Our guest today is David Hoffeld, author of The Science of Selling. We’re going to talk about the science of sales and marketing. As entrepreneurs and business owners you often think about marketing as being a little scary, but David has truly developed a science behind it. About David Hoffeld David developed a new system that’s based on neuroscience, social psychology and behavioral economics. He has a method that’s going to help up rapidly increase sales. If you’ve ever looked for someone who has found a way to science marketing he has actually written the book on the subject. Science Often times the word science has been used very flippantly, especially in the world of sales. When David says it he literally means science. They have looked at academic journals from social psychology, communication theory, cognitive psychology, social neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience and behavioral economics. These have disclosed the factors that influence how our brains make choices and why we choose one product or service and not another. Layman’s terms The book is not a textbook or journal article. It is practical, easy to read and easy to understand. There are very actionable ideas that you can use as soon as you put the book down but it is all grounded in science. There are hundreds and hundreds of foot notes in the book so if you want to get more into the research behind an idea you follow the foot notes and you can literally read the research for yourself. Selling Up until recently this science has been hidden away in academic journals and the only way to get it was literally to read academic journals and then connect the dots in the world of sales and marketing. There are some companies utilizing this in marketing but very few in sales because there really isn’t the academic research in the world of sales that would connect the dots as there is in marketing. Very few schools have courses on selling. You can use these principals for sales or marketing. The book talks about marketing a little bit but it focuses primarily on selling. How do you ask questions? How do you gain certain commitments? What do you need to know to present your product or service compellingly? You can leverage the science in marketing as well and he talks about that a little bit in the book. Quick tips A lot of companies struggle when it comes to initiating customer conversation. David teaches them to leverage the science of a principal called reciprocity. Reciprocity is a social norm that says we should repay other people for what they have done for us. You leverage it by beginning with value. Don’t ask potential customers for things, give them something of value (an insight, a white paper, an eBook or whatever can demonstrate your expertise and provide meaningful value). In turn they will reciprocate by giving you their time and answering your questions and going forward in the sales process. Contacting David Hoffeld Website: www.hoffeldgroup.com