Blabbermouths

The car buying experience, and the car salesman, has become the stereotype of all that is wrong with sales and selling in the eyes of the American public.

As with many stereotypes, there is a basis in fact and deed.  Manipulation, high-pressure, duplicity lying are words that consumers associate with buying automobiles specifically and sales in general. 

As a result, car salespeople rank dead last in a recent survey of most trusted professionals.  They managed to beat members of Congress in this race to the bottom, which is quite a telling performance.  

Speaking of performances, the Alec Baldwin sales "training" in Glengarry, Glen Ross, and William H. Macy's salesman in Fargo are two star-turn portrayals of the prototypical noxious sales professional.

Movies, you mock?  Well, art imitates life, as my experience this weekend in a local car dealership attests. In a 15 minute conversation bludgeoning encounter, the salesman spoke for 14 of those minutes.  He was trying to build trust, by telling me stories about himself: 30 years in the business, that most of his sales were through referrals by satisfied customers, that he opens the dealership on weekends to get ahead of his colleagues, that he works all the time getting great deals for people like me because he doesn't have a family.

Maybe this approach works for him.  Maybe I don't meet the profile of his typical customer.  Maybe he thought that I wouldn't notice all of the pictures of his wife and kids (maybe they left him because he never shut up or paid attention to them.)  As a consumer, maybe I could have cared less about him.  Nah.

But, if he had just made a minimal effort to really engage me, maybe by asking just a few questions, maybe he would have learned that I had done my homework, and maybe he would have learned that I was ready to buy if my specific terms were met.  And when he lied was misinformed about the price of the car that I was interested in, and the current financing rate that was being offered by his finance company, any trust that his approach may have engendered popped like one of the helium balloons festooning the showroom. 

Mother's little helper

Some mother's day musings:

Jeffrey Gitomer is one of my favorite business personalities.  His books, blogs, videos and seminars on sales and selling contain the kind of practical, no-nonsense nuggets that can only come from someone who not only has a true passion for his craft, but has truly mastered it. Such as:

"Your Mother taught you everything you needed to know about connecting to people before you were 10 years old: make friends, play nice, tell the truth, take a bath and do your homework!"

On the other hand, Dan Ariely's observations are a not exactly motherly, unless your mom is a cognitive scientist and behavioral economist.  His belief is that you can't always trust your intuition, or your eyes. But his delivery is every bit as pithy, and his conclusions are as trenchant, as Gitomer's.

Enjoy your week, all you moms and mom's helpers.  Be clean, be helpful and be mindful of your irrational behavior.

Staying afloat

From the time we are young we are schooled in the necessity to persevere.  Parents, teachers, clergy, classic literature and popular culture all channel adages and aphorisms designed to inculcate the idea that if you just keep at it, all will eventually work out in your favor.  

In other words "soldier on."  

Perhaps one of the most famous quotes on the subject from my boyhood was Vince Lombardi's motto: "Winners never quit and quitters never win."  We've written about overcoming failure as an ingredient in the recipe for success on a couple of occasions ourselves, including this post.

We all want to be winners in life, whatever our personal definition of that term may be.  Lost in the sea of exhortation though is practical, actionable advice:  "How do I do that?" Science shows that it is much more than simply the power of positive thinking.



In his book, "To Sell is Human," author Daniel H. Pink notes that whether or not the job title includes the word "sales," the vast majority of us humans are selling in some form or fashion -- moving others to take an action.   Pink lays out the attributes of a successful human "salesperson," and examines what psychologists and social scientists say are the three components of one of them: a characteristic that Pink calls "buoyancy."

1. Interrogative self-talk:  We all talk to ourselves.  Pink writes that science shows that the best internal conversation is not necessarily positive self-talk (I am the best) but one that allows for questioning in building or reinforcing a belief (Can I do this?), and "inspire thoughts about autonomously or intrinsically motivated reasons to pursue a goal."  Think more "Bob the Builder," than Tony Robbins.
2. Positivity ratios: Positivity is incredibly important in moving people to take action.  In his book, Pink quotes researcher Barbara Frederickson saying: "Positive emotions...broaden people's ideas about possible actions, opening our awareness to a wider range of thoughts and...making us more receptive and more creative."  Negativity is important too, judiciously and appropriately applied.  The perfect ratio for success?  3:1.
3. Explanatory style: How you interpret events and explain them to yourself is a critical success factor.  Those with a more optimistic view of setbacks ("it's just temporary") have significantly higher success rates than those with a more pessimistic view.  Scholar Martin Seligman says "flexible optimism -- optimism with it's eyes open," is a key to what Pink calls "tough-minded buoyancy -- the proper balance between downward and upward forces."

Pink writes that "staying afloat in an ocean of rejection is [an] essential quality of moving others." I say it's an essential quality of success in all things.

Carry on.

Sunrise, sunset

The bookstore in my town has announced that it will be closing at the end of June, after 23 years in business. Given the societal and economic shifts that have occurred since the emergence of internet retailers and e-books/readers, it is not a shock.  If one of the largest booksellers in the country closed its doors, what chance does a mom-and-pop in a small country village have?

My family and I are emblematic of the problem, I suppose. We frequently buy books; in fact, we organize a book club for Capital Region businesspeople.  We have patronized the store, but certainly not as much as we could have and obviously not enough to make a difference.

I don't know the proprietors personally, and the reasons they stated for closing go beyond just business economics.  There are personal and health issues involved.  So they have announced a wind down.  They're shutting down in a planned process, on their terms.

If there's a proper way to go out, this seems to be a good, if not satisfying, conclusion.  It's not always the case.

Ninety percent of the 21 million US businesses are family owned. Yet only 30 percent of family run companies today succeed into the second generation, and only 15 percent survive into the third, according to SBA.gov.  According to some studies, fewer than 30% of small business owners have a succession or contingency plan.  That's a lot of assets at risk. 

On the edge

I attended a terrific seminar last week, hosted by a local professional association about which I had heard many good things.  As with many first-of-the-year meetings, the topic was planning for business generation.  The room was overflowing.

The presenter did an excellent job of building participation and conversation:  she didn't talk at the audience, but rather made a few points that led to interaction among the participants...sharing of information...making of connections, etc.  Attendees left the meeting animated and motivated.  Who could ask for more for on a January Friday afternoon?

There was one statement that the presenter made as she exhorted the crowd to develop personal marketing plans that was a lone discordant note in a otherwise resonant and well-orchestrated presentation:

"Your mother and grandmother were wrong: Humble does not work."

Is that true?  The antonyms of humble include arrogant, chesty, self-important, beaming, swelled, vainglorious, big-headed, persnickety, snooty, snot-nosed, stuck-up, too big for one's breeches, boastful and braggart.  I don't think those qualities are what the presenter would recommend as keys to winning friends and influencing people.  Unless you're running for Congress.

Business professionals today face a conundrum.  There is no question that while the ability to connect is growing exponentially, it is also harder to gain visibility and capture attention.  So we're resorting to stunts, gimmicks, the outsized and the outlandish and labeling it "edgy" to rationalize our actions.

Hear, say.

At a gathering of business folks recently, we discussed the book Power Questions.  Those gathered found it to be a good, thought-provoking read, and some had already put some of the concepts and questions into practice in their organizations.

The author, Andrew Sobel, has penned several books on selling and fostering lasting client relationships.  Good questions, in his words, "light fires under people, help them see problems in new ways, and inspire them to bare their souls. The result is deep personal engagement." Power Questions offers many great examples of great questions to ask and how to ask them, and provides the reader with more than 300 questions, grouped topically.  It's a great resource for any business leader.

Is questioning enough, though?  Most modern sales "systems" are now built around the concept of questioning, of "finding the pain" of the prospective buyer.   Asking pre-programmed questions that are designed to manipulate the emotions of someone you just met doesn't seem like the recipe for success to me.  As one of the members of our book group said, "if a salesperson asks me 'what keeps you up at night?', I know they are a hack and haven't done their homework."

So sell me.

Last in a series...

The world of commerce has changed dramatically in the past few years. Technological, demographic, social and economic changes are raining over small businesses like a never ending series of squalls.

The processes and techniques employed by many small businesses were developed in the mid-to late-20th century and built for a “broadcast” world that for the most part no longer exists: large audiences that you can reach and motivate through traditional, one-way “tell and sell” laden with cliches and jargon.

Back to the Future?

Second in a series...

In our last entry,  we asked "are buyers liars?"

Buyers know what they want, and the key to more productive selling is gaining an understanding of the how, why and when of the purchase decision.

But getting that information, now there's the rub.

In some very meaningful ways, the selling today is much more difficult than in years past: while technology has made it easier to identify and communicate with prospects, it has also erected new barriers to making meaningful connections.

For example, there are fewer live gatekeepers (who has a secretary anymore?), but it is arguably harder to break through the electronic ones -- voicemail, email, online social networks.  And manipulation sure doesn't work in either case.

So, while there are new barriers to reaching customers, even when surmounted, the "trust hurdle" is much higher.

Getting past the nose

"Buyers are liars."  How many times have you heard that phrase?

It's a pretty common aphorism in certain sales-oriented industries, such as autos, real estate and home remodeling.

I've heard it thousands of times, usually following a salesperson's failed pitch.  "They said they were interested in a two-story colonial on a cul de sac, and I showed them every one of my listings, but they ended up buying a cape on Main Street from someone else.  I could have sold them that, they just lied to me. They don't even know what they want."

Does that dialogue strike a chord?  Does it seem true to you?  Do you believe that your customers really do not know what they want, or that they lie to your face?

Among professions, only politicians are trusted less than salespeople.  Why is that?  Can it really be true that in a society where the vast majority of our Gross Domestic Product is consumer-driven, that trillions of dollars are generated on deceit or cluelessness?

Always be losing?

The movie Glengarry, Glen Ross was on TV recently.  I watched for a few minutes.  I always do when I spot it.  It's like a roadside accident; disturbing, yet hard to avert your gaze. 

The most famous scene in the film is when Alec Baldwin's character comes to "motivate" the under-performing sales team.  "Always be closing," he spits.  "Coffee is for closers," he sneers.  It is the epitome of the "man-up," high-pressure school of sales.  It resonates because we recognize and empathize with both sides of the dialogue.  I guess that's why the play won the Pulitzer Prize.

"I need to increase sales," is the most common refrain I hear from business owners and CEOs.  They are constantly looking for the magic bullet:  the system or process that will tap the revenue gusher that they know is just a little further beneath the surface.  Just keep drilling.

There's a reason that only politicians are trusted less than salespeople, according to one of the leading sales training organizations.

Do your customers or prospects respond to being accosted, being stalked?  Do you?  Can't you just picture the stereotypical "bad" salesperson?

Can you believe your eyes?

So how was YOUR Black Friday/Small Business Saturday?  Oh, was there a holiday in there?  Sorry...hope you enjoyed your feast.  How many ways did you find to serve turkey leftovers?  Were you as glad to get back to business as I was? 

There seems to be as many opinions on the opening of the 2011 holiday selling season as there are pundits pontificating and organizations orating.  Sales were up 16% on Black Friday, or they were up 1.9% for the three-day weekend, or don't pay any attention to any of the data.

"Facts are stupid things," Ronald Reagan once misspoke.  He also said, more aptly "trust, but verify."  There are plenty of examples of the dangers of focusing on the wrong thing, one of my favorites being the famous "monkey business" experiment. 

The bottom line is that the most pertinent data are yours:  your Key Performance Indicators, and how you use data to guide your business decisions.  KPI's can be a powerful decision-making tool, when combined with a proper business plan, and they need not be elaborate to be effective; in fact, just the opposite.

For smaller businesses especially, data are essential for being able to separate fact from fiction and to verify the existence of any of 800 lb gorillas sitting in our midst.