National Sales Center

Is There Room For Hypnotism In Sales?

By, Nick Moreno

I allow comments on my Internet Videos and Blog Posts because disagreements often give birth to healthy debates. I also get comments that thank me for my work and those comments serve to further motivate me.

I recently received a comment on one of my Internet videos that got my attention. The comment said I sounded too much like a sale rep. It got me thinking. Did I sound too much like a sales rep? What is “sounding too much like sales rep”? I am a sales rep and my prospect knows all about it.

I did some investigation. The comment came from a Baltic Country, which says little about the comment but speaks volumes about the long arms of the Internet. However, I learned a great deal about the comment when I visited the author’s Web Site. This individual was a hypnotist branching out into the world of sales training.

This fellow was teaching salespeople hypnotic techniques to close business. This whole concept bothered me. Was it effective, necessary and most of all, ethical?

The concept of different disciplines branching out into sales training is nothing new. Psychologist and Sociologist have been doing it for years. Some of their work is beneficial and some is outright harmful. I have some thoughts on when they cross the line.

My whole working life has been the study of sales techniques and the art of salesmanship. I’m always open and ready to learn something new. At times I get disappointed and that often happens when one of these disciplines takes things too far just for the sake of expanding their target market.

Consider the case of “mirroring”. Mirroring is a powerful psychological rapport-building tool. As quick definitions go, mirroring involves mimicking the actions of the subject. The theory is that “likes” are attracted to each other, so if you copy the subject’s actions, you’ll create rapport with that prospect.

If the subject crosses their legs, you do the same. You copy the subject’s speech pattern and even their eye movement. These are just some of the components of mirroring. People like Psychologist and Interrogators use mirroring. I, for one, do not believe there is room for mirroring in sales.

We are salespeople not professional highly trained Psychologist or Interrogators. We work with qualified prospects not psychological subjects. In the case of mirroring, a little knowledge is dangerous. What if the prospect catches on? Just because something may apply is no reason it should apply. Besides, you can’t take a crash course on mirroring and expect to become an expert any more than a crash course on selling could produced a skilled professional sales rep.

So we get back to Hypnotism and Sales. Even if I could, I’m not interested in putting my prospects in some trance. When you’re an expert at executing the Sales Process, you don’t need tricks. I’m all for using hypnotists to help people overcome fears or to help people do things like quitting smoking. I’m against using hypnotism in sales. First, I’m a sales rep not a hypnotist. Second, I strongly feel that even attempting such techniques is unethical. Third, I don’t need them.

Just my thoughts on Sales and Hypnotism. You are welcomed to disagree.

If not, what’s your plan to improve sales?

To your sales success!

Nick Moreno

Tags: sales techniques