Tracy helped me embrace the fact that I am a salesman, and to not be ashamed of it. He gives great pointers on how we can be in the top 1%, which I have implemented and found great success in doing so. I think that every salesman should read this book!

[Bassel · Rating 1 out of 5]

كتاب يفيد ان كنت تقرأ في المجال للمرات الأولى ولكنه لم يقدم أي جديد وشابه كتب عديدة في محتواه

[Julie Ambani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started a new job in sales and marketing a few months ago and for a beginner in this field, this is exactly the kind of book and content that I needed to kick start me. The book focuses on sales, persuasion and the psychology that consumers have. It focused a lot on psychology with testimonials included. Would recommend for any beginner as well as anyone else in this field seeking some simple and straightforward knowledge.

[Dare · Rating 2 out of 5]

در کل برای یه دید کلی و شروع بد نیست ولی خیلی جاها توصیه های گاها اشتباهی رو به خواننده القا میکنه
مثلا بسیار تاکید بر عمده فروشی به جای خرده فروشی داره که در دنیا امروز اکثرا به این نتیجه رسیدن که پوشش بیشتر و داشتن مشتری بیشتر بهتر از چندتا مشتری گنده هستش. متاسفانه این قانون 20 - 80 زیادی ازش سواستقاده میشه تو این کتاب.
یا یه جا دیگه میگه که با کاهش سود، فروش بیشتری رو داشته باشین. این جمله خیلی داغونه تو بحثهای اقتصادی. چون بسته به کالا و منحنی تقاضای آن، کشش محصول در بازار و جایگزینهای احتمالی محصول و ... این حرف میتونه درست یا غلط باشه و نمیشه به صورت یک قانون کلی اون رو نگاه کرد.
کتاب خیلی سیاه یا سفید قضیه رو نگاه میکنه که توی دنیای واقعی به هیچ وجه به این شکل نیست.
این کتاب بیشتر برای تحریک افراد فروشنده هستش که فروش بهتری داشته باشند و خیلی جاها این انگیزش رو ایجاد میکنه.
به عنوان یه کتاب انگیزشی بد نیست ولی اصلا به عنوان یه منبع علمی مقداری باید با شک و تردید آن را خواند.

[Juan Sanoja · Rating 3 out of 5]

8 enseñanzas esenciales para vender más:

-Escucha atentamente. Los prospectos no quieren oírte, quieren hablar.

-Emociona. Crea imágenes en la mente del cliente para que se visualice disfrutando los beneficios de tu producto/servicio.

-Recuerda que la gente no compra características, sino soluciones.

-Haz demostraciones.

-Quien pregunta tiene el control. El ser humano está programado para contestar siempre.

-Háblale al prospecto como si ya hubiese comprado.

-"No puedes volar con las águilas si sigues jugando con los pavos".

-Ponte metas altas. Vístete, habla y actúa como si ya fueses uno de los mejores vendedores del mundo. Trata de cerrar peces gordos.

[Mario Tomic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Tracy nailed it in this book! No matter how good you are at sales there's something to be learned from his material. Actually even if you're not in sales you should still read this book because there's various aspects of it that can be applied in everyday life as well. What I liked most about The Psychology of Selling is how Brian Tracy present specific techniques you can instantly apply, there's very few filler content here and most of the things you can directly apply. Highly recommended reading, especially if you're in sales or marketing!

[Jason Wicky Ong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mundane stuff. Top producers earn way more than the rest. 80/20. Winning edge. Need the foundation.

blah blah blah. saying some points but seldom teaching how. For Eg, you need enthusiasm, you need to be different from others but how? any tips?

A couple of outdated or wrong info: You don't close a insurance deal on the first session because you need to go back, gather info and come back again. outdated.

Brian Tracy's books are mostly informational but have little stories or examples.

[KnowledgeSpecter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was the first sales book I’ve read. I liked the combination of sales tips, self improvement and psychology. The way he at the end of each chapters concludes everything made it easier to remember and digest what the chapter was about. Overall a great book and tips to get started with immediately.

[Heba El Saeid Mohammed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Self development... Which means for me pure bullshit

[Joshua Pitzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Work hard. Be the best. Ok Brian Tracy.

[Faizan · Rating 3 out of 5]

same stuff that i am doing for some years
wish i read it earlier
would have learned from it instead of experience

[Paul Botterill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read three books by Brian Tracey and all of them, this one included, have been excellent and really useful. This one gives loads of tips for how to improve sales performance through understanding your own and your clients’ psychologies. I do not doubt that applying what Brian teaches will lead to improved sales in any company.

[Shamaila Hussain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a good starter book to get you thinking and in the right mindset

[Tima CH · Rating 5 out of 5]

first, no one is born with these qualities. second, all of these qualities are learnable through PRACTICE

[Al Amin Khan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it some topics that are obvious to follow. If we look at the successful individuals in their careers, we will find them they are trying to improve them every day by practicing consistently. In that regard, I agree with Mr Brian Tracy's point of view.

On the other hand, there are some points that I couldn't agree with because of the lack of scientific evidence.

[Wael Hamza · Rating 4 out of 5]

*******************
كتاب جيد عن البيع من براين ترايسي ، تكلم فيه عن مختلف مراحل عمليات البيع بشكل شيق ، أنصح من يقرأه أن لا يكتفي بمجرد القراءة الأولى حتي يحصل على الاستفادة الكاملة من الكتاب

[Noura Shawki · Rating 3 out of 5]

اساليب قديمة إلا أنهاا مفيدة

[ⵎⵓⵏⵉⵔ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The lessons in this book are by no means revolutionary, and most of its content is mundane if you've read a few self-help books. Furthermore, Brian Tracy fails to prove most of the statements he makes in the book, e.g. "according to studies, 90% of X do Y". But which studies? When have they been conducted? By whom and at which universities or institutes? At least in the audiobook version, nothing was mentioned.

Some of the statements are clearly incorrect and are probably there just to tickle the reader's fancy, for example the idea that you can become very rich by working harder than everyone else. While it may be true that many powerful and rich people work insane hours, there are also millions of people who work just as hard or more, but are very poor or middle class. Working more while getting paid per hour only guarantees a linear increase in wealth, which will never get you to a millionnaire status (unless maybe you save most of the money you make for 20-30 years and invest it wisely). The key rather, it seems, is to leverage other people's work (become the founder or investor in a successful company, and hire people to do the work for you) or to sell something that can scale up to millions of people with the same amount of work, or only a little extra work (e.g. develop a successful mobile or web application).

Some recommendations in the book are just ridiculous. Like making yourself motivated or confident by repeating to yourself "I am awsome, I am great, I am a genius". Really Mr. Tracy?

Nonethless, there are a few nuggets of wisdom in the book, which are probably applicable beyond the domain of sales, in the strict sense. After all, many of our interactions involve "selling" people something, even if it the "profit" gained is just a smile, being liked and approved of, getting a favor, etc. Some of the good takeaways from the book:
- Active listening: paying close attention when people (customers) talk and not interrupting them. You can learn much about someone simply by paying careful attention to what they say, and in response you can provide them with what they need, while benefiting as well both on the short and long term. Generally it also makes people feel more important when you listen to them, and they tend to like you more, thus facilitating the interaction.
- Asking a lot of questions: it goes with active listening. Making people talk about themselves, reveals things you can use to further your goals. It's also good to be curious overall, and be an active learner, not just about a narrow domain. Many ideas and strategies can be transferred between and applied in seemingly unrelated domains.
- Paying attention to your appearance when dealing with people. I was one of those who never paid attention to the clothes I wore in public, and overall how I conducted myself. And while I'm still somewhat negligent in that regard, I can appreciate the fact that some effort in this direction can go a long way in projecting the intended image in people's minds about myself.
- Always being prepared and rehearsing what you say and do when it comes to business deals and equivalent. Again, it can be easy to get negligent in this regard, under the guise of being "spontaneous", but unless the interaction is strictly casual (e.g. a meeting with some old friends or family), one must always have a goal and a plan.
- Always telling the truth, to yourself and to others, and not succumbing to fantasies or delusions. I'm certainly guilty of having spent many years in my 20s fantasizing about unfulfillable possibilities not grounded in reality, both self-agrandizing and self-sabotaging, until eventually that solid ground hit me hard in the face. So much time was wasted that could have been channeled to more purposeful and meaningful endeavors.

But again, most of these are generic advice, as one usually gets from self-help books. Personally, I think most of these books can be quickly summarized in a few pages or a 10-15 minutes video at most. The only thing I find useful, most of the time, about self-help is to serve as a reminder for things we know or kinda know, but have forgotten or lost in the midst of the diluge of information we are subject to in the world of the 21st century. If widsom is the ability to know what's relevant/useful/important and what's not, then self-help content certainly can bring some of it by highlighting the things we should care about in our endeavors, assuming the goals we aim for are themselves worth pursuing in the first place.

[HillbillyMystic · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I catch someone at the store pushing a cart with 10 cases of Mountain Dew and 5 grips of whiskey I slide into my Ozark accent and say, “You know what we call this is Missourah? A good start.” That is how I feel about this toothless bear. It was a good start but it will require much more research on topics like neural linguistic programming because while he mentioned good topics he never cited research or gave other authors to explore. In my humble opinion the best books are first of by authors who have been censored in the last two years for daring to question the insane medical industrial complex tyranny, and offer a lifetime of reading in resources. He did peak my interest though in a few areas so hopefully I can use my psychic fifth element to discover a good author on said topics.

[Omar Abu · Rating 4 out of 5]

To put it in a nut shell, this book is good for those sales people who really think they are giving it their all but they are not getting results, it really points out those small details in different phases on the sales cycle that transforms a normal salesperson to outstanding. However, there is a lot of exaggerated statements and maybe some ‘outdated’ techniques. All in all, the book is good but I would say don’t focus on it as a whole rather on those areas that are relevant to you.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Albert Vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libro con información de oro!

Intenté reducir los párrafos que resaltaba pero era inevitable ya que encontré tantas ideas útiles para mejorar en las ventas que no podía dejar de hacerlo.

Ahora toca mi parte de aplicar este conocimiento! Vamos con todo.

Totalmente recomendado.

[Kelyn Carney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Succinct and sufficient

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I'll read again and again. If you want more sales in your business, then this book will help. Equally, if you want a more successful life, then this book will help.
Overall, this book is a fantastic resource which should be mandatory reading for everyone.

[Joseph Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a little older, so the idea of how cells work is a little bit different compared to now and day tactics. Mostly discussed the main fundamentals of selling, have goals, dress nice, talk to everybody, understand the different buyers.

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buen libro pero antes recomendaría sus seminarios. 80% del libro lo encuentras en sus seminarios con más ejemplos y anécdotas que ayudan a fijar ese conocimiento.

[Peter Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot imagine a better foundation for selling. This is something you can return to again and again and use as a reference. It's also useful even if you don't aspire to be a professional salesperson.