The motivational similarities and brain response between a recreational drug user and a professional salesperson are proven. Great salespeople love the adrenaline rush they get from advancing an opportunity or making a sale, and even describe the feeling as a “high,” which is actually a very appropriate description. Rather than denying or suppressing this response, try tapping into it and really embrace the potential. Great strides in learning and better performance can occur with ease.
Brain science backs up this phenomenon and explains it with chemistry. When studying brain activity with the help of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines, neuroscientists discovered that when brains are stimulated in certain ways, dopamine, the feel good chemical is released.
Hans Breiter, a Harvard Medical School neuroscientist, actually compared the brain activities of a drug addict anticipating a hit to businesspeople that were expecting a big win. He found that when you compare their brain activity images from a MRI, they are almost exact matches.
Scientists are also discovering that stimulating the reward center and dopamine release, helps with learning, memory and recall. Think of it as the “save button” for your brain. When dopamine is present during an event or experience, we remember it; when it is absent, nothing seems to stick.
Now think about ways to stimulate the reward center and dopamine release during your own sales training and enablement programs. A study published in the journal Neuron, suggests that the brain’s chemistry is sparked when we are curious. Sellers are never more curious than when they need something (knowledge, technique, process or asset) to help advance a sale.
More and more training organizations are augmenting instructor lead and sales onboarding with post-reinforcement, just-in-time and virtual coaching technologies to take advantage of this chemistry and the perfect learning moment.
By building on what is known about brain science and motivation, today’s technologies work by prompting short bites of information and coaching during a time when it is most relevant and when curiosity is likely peaked. The result? Sales organizations are seeing more consistent engagement by sales teams, better retention and improved skill adoption.
Chanin Ballance is CEO of Veelo.
