Book excerpt: The New Psychology of Selling The sales profession is in the midst of a perfect storm. Buyers have more power—more information, more at stake, and more control over the sales process—than any time in history. Technology is bringing disruptive change at an ever-increasing pace, creating fear and uncertainty that leaves buyers clinging to the status quo. Deteriorating attention spans have made it difficult to get buyers to sit still long enough to “challenge,” “teach,” “help,” give “insight,” or sell “value.” And a relentless onslaught of “me-too” competitors have made differentiating on the attributes of products, services, or even price more difficult than ever. Legions of salespeople and their leaders are coming face to face with a cold hard truth: what once gave salespeople a competitive edge—controlling the sales process, command of product knowledge, an arsenal of technology, and a great pitch—are no longer guarantees of success. Yet this is where the vast majority of the roughly $20 billion spent each year on sales training goes. It’s no wonder many companies are seeing 50 percent or more of their salespeople miss quota. Yet, in this new paradigm, an elite group of top 1 percent sales professionals are crushing it. In our age of technology where information is ubiquitous and buyer attention spans are fleeting, these superstars have learned how to leverage a new psychology of selling—Sales EQ—to keep prospects engaged, create true competitive differentiation, as well as shape and influence buying decisions. These top earners are acutely aware that the experience of buying from them is far more important than products, prices, features, and solutions. In Sales EQ, Jeb Blount takes you on an unprecedented journey into the behaviors, techniques, and secrets of the highest earning salespeople in every industry and field. You’ll learn: How to answer the 5 Most Important Questions in Sales to make it virtually impossible for prospects to say no How to master 7 People Principles that will give you the power to influence anyone to do almost anything How to shape and align the 3 Processes of Sales to lock out competitors and shorten the sales cycle How to Flip the Buyer Script to gain complete control of the sales conversation How to Disrupt Expectations to pull buyers towards you, direct their attention, and keep them engaged How to leverage Non-Complementary Behavior to eliminate resistance, conflict, and objections How to employ the Bridge Technique to gain the micro-commitments and next steps you need to keep your deals from stalling How to tame Irrational Buyers, shake them out of their comfort zone, and shape the decision making process How to measure and increase you own Sales EQ using the 15 Sales Specific Emotional Intelligence Markers And so much more! Sales EQ begins where The Challenger Sale, Strategic Selling, and Spin Selling leave off. It addresses the human relationship gap in the modern sales process at a time when sales organizations are failing because many salespeople have never been taught the human skills required to effectively engage buyers at the emotional level. Jeb Blount makes a compelling case that sales specific emotional intelligence (Sales EQ) is more essential to success than education, experience, industry awareness, product knowledge, skills, or raw IQ; and, sales professionals who invest in developing and improving Sales EQ gain a decisive competitive advantage in the hyper-competitive global marketplace. Sales EQ arms salespeople and sales leaders with the tools to identify their most important sales specific emotional intelligence developmental needs along with strategies, techniques, and frameworks for reaching ultra-high performance and earnings, regardless of sales process, industry, deal complexity, role (inside or outside), product or service (B2B or B2C).