Category: Uncategorized

Stress and Work: Healthy Now vs. Happy Later

Photo by The Creative Exchange via Unsplash

Isn’t it easy to regret our expanding waistlines, expensive bar tabs, and ever-growing credit card statements?  Easier still is to blame these problems on work-related stress.  After all, overeating, excessive drinking, and uncontrolled spending do help us cope in the short term.  

Fortunately, more and more of us are growing up and learning to deal with anxiety in ever-productive ways. Nowadays, to release the pressure, we may stop at the gym or yoga studio after work.  Some of us may boldly sacrifice carbs in the name of clarity.  Others relish a long talk with a friend. And, if we’re lucky, our employers may even support these positive changes with wellness programs.


The result?  We’re happier and healthier. For now. 

If the act of coping solved problems this story would be over.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t.  We can improve ourselves in many ways and treat what immediately ails us.  But, at what price?  Are we truly fixing our problems or just delaying them? Let’s review both the benefits and drawbacks of some our most popular stress-busters.

The Benefits:

Exercise and Diet

Look no further for reasons why so many of seek better physical health. The improvements in mood, mental health, intellect, energy level, and life expectancy gained are well-documented. Additionally, both activities allows us to meet and connect with friends in new ways. 

Meditation, Yoga, and Mindfulness

These practices provide a serene, comforting environment in which to reflect or escape. Either way, one can emerge from a session with a greater clarity and perspective on life’s struggles. Some participants even claim to experience major life changes, others are just happy for the break from the maelstrom of life.

Support from family, friends, and co-workers

Most of us have at least one family member or friend who truly wants us to be happy.  Sometimes, they can relate to the angst that grinds us.  Other times, they can listen and smile.  For the some, this connection can literally make the difference between life and death.  It’s hard to argue against the benefits of both having and being a close friend.  Ideally, these people accept us unconditionally – not something we can ever expect from an employer.

The Drawbacks:

Meditation, Yoga,  and Mindfulness

While potentially effective, fans of these practices must make sacrifices.  Classes take time and effort to attend and they are not cheap.  One can spend $100, $500, or more per month.  Those of us with the resources may consider this money well spent.  For others, partaking in these activities means diverting resources from other parts of life – including family.

Exercise and Diet

It’s difficult to debate positive feedback loop of feeling better.  A wise man once said, “One thing that you can say about life is that it beats the alternative!”  Consider, however, are we treating the causes of stress or only the symptoms?  Running, one of the least expensive workouts, still requires requires the right clothing and time investment.  Hate running?  The cost of gym memberships can be as high as we’d like to spend.  Diets?  Programs like Weight Watchers also come at a price.  Even dieter’s going solo still face cost barriers. Compare the price of a trip to Whole Foods to the Arby’s carry out.  Unless one lives on a farm, cheap translates to unhealthy when it comes to food.

Support from family, friends, and co-workers

Despite the closeness of our bonds, the best of intentions don’t always create the best advice. Our friends may tell us what we want to hear in order to preserve the relationship.  No matter whether they employ a traditional or tough-loving approach, family members may do us more harm than good when they can’t understand or empathize with our suffering.  And, even further disabling, the overuse of this support channel can render us unable to solve our own problems.

The Two Part Stress Solution: Employers

In short, companies need to prioritize employees over investors. Management’s insatiable desire to impress forges dangerous expectations.  Costs must always go down and top-line sales must always go up. Like pennies dropped from a skyscraper, small, easy decisions made at the top, rain onto ground level workers like boulders.  In this way, the need for coping mechanisms, positive and negative, are created.  Companies might not need wellness programs if their employees were “well” in the first place.

The overly aggressive marking up of sales forecasts causes sandbagging (overly conservative downgrading of forecasts by salespeople) and vice versa.  Leaders can end this cycle by telling investors the truth and not what they want to hear. Why risk the health and livelihood of one’s own employees in order to maximize someone else’s return on investment?

The Two Part Stress Solution: Employees

If one needs to become a marathon runner or yoga expert simply to re-charge for one’s career, a change may be in order.  As employees, we need to be aware of the choices we make.  Our job. Our lifestyle.  Our career. We may not like them, but we still choose them.  

And stress? However violently we force it from our minds, we still tend to leave a door open.   No can force us to expect perfection.  Instead, we are to blame. We chase it like an addict chases their first high, alluring but never attainable.  Our best option is to make peace with our mediocre selves and enjoy the process of getting better.


Sincerely,

Meaning2work.com

Fear of Failure: A Little Embarrassment Can Go a Long Way!

Fear Illustration

Driving a car. Speaking in public. Selling to customers. What do they all have in common?  Other than things we typically fear,  they’re all milestones I hit before ever learning how to swim.


When did I finally learn? In college. Yes, I just admitted that and no, I don’t blame my parents. At every opportunity, I fought the chance to learn.  As a kid, I would scream and wail until whoever was trying to teach me eventually gave up. 

It made sense. I already needed to take an elective course.  Why not Swimming?  So, there I stood before class, one piece of clothing away from being naked, shivering at the side of the pool.  My classmates?  Mostly football players and cheerleaders.  Clearly, so I thought, I was the only person there to learn something!  Was I scared?  Yes, but the risk of looking like a fool made me forget about 12-foot deep water.


That’s when I said “F-You fear!”, jumped in, and became a graceful swan gliding down the lanes!   Just kidding.  Over the next several weeks, I would flail and convulse my way from one end to the other.  Did I feel fear?  Yes, but I kept on going. And yes, it got easier over time.


Ultimately, I learned more than how not to drown.  Here are my three valuable lessons about fear:

  1. Fear is always looking for a good chase.  I was amazed that, when I stopped fighting my body’s natural tendency to sink, the impossible happened – I floated!  If fear was a person, it would be a bully beckoning us for a fight.  What does a bully hate the most?  Being ignored.  
  2. Fear is familiar and easy.  It’s easier to not jump into the deep end, go on the job interview, or ask for the sale.  We feel the apprehension and naturally avoid the risk.  It’s easy to forget that we don’t always need to do what our bullies tells us.  Sometimes, the greatest risk is never taking one.
  3. We don’t want fear to completely go away.  Bravery, is inviting it into our lives for a cup of coffee on a regular basis.  Without fear, we’d walk off a cliff or get hit by a train.  Fear caused me to take the swimming course instead of jumping off the high dive straight away.  For that, I am thankful!

How do we put this into action?  Challenge fear by first, allowing yourself to feel and understand it. Then defy it with every fiber of your being.  Rinse and repeat. 
Finally, don’t forget to re-visit the situations that scare you.  

Fear not only keeps us alive, it helps us feel alive.


Sincerely,
Meaning2work


Ps:  Check out the following blog post from Srinivas Rao.  It served as the inspiration for this post and, I suspect, others to come:https://medium.com/the-mission/everything-you-fight-has-power-over-you-everything-you-accept-doesnt-9c380d391acb?source=linkShare-b49167681b97-1539890903

Motivation Found: 5 Books That Prove You’re Right

“You must change!”  It’s the general message we get repeatedly from books designed to give us motivation.  And, no, they’re not always wrong.  We usually can improve.  Sometimes, however, isn’t it nice to be reminded that we’re not half-bad to begin with?  That we’re not broken?  In no particular order, here are five books that will help you swim against the current of yes-people in your life and the disabling bosses they follow. Click the Amazon banner beneath each title to view each book on Amazon.

How To Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Upset About Anything

Albert Ellis


Dr. Ellis, founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT),  will have you looking at yourself and your problems in a completely different way.  This is no overstatement.  Following his model can drastically reduce the sadness, anxiety, and anger we feel.  Why?  A good deal of what makes us upset is due to the irrational beliefs we hold.  Take away the beliefs and the negative emotions begin to melt away.  This book doesn’t make the reader right and the world wrong.  Instead, it removes our irrational need to be right at all costs.

Leaders Eat Last:  Why Some Teams Fail and Others Don’t

Simon Sinek


It’s nice when people have the courage to voice their opinion – especially when it’s in sharp contrast to traditional thinking.  Most of us have been taught our whole lives to respect authority.  In doing so, however, we sometimes needlessly take on fear and self-doubt.  Mr. Sinek is here to tell you that strong leaders work for their employees and happy employees work for each other.  Using compelling examples from the US Military, he tells stories, not of tyrannical toughness, but of bravery and self-sacrifice.  Anyone who endures a work environment of fear and survival of the fittest, should read this book.

Minimalism:  Live a Meaningful Life

Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus


The authors of this down-to-earth book are two former, successful, Telcom execs who abandoned their corporate careers.  In doing so, they left lives of stress, poor health, and unhappiness to pursue careers in the motivation of others.  This book inspires the reader to emulate the authors’ healthy outlook on life without selling the traditional “get rich like me” happy ending we often see in career-change stories.  Anyone who is tired of comparing themselves (or being compared) to others in terms of monetary success and lifestyle can benefit from reading this book. This book has a corresponding Netflix documentary by the name of Minimalism.

The Obstacle is the Way:  The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph


Ryan Holiday


Sometimes, the person we have to prove wrong is ourselves. This is not your typical mindless pep-talk book.  Mr. Holiday uses example from history of people who persevered through seemingly impossible situations.  This book will introduces the reader to the ancient philosophy of Stoicism which helps us determine what’s in our power to control and disregard that which isn’t.  Approaching an old challenge with renewed energy or abandoning unproductive goals for new ones are just a few of the motivation that this  book delivers.

Thinking Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman


This Sociology book is very readable and has some very important real-world implications.  Most impactful is how Dr. Kahneman explains the large variety of cognitive biases that cause us to make erroneous or sometimes irrational conclusions.  Unlike the books discussed above, that mostly empower the reader internally, this is one provides motivation to prove someone wrong.  It teaches us to respect the complexity and randomness of the real world and understand the patterns we see are often merely convenient illusions.   As a result, one begins to see how the judgements and expectations placed on us in the past may never have been realistic in the first place.

Sincerely,


Meaning2work


Ps.  Please click on the images below the books titles to find these books on Amazon. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of them.  Also, if this article is valuable to you, be valuable to someone else and pass it on to a friend!

Jealous Salespeople: Don’t be a Duck

Jealousy in Sales

“We hate it when our friends become successful.” – Morrissey

DUCK is a handy acronym meaning Designated Underachieving Coworker. It’s a work friend we keep around up until the point they start performing at a higher level than ourselves.  Are we jealous of our Duck?  Not as long as they know their place!

Does anyone set out to find a Duck? Of course not, we make friends with people who we perceive to be similar to us. And therein lies the problem. When our friends “make it big”, they can become, in our minds, dissimilar.

Our first jealous reaction:

They must be lucky. Interestingly, our need to prove this fact, especially when it’s true, make us less, not more happy. Imagine having to prove you didn’t commit a crime. The relief at proving your innocence would likely be tainted by the thought of someone accusing you of such a thing. In the same way, coming up with convincing reasons that our co-workers success was as a result of luck only serves to give us a tenous satisfaction.

Our second jealous reaction:

Find out what they’re secret is. Are they playing by the rules? In sales, many people don’t. Do they have some new insight that we don’t have? If so, what is it? Do they know? If so, will they tell us?

Life was easier when our Duck knew it’s place on the pond. Now that our friend has taken flight we have no choice but to shoot them down.

To make matters worse, management often relishes a good fight. There’s nothing subtle about published ranking lists that force one person’s success to be another person’s failure. After all, competition within a team always brings out the best possible performance. While this may be true, at times, what is the long term cost?

If this was a simple fable about the pitfalls of jealousy, we’d have this problem solved. Don’t be jealous. Life is, of course, more complex than this. Sometimes, in sales, people are lucky. Sometimes they bend the rules or cheat the system. And yes, sometimes salespeople develop skills or find legitmate customer insights that give them a competitive edge.

At this point, it’s important to ask, what ultimately makes us happier? Instead of debating the luck vs. ethics vs. skill of our colleagues, why not accept a completely different truth. Our coworker’s success or failure has nothing to do with us. We weren’t better than them when they were our Duck and they’re not better than us now that the roles have reversed. Therefore, we have no need to feel jealous. There is one exception. In the process of being a supportive friend, we sometimes aid in a colleague’s success. In these cases, we should consider feeling proud of their success.

In reality, our jealous feelings aren’t really about our coworkers. They’re about us. If we stop judging ourselves, we won’t feel the need to use others as yardsticks. Heck, we might even become a better friend in the process.

Sincerely,

Meaning2work

Sales Doesn’t Have To Suck – How Therapy Taught Me Why

Ok. You’re in sales. You’re busy. You have a deadline and a quota. You don’t want to be at the bottom of the next sales ranking and you will do whatever it takes not to be there. Am I right?
I get it because I lived these same thoughts every day. When you see one of your peers rising in the sale ranks you wonder why, correct? Have you ever met a sales rep with lackluster numbers who still seems happy? Again, did you wonder why? Here’s a possible explanation: the other rep in question is emotionally healthier than you. That’s right emotionally healthier. It’s often obvious when someone’s physical health differs from you. Emotional health? That’s something you feel for yourself.
Although I’ve started this discussion in terms of having an emotional edge over another rep, competition is not what emotional health is about. That’s a good thing. It’s not about being better than someone else. Instead, it’s about being a better version of yourself. When I started therapy a few years ago, my goal was to gain control of my anxiety in order to be a better sales person, father, and husband. What I came to realize was that my job was actually the reason I needed the therapy. Not vice versa! This forced me over a period of time, to seriously rethink my priorities. As a result, I came to three realizations:
Realization One: Traditional sales management uses fear and extrinsic rewards in a way that’s potentially detrimental to your health.
There is a reason you don’t like disappointing your boss. It makes you afraid. That fear causes the hormone cortisol to course through your body. It’s the same chemical that helped our ancestors sense danger approaching them on the African plains. The problem is that our bodies weren’t designed for us to feel fear all the time. According to Simon Sinek in his book, “Leaders Eat Last”, having excess cortisol elevates our blood pressure, impairs our cognitive ability, and decreases our immunity from diseases. Of course, let’s not forget the accompanying psychological effect of anxiety.
When we get exstrinsic rewards, which includes anything from commission checks, to pats on the back, to even the ‘ding” of our phones telling us we have a new text, our bodies release dopamine. It’s the “ahh” feeling of getting something done or accomplishing a goal. It’s what drives you to make your sales goal and win that extra commission kicker.
What’s wrong with this? Did you ever notice that the high from achieving anything never lasts? It’s because the effect of dopamine is always temporary. Therefore, people can literally become addicted to it. Have difficulty putting your phone down? That’s because every new message gives you a small hit of dopamine. Like cortisol, this brain chemical may have been essential to our evolution but in an age of abundance like today, less of it is definitely more.
Realization Two: Despite the negative influence of sales management, you and I are responsible for inflicting the negative effects of our jobs on ourselves.
“Wait a minute, it’s my fault now?”, you say. Yes, but we all have a valid reason for making the mistake. In his book, “Feeling Better, Getting Better, Staying Better“, world renowned psychologist Albert Ellis, coined two important terms. Conditional Self Acceptance (CSA) and Universal Self Acceptance (USA). All of us, according to Dr. Ellis, use one of these two methodologies to create our self-image. Your boss. Your coworkers. Even authors of sales literature. They all tell you to measure your self-worth in dollars. The premise has been for years, the more you sell, the happier you will be. Almost every sales book is based on this premise and no one dares to question it. Given what science now knows about dopamine, long-lasting happiness as a result of sales success is a lie. Selling more of anything will never make you happier in any long term sense.
Still, don’t we need to sell more so we can buy more things? Unfortunately, bigger houses and nicer cars commit us to making more money long after the dopamine high of their purchase wears off. Dan Pink, in his book “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” emphasizes the importance of Type I or intrinsic motivation over Type X motivation which is based on anything external.
Before we can realize our own Type I, internal motivations we need to rid ourselves of the external ones. This involves adopting USA vs. CSA. Unconditional Self Acceptance means treating yourself much like your pets do. No, not just as a life-giving source of food, but as a good person no matter what you accomplish. Yes. It’s a touchy-feely concept, but to reap it’s rewards, you will need to get over that. Dr. Ellis mandates that you adopt a new attitude about yourself. Regardless if you screw up a sales call or a sales quarter, you accept what happens and move on.
Therefore, USA opens you up to Type I motivation and CSA locks you into traditional Type X motivation. When you have USA and Type I motivation, your happiness is not based on what you own, what’s on you latest W2, or even what your boss says to you. You accept the futility of being anyone other than yourself and are motivated by a purpose. For example, the reason I started this Blog was to improve the way sales people are managed. I write for the fulfillment of writing and expressing these ideas – not the paycheck.
Realization 3: In a very real way, letting go of the metrics forced on us by our jobs, allows us to actually become happier in general and often more effective at work.
Traditionally, companies have assumed that workers are fundamentally lazy and require carrots and sticks for the motivation. Carrots are the extrinsic rewards like money and accolades. Sticks are the fear tactics such as terminations or reprimands. According to Daniel Pink, in the Industrial Age, most occupations involved simple and repetitive tasks. It made sense to pay a factory worker based on the amount of parts produced because he or she could clearly see how increased effort resulted in increased output. For complex jobs, people required intrinsic rewards. They want the stimulation of learning something new or the gratification of helping someone. Contrary to what many sales books teach, the process to complete a sale with each new customer is unique and cannot be boiled down to a shortlist of repeatable tasks.
Complicated, multi-step jobs like outside sales require creativity. We all have creatitivity within us and the way to unlock it is with the positive emotions that USA allows us to feel. For me, making the change to USA with Type I motivation gave me back all the time I was wasting on worrying. I then proceeded to use that time to think of new ways to do my job. Just think, instead of stressing over doing your job perfectly, you could be selling in newer, more effective ways your management never imagined!
This new mindset obviously requires a leap of faith – in yourself. Of course, fear may have made you work harder in the past, but never at your best. Chasing extrinsic rewards is forcing you to use temporary happiness in the place of long-term fulfillment. My process of learning all this started with a trip to a therapist. If you’re in sales, I suggest you spend the co-pay and do so yourself.
I welcome your comments and suggestions!
Regards,
Meaning2work
Ps. Yes. As a result of therapy, I sell more now than ever, but I also have the sense to know that I can never sell my way to true happiness!
Books Referenced:
“Leaders Eat Last”, by Simon Sinek – to access it on Amazon click here.
“Feeling Better, Getting Better, Staying Better”, by Albert Ellis, PHD., – to access on Amazon click here.
“Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”, by Dan Pink – to access on Amazon click here.
#salespsychology
#salesmotivation
#saleseffectivenes
#salesmanagement

Fifteen Thoughts Top Performing Sales People Have But May Never Share With Their Managers

Attention Sales Managers! Sorry, but when you became the boss you knew you were going to lose the buddy-buddy relationships you had with your fellow sales people. Dont’ make the mistake of assuming that your non-complainers or top performers don’t have serious complaints or your complainers hate the company. Here are some thoughts they may have:

      1. I don’t need to be constantly reminded to sell more. I’ve done this for years and I support a family just like you do.
      2. A big commission check, bonus, or sales trip is only motivating if it’s realistic to attain.
      3. I know when your spinning the truth. I’ve heard myself do it enough to recognize it. You’re better off spending your time helping me sell rather than selling TO me.
      4. Just because I question you or the company doesn’t mean I don’t care. On the contrary, I want to believe in what we’re doing and need more information to do so.
      5. Please don’t offer me choice between two things when you are going to force me into one choice anyway. True empowerment is letting me make decisions.
      6. If you anger one of my customers I make efforts not to take you there (or anywhere important) again.
      7. No, I actually don’t think you are, or ever where, a better sales person than I am. You’d still be doing this job and ‘kicking ass’ like you used to if you were that good.
      8. I may think you’re a decent guy/gal but we are not friends. Friends don’t fire one another to protect their jobs.
      9. Despite what you say, if you put your own interests before mine, I will return the favor.
      10. If it seems like we share a lot off identical opinions and interests, it could be that I’m kissing up to you. Conversely, if you find we don’t have a lot in common, it could be that I am just being very real with you.
      11. If you chose to not help me or hinder my advancement within the company, I will respond by looking for another job.
      12. Pay me fairly versus my peers. Expect me to find out if one of my colleagues makes 30% more. Despite what our HR paperwork says, people talk.
      13. Filling our sales reports and using cumbersome CRM systems rarely help me sell anything. That is why I hate them and consider them a waste of time.
      14. If you don’t have the guts to advocate for me within the company, you are hardly worthy of the term “Leader.”
      15. Although I claim to want more and more money, a sincere compliment can go a long way. One last thing, please don’t use me or my performance as a way to make another sales rep feel inadequate. It creates mistrust within the team – something I assume you don’t want.

Think BACk: Confidence Is About More Than Just YOU!

Want more confidence?  Don’t we all?
“We chose John Doe’s product over his competitors’ because he really believes in himself!”, said no buyer ever.  Make no mistake, self-confidence is important. However, focusing on it alone starts you in the middle of a 3 phase process. Begin by building your own confidence in your company and what you offer. Only then should you move on to believing in yourself. Finally, with the first two confidence pieces locked in place, work on your customer’s confidence.
Phase 1: Believe in what you offer.
Be positive! Think positive! We all get tired of hearing it from our managers. You probably don’t want to feel good about your job, it’s just not possible to force it on yourself.  Ask yourself, instead, if you’ve given your own product a chance. Are you really sold on what you sell?  A good model to use is David Hoffield’s “Six Why’s” in his book, “The Science of Selling: Proven Strategies to Make Your Pitch, Influence Decisions, and Close the Deal“.  Be a customer for moment and attempt to answer the following questions about you product or service:

  1. Why change what I’m doing?

  2. Why now?

  3. Why your industry solution?

  4. Why you and your company?

  5. Why your product or service?

  6. Why spend the money?

No. Your own company’s training is rarely provides enough objective information to answer adequately answer these questions. In training, they are attempting to sell you, a non-customer, on SELLING their product, not on BUYING it. Having an objective view on your product may not be as uplifting to your personally. To your customer, you have just become more trustworthy and a lot more valuable. Sorry, your product will never be ideal for every customer. Still, you may find that a specific customer type (often more specific than what your company tells you) that really connects with the benefits you offer.
Phase 2: Believe in yourself
Confidence in yourself is trickier than you think. Customers are turned off by reps who skip Phase 1 and believe in their product simply because it’s THEIR product. I call this the “Trust me” approach. Ironically, it makes customers more suspicious. No, this mistake is not restricted to used car salesman. Do not start or end your personal development with this Phase of confidence. Explaining why you have the best solution shows your customer a baseline level of respect. Customizing your offering to their needs shows them more. Finally, allowing them to question your product and have an opposing view shows them even more respect.
This is when your true confidence shows through. When a customer sees that you can handle hearing negative feedback they may open up to telling you how they really feel. Those opinions are exactly what you need to address in order to make a sale. Many of my non-sales friends say they lack confidence to do this job. Yet, ask them about their favorite TV show, favorite beer, restaurant, etc. and they will sell you like a pro!
You may also require some soul searching.  Do you have self-limiting beliefs?  If so, think back to the work you did in Phase 1.  Even if you determined your solution is just good and not great, don’t you have an obligation to present it to your customer?  Again, allow yourself to risk being questioned by being direct and frank about your product’s benefits. You want to HEAR their objections – not avoid them.  For your customer, the sales process is about solving their problem, not passing judgement, good or bad, on you.
Phase 3: Inspire you customers to believe in themselves.
Often a strong conviction in your product and yourself is all you need to make the sale. Sometimes, more effort is required. Most customers do not have the thick skin that sales people develop. Even high-level executives may secretly fear rejection of their ideas at the hands of their superiors, co-workers, and customers. This is when you step in and remind them their company gave them the authority to choose and why other stakeholders stand to also benefit from your product.
It’s easy to overlook that our decision-makers can play the role of salesman themselves throughout their day. I’ve heard well-respected physicians confess apprehension at making firm treatment recommendations to patients. In essence, they need to be convinced to use their own authority. One caution with this approach, is to avoid being overly complimentary and insincere. Encouraging a client to make decisions above their pay grade will backfire – for both of you.
Can you admit your product isn’t perfect? Can you admit you don’t know everything? If so, you’re on the right track. Confidence for the sake of protecting one’s ego or towing the company line helps no one. Remember, your customer makes the purchase – not you, and definitely not your manager.
Regards,
Meaning2work
Ps. To check out David Hoffield’s book on Amazon, <a href=”http://The Science of Selling: Proven Strategies to Make Your Pitch, Influence Decisions, and Close the Deal“>click here. I found it to be a refreshing research-based way to look at selling.
Pss. If you’re wondering what think BACk means.  Be A Customer. Get it?  B.A.C.?  I knew you’d get it!

Think BACk: Did You Really Just Ask That Question?

BACk is short for “Be A Customer”. Thinking BACk entails thinking like your customer would.
“Telling is not selling! You need to ask questions!”
Sound familiar? The above statement summarizes about 90% of the sales training I’ve ever experienced. Situation questions, problem questions, implication questions, and of course, the elusive need-payoff questions. Thank you Neil Rackham and your fabled “Spin Selling” for transforming me from a glorified product presenter to a would-be problem solver! No sarcasm here. Neil’s approach has probably saved customers countless hours of sitting through unfocused and ineffective sales presentations.
It’s unfortunate that the undying impatience and goal fixation we have in sales causes us to oversimplify and overplay every new idea. If asking questions results in more sales, shouldn’t asking more questions result in even more sales? And out we go to our sales calls armed with questions, questions, and more questions!
Stop what you’re doing!
It’s time to question the concept of asking questions. I propose that every question we ask precipitates at least one question in our customer’s mind. Most likely, that question is, “Why do you want to know this information?”. When the grocery clerk asks you paper or plastic, you probably don’t even think. You just answer. That’s because you know why he’s asking. Now imagine if, while you’re rummaging through your wallet, the clerk asks, “Boxers or briefs?” Failing to address the importance of why they asking is one mistake sales people make with questions. Additionally, we ask too many irrelevant and selfish-minded questions and fail to consider their impact value as statements.
Why are you asking me this question?
Think of the struggle you undertake every day just to get your customer’s attention. When you finally connect, don’t make the mistake of taking their time for granted. You may have won the appointment, but you still have to prove why your conversation is important. Understand that, as your questions get more complex, more effort is required from your listener to respond. If your customer seems confused or unhappy in response to a question, you may want to explain why the answer is relevant to matching your product to their needs.
Of course, this approach requires you to know what information is needed and how to ask for it. If you know that, in order to be a good candidate for your product, your customer needs to provide details, A through D, ask for exactly that information. And, be prepared to explain why you need it. The last thing you need is for your customer to assume you want the information for selfish reasons.
Have a conversation not an interrogation.
Early in my sales career, I used to fear having personal conversations with customers. What if we never get to talk about my product? What will I do? In response, I forced myself to ask sales questions, even when I didn’t really need the answer. What I lacked was a deeper knowledge of my product and my customer. This insight allows you to make your personal conversations more productive and your product conversations more personal. Ideally they are one in the same. Achieving this oneness between the personal and business conversation allows you to have an actual conversation. You know, one in which your attention is in the moment and focused on your prospect, not on what you’re going to say next.
This is precisely why asking clients about their “top five initiatives for the year” or “three biggest challenges” go over well in sales training but not in real life. Sure, if someone honestly answered, you would get good information. If your the customer, you gain virtually nothing from answering it. Sorry high level account managers, the CEO of the hospital system probably doesn’t think the bed pans you sell warrant an explanation of his five year growth plan. Feeling interrogated tells your customer they are wasting precious time for your benefit.
Your Question Makes A Statement.
If you don’t think so, try asking your spouse, “When are you going to lose weight?” It’s great that you know the problems your product can solve. Just be aware, the executive you’re about to call on may not be keen on admitting that they even have a problem. Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, in their book, “The Challenger Sale”, advocate an approach using new information to shock customers into acknowledging new problems. While a wake up call may be in order for some of your customers, keep in mind that the book has been out since 2011. Customers may be getting wise to it’s tactics. If you can take control of the conversation in a respectful way and it serves their interests as well as yours, go for it! Just keep in mind you will never control your customer.
The problem with sales techniques is they are, by definition, techniques. They’re an artificial way to manipulate a conversation. In order to execute any sales tactic in a conversation, you must devote extra energy. Try being real instead. If you need to know something in order to assist your customer, by all means, ask. When you honestly want to help them it will show through in your demeanor. Conversely, acting in the role of sales person forces the customer to act in the role of customer. Neither actor gets as much done as two real people talking.
Regards,
Meaning2work

Think BACk: Free Will is a Bitch!

OK. What the heck is BACk? A misspelling? No, it’s an acronym for “Be A Customer”. It’s great to know your product, your competition, and your industry. You may even know quite a bit about your customer and her business, but can you think like her? Can you empathize with what challenges she’s dealing with and anticipate how she may react to you or what you offer? That’s what thinking BACk is all about and when you do so, you begin to realize how silly some of our beliefs and tactics are in the sales profession.
Think BACk to a time when someone forced you to buy something. Come on now! Dig deep! No, that last succulent dessert you just had doesn’t count. The best example I can come up with is insurance. There no mortgages to be found on uninsured homes and driving without car insurance is against the law. Still, in these instances I at least had a choice of what vendor to use. Can you admit that no one forced you to buy the car you drive, the clothes you wear, the house you live in, or virtually anything else?
Technology has informed customers in ways not possible just 20 years ago. At the same time, the ancient-yet-relevant philosophy of Stoicism has made it’s way into to popular business books. These two seemingly unrelated forces are combining to change the way we, as sales people, should look at our jobs.
Can you remember a time when you needed a salesman to help you buy a computer? Heck, I might have sold you one! Retail computer buyers back in the 80’s and 90’s often didn’t know what they wanted, what they needed, or even where to start. They would slowly wander up to the electronics display, in the department store where I worked, and stare at the price tags. At the time, my goal was to entice them into a conversation about what they needed to do with a computer. Inevitably, I could then display my superior knowledge to them. This would often result in a sale because I had information they didn’t have when they walked in the door. They needed the help of someone like me in order to make a decision. Today, computers are bought online or in stores with minimal, if any intervention needed from a sales person.
Daniel Pink, in his insightful book “To Sell Is Human”, cites the availability of information as creating more of a level playing field between sales people and customers. To this day, most retail workers expect to get blown off when they ask the traditional “May I Help You?” The difference from when I was in retail in the 1990’s is that now, the customer often is not lying. They DON’T need our help.
If you think this change doesn’t apply to B-to-B, think again. Do you find yourself being brought in later and later in the decision-making process? If so, it’s because they don’t perceive a need for your “expertise”. No one wants their time wasted by someone telling them what they already know. Don’t take it personally. It’s just a fact of life! Today, I find myself selling the added-value of what I do for my customers just as much as my product itself. Sure, there are times when they think they don’t need our help and they actually do. That’s why we have jobs. Regardless of who we THINK has the leverage in any sales situation, there is (and some would argue always has been) one person in charge of the customer’s decision process – the customer.
Thinking back to your house, car, or any other major purchase you’ve made, who is ultimately responsible for making your payments? You, of course. The bank doesn’t care how friendly, how knowledgeable, or how sly your sales person was. The choice to buy the house was, and continues to be, on you. In the corporate world, I’ve seen executives lose their jobs over bad choices with vendors. Once, when I sold software, I had an exec blow up in anger over a price negotiation. Yes, I did eventually close the sale, but soon thereafter the exec was working for a new company.
Just as access to information is giving customers the ability to make better decisions, we are realizing the power to decide may have always been theirs alone. The Stoic philosophers like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius wrote about the power of choice. All any of us control is our ability to make choices. We choose not only what to do but how to feel. Your customer does the same. At our absolute best, we are merely influencing our customer’s decision. Ryan Holiday has written two excellent books: “The Obstacle is the Way” and “Ego is the Enemy” that very nicely summarize Stoicism into a modern-day context.
Of course, in sales, we take credit for as much good news as possible. The bad news is that when we do this, due to customer free will, we lie to ourselves. The customer made the buying decision – not us. Again, think like a customer, not a sales person. You likely researched the last car you bought by looking at reviews, blue book values, and CarFax reports. In doing so, you essentially sold it to yourself. Ironically, as you pulled out of the parking lot, the sales person probably bragged about how he “closed” you.
When our sales are down, things get a little more complicated. We may cite all the factors out of our control to the boss. All the while, we feel the shame of not seizing control like we were taught in sales training. The good news? Due to customer free will, we are rarely fully responsible for our bad numbers either. Can you improve your craft and therefore your results? Along with all the rest of us, yes! Just don’t expect to ever be able to quantify that improvement ahead of time. Does the perfect sales presentation ever guarantee a sale will be made? Only one person knows the answer. Your customer.
Regards,
Meaning2work

5 Reasons Why A Day In Sales Is Like A Trip to A Public Restroom

5 Reasons why a day in sales is like a trip to a public restroom:
1. You may not WANT to begin the process – you MUST. Otherwise, something imminently bad will happen.
2. When others sense what you’re doing they quickly make efforts to get away from you.
3. Sometimes you must strain and push to get what you want accomplished.
4. You never look forward to doing it, but, being done provides a definite sense of relief.
5. Afterward, it’s essential to wash your hands of the whole activity and go about the rest of your life.
The moral of the story? In this job, people will often think you are full of $h!t. Rest assured, if you’ work hard enough, you can always prove them wrong!