Sherlock Holmes’ Secret Sales Power
I’ve gotten into Sherlock Holmes lately and am always amazed how he manages to suss out the culprit and solve unsolvable riddles. His skills got me thinking about how important it is for salespeople to develop the same powers of observation if they want to be truly legendary (like our Spiro users).
A lot of sales is about reading between the lines – focusing on the hidden message and connecting the dots to understand what’s influencing your prospect or customer’s decision making process.
It’s easy to get a false positive from a prospect, for example, because people just don’t like saying no. You might also be able to link to company objectives. For example, if you’re selling advertising and hear that their current marketing strategy isn’t working out.
If you could pick up on the spooky hidden cues that show the difference between what people say and what people do, you wouldn’t have to waste precious time on the wrong relationships. It’s this kind of heightened awareness that separates good salespeople from great ones.
So how can you improve your powers of observation? According psychologist Maria Konnikova, author of the upcoming book Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, it’s not that hard. Here are a few tips from an interview with her on LifeHacker to start honing those spidey senses that will make you a sales guru.
Slow Down and Observe
Simple, because it is. Unfortunately, a lot of people have trained themselves to speed up in order to meet the demands of the fast-paced world we live in. When you train yourself to slow down and notice at least one new thing every day about your regular environment, you’ll be exercising a shift in behavior that will help re-wire your brain to pick up on detail. Try setting challenges like noticing the times of day your prospect likes to talk, or the number of times your coworker wears the same shirt.
Take Notes
Grab a small notebook or pad and jot down all the interesting things you notice about your environment, people, routines, and places every day. Putting these details on paper that you otherwise would have flushed out of your brain the next day will help shift your perspective and create a new behavior pathway for observation.
Meditate
Yes, meditation really does help. The proven benefits of even a few minutes of meditation are great and will help center your mind and quiet down the swirl of disorganized thoughts. Try being present and aware of all things around you.
Ask Yourself If There Are Any Connections You Might Have Missed
Observation isn’t much without deduction. You need to be able to take A and B and get to C, otherwise you’re no Sherlock Holmes. Start by always thinking critically about your environment, look for connections and instead of thinking linearly, engage your entire knowledge base. A good way to improve your deduction abilities is to simply learn more about your target. Do your research!
Despite all his powers of observation and deduction, I do think that Sherlock Holmes would still be a terrible sales person. He isn’t persuasive and doesn’t use the psychological principles of influence, but relies on Watson to do that for him. Remember that in order to read between the lines and suss out the difference between what people say and mean, you have to KNOW how people think. Check out our blog on how to use some Jedi Mind Tricks of persuasion to get your way in sales.
If you could only have one, which would it be: Super-human powers of observation and deduction, or James Bond-like charm and persuasive abilities? Tell us below.
Image courtesy of BBC One
