The Science: 1 Dog, 1 Bell & Great Sales

Please Note - My articles, sales tips and methods can certainly give you ways to persuade your clients, and how to sell anything to anyone. However, I would again start this article with the same pledge, principle or vow, and would request you to follow the same at all costs - "CUSTOMER SUCCESS and HIGH ETHICS in sales, is all that I'll do. Won't sell anything to anyone to make myself rich, but would sell only to those things to clients, that makes my clients rich"

With that pledge in mind, let's dive in.

A lot of sales people come to me with just a simple question. How do you keep your energy high all day, even though you work for nearly 18 hours? Why it does not impact your Sales Pitch or Sales Presentation or Client Conversations? Now, we all know that energy, enthusiasm or charisma is really important for a sales person to stand out of the crowd, especially when there is a client interaction. Moreover, for god sake, your clients pay you to be at your best, to serve them your best and to deliver your best all the time. So, you can't talk bull**** or sound tired or look dreadful. But there are days like - you haven't slept well, did not eat right, suffering from hangover, personal trauma, break-up, etc...... and your mood is off, and your life sucks (at that very moment, maybe at least in your view). So how do we ensure we still sound enthusiastic, energetic & full of charisma every time we need to?

Now, before you jump to a conclusion like a sales rookie and start thinking about energy drinks, drugs, smoke, tea, coffee etc. or talk about bull**** like 'it's all in the mind', keep your personal and professional life separate. Let me tell you that all these things are nonsense, and yeah! maybe you've tried a lot of them, and none have worked for you too. It's just when a few of us in sales are in a great mood, or are successful, we simply try to create logic with such frivolous items to create fun and motivate others.

So how do we do it for real? How do we get that energy exactly at the same time when we need it? How can I come across as a charismatic person all the time? How can I give my clients, my best work each time? AND For god sake, how can I work for 18 hours a day and still act full of life and energy? I am not a CEO of any company like Google, Facebook, Adobe, Microsoft, Gainsight etc. I am just a regular sales guy and I want to sleep for 15 hours a day for 3 days at least now, can i not do that?.... guess this covers most of the thoughts I hear around from a lot of sales guys.

So here's how we really acquire this skill.. let's call it "Artificial Charisma Recall" or ACR from now on... but first!

A quick story..... or two

During my school days, I was introduced to the Pavlov's theory of Classical Conditioning, it was explained simply as an effect of the stimulus where the scientist every day had to ring a bell one time, when he had a piece of meat for the dog. Initially dog salivated once it saw the meat, and the scientist rung the bell thereafter. Later due this conditioning principle, the dog started salivating the moment it heard the bell ring. Sounded like a cool story back then to remember.

Similarly, months later in school, a professor started talking about emotional anchors. Don't know how I never forgot this, but it was one boring lecture about emotions mainly being a language of our subconscious mind and emotional anchors are imprints of our feelings on our subconscious mind. Don't know why some teachers always talked about the mind. He could have simply stated; emotional anchors, in plain simple terms are the memories about any good or bad feeling that stay in our hearts. Why mind. To me courage and charisma is all about heart. Why? because I am not a science student worried about my subconscious, I am regular sales guy worried about my client's success, that's why.

Great! You're bored to death reading this far without a concrete answer and now all you want is to finally know how to acquire ACR. Right?

Here's the method:

I combined both school taught theories together by simply repeating one small action each time I made a great call, I closed a great deal, I got appreciated by my clients, I knew that I followed all the right sales ethics, processes and tips ever given to me by any mentor.

So here is how you can understand this from the two stories - I, as the sales person was the Pavlov's Dog, the great feeling of joy was my meat, my emotional anchor, an imprint that stayed in my mind and heart, and whenever someone asked me to share my greatest client success story, I instantly reached a zone where I felt like a hulk full of joy. And boom! it turned me into the most charismatic person on the planet.

Now, everyday before every client call, or when I need the same feeling, confidence or charisma, I can't have someone ask me the same question over and over again. Else, the success story would loose its charm and magic. So, all that was left for me was to find a reason, a stimulus, the Pavlov's Bell, that can take me to moon and bring me back full of charisma in 5 seconds. I tried everything I could possibly do, and finally realized, that since god has given us 5 senses: Touch, Taste, Smell, Hearing and Sight, no matter what I do, I can only use one of these to create my Bell.

Now, touch, taste, hearing, sight etc. didn't really help (at times even the thought to find something around it sounded cheap and sleazy... lol) So i resorted to finding a smell. To be able to smell something so powerful, that it is strong enough to become the Bell for my emotions. So, I resorted to perfumes, especially expensive ones to make me feel better, and get some compliments from a few, if possible. Two birds from one stone.

But hey, even I did not get it right when I tried creating this Bell for myself. I later realized, that its not about the sense of smell of an expensive perfume, but it was smelling the perfume every time I did something glorious enough to be proud of. So, whenever I did something great for my clients, and closed a huge deal with them, I sprayed a very specific perfume on my wrist and took a deep breath for at least 10 seconds to enjoy its scent. Now the reason I say a "very specific perfume" is because I am not endorsing any product here, but want you to realize that you can buy any perfume that fits your budget, and has a really beautiful but strong smell for you to associate with your joys to create your Bell. Also,

Gradually you would realize that anytime you are nervous, tired, down-out whatever... the moment you would smell that perfume, that has now become your Pavlov's Bell, you would instantly return to your status of confidence, charisma, etc. That's why I specifically called it an Artificial Method, an ARTIFICIAL CHARISMA RECALL. Having said that, if want to try something other than a perfume, like an Aromatherapy Nasal Inhaler (or nasal stick), or a mix of Aroma Essential Oils, or anything else that you can made unique for yourself, feel free to do so. After all, it's your Bell to find.

Warning - If you pick a perfume or anything else, say XYZ for this, don't use it for anything else but as your Bell. You don't want to be wasting your emotions. You don't want your Dog to be salivation on any type of bell ring; else it would not have been a theory of conditioning, but a theory of a mad dog drooling on all sounds. And don't forget, every time you do something glorious, associate it with your bell.

Don't forget, 1 Dog, 1 Bell, 1 You, 1 Perfume and the same 1 Feeling.... Glorious!

Lastly, the sales guy in you who asks a lot of questions wants to now know the benefits of doing this.... and I am sure, you are very close to guessing it. Confidence and Charisma is a great booster for the sales you'd like to do and a great factor or soft skill that helps close sales faster. So, if you are able to artificially recall Charisma; that great feeling of joy, not only you'd be able to serve your clients better, you'd win hearts on the go, and relationships for a life-time, and sell anything to anyone (but justified ways only).

In short the Science behind: 1 Dog, 1 Bell & Great Sales

In the next article, we'd go deeper into other elements around sales, if you have any specific questions or need suggestions around sales, feel free to reach out and connect with me.

Best of Luck - Ash Zutshi