Ep 47: High Risk, High Reward in Sales

The Sales Psyched Podcast

Episode 47: High Risk, High Reward in Sales
Today's episode focuses on risk taking in sales and the rewards that can follow when applied correctly. Knowing how and when to take risks is an important skill all salespeople should know and master. Not taking risks is safe and comfortable, but its also predictable. As you're listening, think of ways you can start applying some risk to your sales routine.
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Additional Resources

For more sales strategies, check out:

• Ep 39: Try a Creative Approach to Selling
• Ep 40: How the Best Salespeople Turn Problems into Opportunities

More About SalesDrive, LLC

At SalesDrive, LLC, we help companies perfect the salesperson hiring process by offering a variety of tools, like a sales assessment and psychologically-based interview guides, that aid companies in never hiring a bad salesperson again. SalesDrive was founded in 2005 based on the single biggest frustration many companies face, selecting sales candidates who interviewed well, only to flame out when placed on the line. Dr. Croner reviewed more than 90 years of academic research as well as his own work in conducting intensive behavioral interviews and discovered that high-performance salespeople shared three innate personality traits. After identifying a gap in the marketplace, he went on to develop The DriveTest® sales assessment. The only sales assessment to measure the three non-teachable traits necessary for new business acquisition.
If you are hiring salespeople, request a free DriveTest® assessment today: https://salesdrive.info/free-trial-request
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Transcript
[soft melody theme music]
[00:00] Katherine Abraham: Hello and Welcome to the Sales Psyched podcast, where we discuss strategies for leveraging psychology within the world of sales. Each episode is hosted by Dr. Chris Croner, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and has spent his career helping companies around the world build stellar sales teams.
[00:20] Let's get started.
[Sales Psyched intro music]
[00:30] Chris Croner: Taking risks, can yield big rewards. The great thing about studying selling and persuasion is you never know where a crazy example of marketing and sales may come from.
[00:40] This idea comes from some high school kids who are trying to get into Yale, one of the toughest colleges in the world for admission.
[00:48] My colleague tells a story about his daughter who had a phenomenal high school career. So, they flew up to New Haven to visit Yale. It was an impressive place. Tree lined sidewalks, Gothic architecture. The whole ivy league picture. They walked around and eventually gathered in an auditorium for a presentation on how best to apply.
[01:12] The presenter focused on the importance of the student's personal letter. The admissions committee wanted to see authenticity, creativity, intelligence, etc.
[01:23] As a sales guy, my colleague couldn't resist asking the presenter how anyone got their letters to stand out in a sea of intelligent letters written by smart students. Did she have any examples of crazy letters that really stood out and turned their heads.
[01:37] She laughed and said, "Well a couple come to mind." One, a student wrote the whole letter without any punctuation, but her favorite was a student who wrote her letter in a circle. Starting on the inside and growing larger and larger loops as her letter grew. My colleague asked if she was admitted and the presenter said yes, and of course the crowd laughed and applauded.
[02:02] That's a great example of what we psychologists call, 'The Von Restorff Effect.' When everybody else zigs, you zag. It's high risk, high reward and can be particularly useful for a new company or product going up against entrenched competitors. Apple's famous sledgehammer commercial deployed this strategy and changed the perception of computers forever. See you next time.
[soft outro music]
[02:32] Chris Croner:Thank you for listening to the sales psyched podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to click the subscribe button and leave us a five star review. If you found this information helpful, please consider sharing it. We'd love your help in spreading the word. Until next time. Take care.