With nearly half of sales people failing to meet their quotas each year, the traditional approaches are being replaced with new methods, including a scientific approach to selling, says David Hoffeld, CEO of the Hoffeld Group, during an interview with the Knowledge@Wharton podcast.

In addition to leading the sales training firm, Hoffeld has written a book, The Science of Selling, which highlights the social psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics that help determine what makes customers buy.

Hoffeld also emphasized how much behavioral economics today drives new methods of becoming a better salesperson.

“I always tell everyone there’s never been a more exciting time to be in sales because of this explosion of scientific research from disciplines like behavioral economics, neuroscience, social psychology, and cognitive psychology,” he said.

Hoffeld started his journey of combining science and sales more than a decade ago, when he stumbled on an academic journal. After reading it, he started to apply it to his own sales techniques. The results were startlingly effective, prompting him to start reading more academic journals and applying them to the world of sales.

“Fast-forward to today, the book is based on over 1,000 different studies and gives salespeople verifiably effective behaviors that produce real-world results,” he said.

Listen to the entire interview at Knowledge@Wharton by clicking here.