Recently, I was one of several speakers at a conference for sales managers. After my presentation, which was based on my Rainmakers, Closers & Other Sales Myths book, I was asked: "How do we manage salespeople in an economic crisis?"

My response is outlined below:

Focus on Behaviors

Success in sales is a function of many factors, some of which the salesperson can control and some she cannot. For example, a salesperson can be efficient in managing his or her pipeline and effective in a method that emphasizes planning and asking good questions, listening, and customizing solutions. But a salesperson is unable to control variables like budget cuts by buyers and price cuts by the competition.

In an economic crisis, it is important for sales managers to focus on and reinforce the behaviors the salesperson can control. Once external variables correct, results will follow.

The title caught my attention: Buy-ology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy (Lindstrom, 2008). A closer look revealed that the book reports the results of recent research on how the human brain reacts to brand advertisements. When I learned that the scientific process cited in Buy-ology also goes by SST, the book moved to my must read list.

It turns out that the SST process at the basis of Martin Lindstrom's book stands for Steady State Topography, a process used to determine how the brain reacts to images. This kind of neuromarketing research is cutting edge because we have learned that there is a huge gap between what we say in traditional marketing research and how we actually behave.

Q: Given your writing on personality type and politics, what personality type do you think Barack Obama is? How would you apply SST principles to him?

A: Some people scream their preferences. Who would disagree that both Gore and Kerry are Introverted? George Bush shows pretty clear ESTJ preferences. To me, Bill Clinton is easy to read as an ENFP.

Barack Obama, however, is more difficult to type.