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 th e consumers brain through 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

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. The prism 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 sales persons 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 and finally 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 author selling 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, it would have been great to see few more practical examples or brief case studies on how these

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 Sharad.agarwal12fpm@iimranchi.ac.in