Best Psychology Graduate Schools

Psychology Of The Sales Professional

2010-07-29T22:33:00.003-07:00

One’s attitude has a lot more to do with the level of her/his success than one’s aptitude, ability, IQ, education or other factors do. I’d like to get into the details of a salesperson’s psychology so that, when it comes to building your team and individual team members, you are equipped with the knowledge of what’s really going on in there. As a holder of a management or other sort of leadership position, you may have already experienced being a salesperson yourself. However, it never hurts to review and be reminded of what it’s like to “carry the bag.” I also want to emphasize the mental game because so many companies focus on external things, like product knowledge, licensing, etc. And while these things are all important, companies that focus on such externalities often neglect the cultivation of their salespeople’s proper mindset. I’ve always found this selling mentality ironic, because it’s what’s going on in the inside that will most dramatically affect sales.

A direct relationship exists between self-image and sales performance. If you don’t already, try to get a handle on how your reps perceive themselves. What kind of self-talk plays in their brains all day long? You and your team will never experience exponential success if it is not something they can mentally conceive of first. And the major precursor to vivid envisioning of success in the workplace is vivid envisioning of success in oneself and one’s abilities. How can you, as a sales manager, cultivate healthy, solid self-confidence and self-belief? One of the easiest ways to do so is to offer sincere praise. Ra1ph Waldo Emerson said, “Every man is entitled to be valued by his best moments.” There is no need to fear that you will create an egomaniac by giving someone simple but honest praise and appreciation for good, hard work.

Often, it is more effective to praise the specific act rather than the person. This way, your praise is attached to something distinct and concrete. Praise is harder to be interpreted as flattery or favoritism when there is a specific and concrete thing being praised. General compliments may produce a temporary effect, but they can incite jealousy in others and create even more insecurity in the recipient if the specific activity that merited the compliment remains unknown.

Then there is a new pressure to live up to this higher standard, even though the praised individual is not sure how s/he set it. Even more insecurity is bred if the praised individual fears you will retract your praise. That’s because in not knowing concretely how s/he earned it, s/he doesn’t know how to keep it. One single person feeling this kind of anxiety or insecurity can really cause your entire teambuilding effort to backfire. Have you ever witnessed (or experienced) coworkers who huddled together to complain after a “pep rally” with the boss? Instead of feeling inspired and motivated, all they could do was gripe. Unfortunately, it only takes one person’s bad attitude to drag down the rest.

We know that when a specific behavior is praised, that behavior will increase. At a small college in Virginia, 24 students in a psychology course decided to see whether they could use compliments to change the way women on campus dressed. For a while, they complimented all the female students who were wearing blue. The percentage of the female student population wearing blue then rose from 25 percent to 38 percent. The researchers then switched to complimenting any woman who wore red. This shift in the color being praised caused the appearance of red on campus to double from 11 percent to 22 percent. Praise is a simple but often overlooked concept. If you want to use this technique to your best advantage, be sure you give honest and sincere praise.

Closely related to praise is acceptance. We all long for acceptance. We want to feel like our actions and contributions help an effort or cause. We all want to be noticed by others. We also all want to be someone of significance who is held in high regard. Knowledge of this common craving from acceptance can help you motivate your team. If you can make them feel that their help is appreciated, that they are personally accepted and that their contributions are essential, they will be more inspired to perform.

When your team members feel accepted unconditionally, with no strings attached, their doubts, fears and inadequacies will go out the window. One way to make your team feel accepted is to offer them genuine thanks. Seek to make a conscientious and deliberate effort to thank people in all aspects of your professional life. Don’t assume your team members know you care about and appreciate them. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a paycheck is thanks enough. One of the main reasons why people are dissatisfied with their sales job is because they are never thanked or given any recognition for their efforts.

Often, individuals increase their feelings of acceptance by building their association with certain people, places or things. This sense of identification has been referred to as the Social Identity Theory. For example, a sports fan may enhance his sense of belonging by plastering his walls with his favorite team’s sports paraphernalia. Even though no one on that team has any clue who he is, he feels better about himself anyway, just because of the association and identity he has created for himself with that team.

Are there ways in which you can use the Social Identity Theory to your advantage? Think of ways to create strong team association. These methods should be things that are unique to the team and that help team members individually feel like they are “insiders.” Maybe your team needs a mascot, a mission statement or even a theme song. I once knew a sales team that played the theme music from Rocky over the loud speaker every time someone closed a sale. Things like this might seem silly, but they really build team spirit and morale. If you worry that things like this will be distracting or disruptive to your particular workplace, look for ways to adapt. The energy that grows from each team member feeling accepted is worth the effort.

The Best Psychology Graduate Schools - our top 10 list of best schools to earn your graduate psychology degree, including PsyD, PhD, and Masters.

Handwriting Analysis

2010-07-29T22:33:00.001-07:00

Graphology is the name given to the general subject of personality analysis based on handwriting analysis. Just as in Psychology there are various schools of Psychology – Behaviorist, Psychoanalytical, and so on - so too in Graphology.

Graphoanalysis is one such school and, from my experience, the most scientifically oriented reliable field of Graphology. Graphoanalysis is personality analysis based on handwriting analysis of the slant, size, measurement, pressure, spacing, and arrangement of letters and words on the page.

Graphoanalysis is used to analyze Latin lettering languages usually written in cursive handwriting (letters joined together). Printing can also provide information as to the writer’s personality. To a certain extent, an expert Graphoanalyist can analyze handwriting in languages written in letter forms other than Latin lettering.

Graphoanalyists are experts in handwriting analysis. The International Graphoanalysis Society (IGAS) is the full name of the school of Graphology to which the Graphoanalyist belongs.

A Quick Handwriting Analysis can be fun at a party or a get together. The Graphoanalyst will usually convey to the people whose handwriting is being analyzed the most outstanding features of their handwriting.

A Free Analysis is sometimes given to wet your appetite for more knowledge on the subject of graphology in general and graphoanalysis in particular.

In depth handwriting analysis requires many hours of measurement of letters and analysis of the combination of traits appearing in the handwriting and is used for more serious purposes such as determining a person’s job qualifications. Graphoanalysts are professionals who do this type of work.

Handwriting recognition by courts of law is a well known fact today. In court cases handwriting analysis is used to determine whether or not a signature on a document is valid. Graphoanalysts who have specialized in recognizing forgeries are called upon to give evidence in such cases and may have crucial influence on the final decision.

The Best Psychology Graduate Schools - our top 10 list of best schools to earn your graduate psychology degree, including PsyD, PhD, and Masters.

Industrial Psychology And Recognition

2010-07-29T22:32:00.001-07:00

In his job as an accountant, Anthony Stirling felt that the monetary rewards for his job were as good as he could expect. What he found difficult to understand was the feeling of lack of worth that turning up every Monday morning gave him. The office was highly efficient but people very rarely seemed to have time to talk to each other and his boss was a distant figure who barely knew his name.

The reason why individuals, like Anthony, need recognition, other than money, to generate motivation in their day-to-day work is not a mystery.
Frederick Herzberg

In 1955 Frederick Herzberg an Industrial Psychologist published his treatise on human relations at work which unraveled the role of influences on motivation at work.

The results were not what logic might dictate. He produced two quite different lists; one showing what satisfied people at work and the other showing what dissatisfied them.

Hygiene Factors

• company policy

• company procedures

• relationship with supervisor

• working environment

• relationship with co-workers

• salary

• status

• security

Motivators

• achievement

• personal growth

• career potential

• job satisfaction

• recognition

The list of features that dissatisfy people at work could not be expected, by themselves, to provide high levels of motivation if they were provided in unrealistic quantities. For example, if your chair is comfortable and reflects your organizational status, you are unlikely to feel a surge of motivation if your boss offers you the same model with an additional cup holder.

The causes of satisfaction included factors like personal growth and recognition. These, it seems, could only be used to motivate if the dissatisfaction list had been rectified. Herzberg does not believe that motivation is absent in organizations with a long "dissatisfiers" list; he merely points out what we should already know; that attempts to motivate may be wasted if dissatisfaction is not addressed first.

Herzberg likened a typical worker to a recovering patient. He concluded that the "dissatisfiers" were actually Hygiene Factors. These are essential for satisfactory recovery of the "patient" but are not, in themselves, able to guarantee full health. The "satisfiers" list is, in fact, a list of Motivators; those things that really cause the "patient" to push for recovery and to become fully functioning.

This powerful analogy makes it clear that, if the Hygiene factors are deficient in any way, it wouldn't matter how much effort was put into the Motivators, the patient could potentially die anyway.

The conclusion to draw from Fred Herzberg's work is that recognition is an important motivator in the workplace. However applying recognition in a vacuum without ensuring that the Hygiene Factors are effectively managed may produce few returns for the effort made.

Herzberg's findings are amplified by other Industrial Psychologists such as Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor so, although these simple truths have been recorded for the best part of 50 years some companies, like Anthony's employer either forgot or never bothered to build in an effective recognition system.

The Best Psychology Graduate Schools - our top 10 list of best schools to earn your graduate psychology degree, including PsyD, PhD, and Masters.