-
7/22/2019 NeuroSell Book Review
1/3
Book Review
Neuro-Sell: How Neuroscience can Power Your Sales Success
Kogan Page, London, 2014, Price, 19.99
ISBN: 978-0749469214
Application of neuroscience methods to analyse and understand
human behaviour related to
markets and consumers has recently gained attention among both
academics and
practitioners. The initial claims of the proponents of this
field to have found the buy button
in the consumers brain have now proven to be more hype than
substance. However, the
applications of neuroscience in the field of management
especially in the function of
marketing have immensely enhanced our understanding of consumer
behaviour. The field of
Consumer Neuroscience has slowly and steadily gained its
position in the mainstream
marketing science and the decision makers of many top
corporations in India and abroad are
increasingly relying on the findings from this newly born child
of management.
The present book is first of its kind, in terms of applying the
principles from neuroscience
and cognitive sciences to the process of sales management. The
technique generally used by
cognitive neuroscientist, to study consumers brain, is either
electroencephalography (EEG)
or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology. EEG
measures fluctuations in
the electrical activity happening below the scalp, which occurs
as a result of neural activity in
the human brain while fMRI records the change in blood flow in
the consumers brainthrough Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD)
signals. This book however does not
talk much of these techniques but gives actionable insights for
sales people, who regularly
require innovative tools to get ahead of the competition. The
key theme running across the
book has been to focus on and utilize the innate, hard wired
stay away from pain and
toward reward circuit in the human brain which according to the
author plays an important
role in the decision making dilemma of the consumers.
The book is structured into sixteen chapters; chapter 1 briefly
describes the harsh reality
faced by the sales professionals such as introduction of
competition in the western markets
brought by the economic growth of countries such as Brazil,
Russia, India and China.Chapter 2 discusses the background to
neuroscience and its application in the sales processes.
It introduces the readers to the technologies of EEG and fMRI,
EEG is good for knowing
when activity happens in the brain and fMRI is good for knowing
where in the brain activity
happens (p.10). Chapter 3 deals with the anatomy of the human
brain in a simplified manner
probably to make it simple even for reader, new to neuroscience.
After elucidating the role of
three types of brain in the humans, i.e., the reptilian (old)
brain, the emotional (mid) brain and
the rational (new) brain, the authors, interestingly, deals with
the concept of Mirror
Neurons, The theory about mirror neurons is that, when you watch
someone perform some
action, for example participating in a particular sport, you
automatically simulate the action
-
7/22/2019 NeuroSell Book Review
2/3
in your brain (p.23). The author makes reference to these mirror
neurons in later chapters of
the book.
Chapter 4, expounds the stages in the decision making process of
the consumer and the
thought process of the sales person. The author advises to align
the sales process to
consumers buying process for comfortably closing a sales deal.
The author then moves on to
discuss the notion of neural maps in the human brain.The author
describes the human brain
as an incredibly busy place, with 100 billion neurons and 100
trillion synapses
communicating information with each other (p.33). Chapter 5 is
in continuation with the
previous chapter and discusses the adaptation required in the
stages of sales process in
different industries and sectors.
Chapter 6 contains the meat of the book, it educates the readers
to the PRISM brain mapping
model of human behaviour, which the author claims to be the
worlds most comprehensive
online neuroscience based behaviour profiling instrument.
Theprism model represents how
the brains functional architecture and neural networks interact
with brain chemicals (p.55).
Each of the four quadrants described in this model is associated
with specific behavioural
preferences which can be used to understand how customers buy
which would make sales
peoples life easier. Chapter 7 further elaborates the attributes
of the customers associated
with each of the type of quadrants, identifies in the PRISM
model this knowledge should lead
to maximization of salespersons ability to successfully sell to
the customer, whose quadrant
is identified through the PRISM Model.
Chapters 8-12, discuss the five phases of the Neuro-Sell brain
friendly process which are: to
consider, maximize comfort, to establish context and catalyse,
convince the consumer andfinally to close the deal. Though these
are interesting read and are of immense value for the
newbies intending to embark into the sales career, the
experienced sales persons may not find
it that valuable; however they would certainly be able to grasp
an understanding of these
processes happening in different industrial sectors. Chapter 13
presents some more brain
friendly selling approaches such as the application of primacy
and recency effects in the
sales process which refers to the fact that brain pays greater
attention to the first and the last
thing it sees in a sequence of events so if a sales person is
required to make a presentation to
the client, author suggest to always take the first slot for the
presentations.
Chapter 14 is derived from the concepts of non-verbal
communication as according to authorselling is fundamentally about
the process of communication and about 60 80 per cent of
communication is non-verbal hence the knowledge of techniques of
non-verbal
communication will lead an individual to be a better sales
person. Chapter 15 revisits the
concepts of PRISM brain mapping model and applies it to the
process of negotiation. It
classifies the negotiator into four types namely: Green, Blue,
Red and the Gold negotiator.
Understanding the characteristics of each of the types of
negotiator and identifying them
early in the process of negotiation will give an edge to the
other party during the process of
negotiation. Finally chapter 16 concludes the book with an
advice for the sales people to
apply the principles mentioned in the book for improving their
sale performance. Here, itwould have been great to see few more
practical examples or brief case studies on how these
-
7/22/2019 NeuroSell Book Review
3/3
methods had successfully helped the organizations in the past
which would have persuaded
the readers to replicate the same success.
The book presents some principles from neuroscience, psychology
and cognitive psychology
which at some instances do not perfectly integrate with the
processes of the sales function,
however this is perfectly acceptable as the field is still in
its infancy and the neuroscientists
themselves have varied views on the cognitive processes
happening in the brain and the brain
behaviour literature itself has lot of contradictions in
explaining the origins of behaviour in
the human brain.
The author brings with him a wealth of consulting experience of
sales. He has worked with
several top Fortune 500 companies such as DHL, Glaxo SmithKline
(GSK), Olumpus etc.
The book is by and large based on the authors personal sales and
consulting experience and
at several places in the book examples are presented from the
sales problems, author faced in
pitching his own consulting services to his clients. The book is
primarily targeted towards the
sales people but the employees from other functions would also
find some of the chapter
useful for themselves such as the chapter on neuro-negotiation
would be useful for anyone
involved in the process of negotiation. It is also a useful
resource for the students of
marketing for whom it is indispensable to understand the nuances
of their consumers
behaviour. The book also has a companion website,
www.neuro-sell.com, which can be
further explored by the interested readers; it gives the readers
an opportunity to download
free PRISM brain mapping profile which would give them an in
depth understanding of their
own behaviour with an understanding of the ways in which this
tool can help them to analyse
their consumers behaviour.
Reviewed By:
Sharad Agarwal
Doctoral Student (Marketing & Neuro-Marketing)
Indian Institute of Management Ranchi INDIA
[email protected]
http://www.neuro-sell.com/http://www.neuro-sell.com/http://www.neuro-sell.com/
