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Six unique yet practical sales tips

Written by: Paul Kernot

Article Overview: Practical sales tips such as the six classic closing skills are essential for any business, but there are also mental sales tips which set the real top sellers apart and which very few salespeople use. Here are six incredibly powerful 'Neurobic" exercises to keep your mind agile and open to every new sales opportunity.

Six unique yet practical sales tips

Aerobics is a form of exercise which keeps your body fit, flexible and agile for the physical demands of life. While this is obviously a good habit to develop, I would suggest that in order to keep your brain in a fit and agile condition for the mental, emotional and business demands of a sales career, you should also practice Neurobics.

The neural pathways in your brain, simply put are the ways you have become accustomed to thinking and solving problems. If you imagine walking through a field of hay, the pathway you make will quickly close up behind you. However, if you walked exactly the same way every day for a month, you would form a very obvious track. Because that track is then much easier to find than going a new way, the habit of always using that track when going to the same destination is firmly set and you will now invariably use that same short cut in the future.

Short cut solutions work well. They keep life simple and we know they will work to a reasonable degree most of the time. The challenge these days is that as the rules of success, selling and life in general change so quickly, some of our established and habitual ways of doing things become obsolete at best and dangerous at worst. My father didn't own a laptop or cellphone!

Here are six neurobic exercises I recommend in order to keep those neural pathways in your brain well connected and agile. An added benefit is that they will also improve your memory recall. Ask yourself before you read on;

"How useful would a brilliant memory be when working in sales?"

1. Mind Mapping

Problem solving is very much a right brained game, but unless you are left handed or ambidextrous (or dyslexic), you probably think like the majority of people, with your left, logic brain. In most cases this equals coming up with only one possible solution to a problem and acting on it. Mind mapping is fun, colourful and can help even the most left brained thinker create multiple options for overcoming any challenge or situation. For more on this, learn from the world master and creator of mind mapping, Tony Buzan Buzanworld.com.

2. Bathroom Neurobics

Try brushing your teeth with the hand you wouldn't usually use. Do the same when shaving, using soap in the shower and brushing your hair. When you get used to that, do the same with your eyes closed!

3. Driving Neurobics

If you are usually the driver when you and your partner go out, swap roles. While sitting in the passenger seat, look out of the window and take particular notice of the scenery. Close your eyes for a while and see how the motion of the car feels without sight involved. If you're now the driver, wear gloves to reduce your physical senses.

4. Routine Neurobics

When you arrive home from work tonight, stop at the front door. Find the right key with your eyes closed. Now open the door, walk to the kitchen, fill up the kettle and switch it on, all with your eyes closed. You've done this a thousand times before, why do you need your eyes open? To add an extra sensory dimension to this fun exercise; find the key, open the door, fill the kettle and switch it on, all with the wrong hand.

5. Wacky Work Day Neurobics

Change all of your usual routines at work for one whole day. Shake hands using the wrong hand when you meet people. Don't drink coffee for the whole day, change it to tea or hot water. Eat lunch at a cafe instead of at your desk or vice versa. Turn the pictures on your desk upside down for the day.

6. Shopping Neurobics

Find an ethnic market to go to. Try guessing what the products are using smell alone. Eat vegetables raw rather than cooking them. Mix up your breakfast routine. Try eating porridge in summer or eat only fruit for lunch one day.

All of the above neurobic exercises may sound strange to you, that's the whole point! They will all help to keep both your brain and your memory fully alert and ready to accept and maximise any new prospecting, sales or marketing opportunity that comes your way.

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Article Tags: added benefit, aerobics, brain, business demands, colourful, exercises, father didn, good habit, habitual ways, laptop, logic, mapping problem, mind mapping, neural pathways, pathway, physical demands, possible solution, sales career, solving problems, thinker



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