as clear as mud!
There’s a long-standing tradition in many industries that involve sales, a tradition of changing advertising or marketing too soon. Too soon because of how many impressions are needed for the message to become fixed in the consumer’s mind. The changes are made because the advertiser / marketer gets bored with what they are putting out.
Would it surprise you to learn that there is empirical evidence that when compensation goes up, results go down?
This question is addressed in the closing pages of an awesome book titled ‘Predictably Irrational’, by Dan Ariely. The book is on Behavioural Economics, dealing with why we do the things we do, when we know they are not the best choice for us. It is a book that is highly recommended for anyone in the sales profession, and any parent too.
There are no clear answers for anything in this world, or are there? Why do so many continue to eat at fast-food joints everyday when they know it is killing them? Why do smokers continue to smoke (beyond the addiction part)? Why do people steal a pencil from the office, yet they wouldn’t take a buck from the office petty cash box to go buy one
?
Why is ‘FREE’ no longer the powerful thing it was? So why do people continue to offer ‘FREE’? Why do we buy what we don’t need to take advantage of ‘FREE’?
Why are some of us so smart, yet we continue to do the dumbest things?
This, and so much more, is explained in ‘Predictably Irrational’ in a way that you can understand it and use it to grow your business and get a better handle on your life. It’s gotten me to understanding a few things about my own life, and helped me better understand some of the people around me.
Give the book a chance, try some of the lessons, and let us know what you learn.
Tags: expectations, fear, mindset, paradigm, passion, procrastination
Fri, July 29 2011 » Mental Moments » No Comments
You might well have heard me say that teaching is my passion – it’s what I was put on this earth to do. Well, I’m getting to thinking that I’ve been wrong about that for so very long.
My passion is learning.
When I write my daily gratitudes, one of the things I am always grateful for is having the eyes and ears to absorb the lessons around me, the brain to filter and process them, the moral compass to investigate them, and the heart to feel the duty to share them.
Last night, at the auction we go to on Wednesdays, I learned a ton of things. I learned about cultural differences. I learned about values of items. I learned about basic human kindness. I learned the effect of asking a question the right way. I learned a whole new (to me) way to generate customers. And that was just in the first 30 minutes of our 7 h
ours there!
Do you walk through your day, blinders on, head down, racing from one place to the next, thinking that you might have just run a stop sign without even knowing it? Or do you observe the world just a little bit more?
Observing the world around you doesn’t mean getting any less done, not at all. What it does mean is enjoying life a whole lot more, feeling more rewarded at the end of the day. Seeing the good in things. The list of benefits is endless.
Oh yeah, back to my starting point – my passion is learning. Well, it is, and my passion is fueled by my other passion – teaching. Nobody ever learns more than the teacher (if they are a good teacher).
Tags: expectations, mindset, paradigm, passion, reluctance
Thu, July 28 2011 » Mental Moments » No Comments
A recent experience with my communications provider, Fido, and reading some Facebook posts, made me realize that there is a disconnect in the thinking of many people when it comes to getting the best service from a provider of any service. Let me explain . . .
Do you remember the days of cell phones when the provider would call you every 3 months and spend 5 minutes going through your usage and your plan and suggest possible ways for you to save money? I do. I was with Bell, and that little bit of service blew me away.
Of course, as monthly charges have fallen, that type of consulting service has vanished, and their staff has mostly become salespeople.
The communication companies (some and maybe all of them) have enacted policies that limit how often you can change plans and placed more restrictions on what you can do with your account without incurring charges. That’s fine by me – as long as the rates keep going down.
Last week, I got a call from Eric at Equinox, calling on behalf of Fido. My contract is ending in August and they want to know if I am happy with the service and if I intend to renew. A very ‘salesperson’ type of conversation.
Then, as I do 99% of the time, I remembered the adage – ‘he what don’t ask ain’t gonna get’ – and so I asked what can be done to reduce my monthly bill.
That question was so powerful, because, with the flick of a switch, it turned Eric from a salesperson into a consultant. I admit to stoking the fire a bit by asking what is the difference between City Fido at $40 a month and the Unlimited Talk & Text at $35 a month, but all the other ideas came from Eric. He became a consultant, and a very good one at that. He asked lots of questions, going 3-deep and getting to understand my communication needs. He was good, really good.
That took me back to my typical behaviour with a prospective client, when I would ask ‘do you want to know everything about every step of the process; do you want to just trust me because I’m the professional; or do you fall somewhere in-between?’ Most people would fall somewhere in-between, telling me that they wanted to know the most important things, and would trust the rest to me.
I always felt I was giving them a choice of working with a salesperson or a consultant.
There’s always talk about ‘you’ve got to be a consultant’; I think you’ve got to give people a choice, because until you ask, they probably won’t even think of it. And no matter what anyone says, there is always a bit of selling in the process.
Tags: expectations, mindset, paradigm, presentation, proposal
Wed, July 27 2011 » Mental Moments » No Comments
Great expectations – we all have them, don’t we? I know I typically do. What about you?
Other people’s expectations of you are not always something you have control over. Let me give you an example. Last week we stopped in at an Applebee’s restaurant (in Ajax) for their Early-Bird Dinner special. The place was busy, service and food were fantastic, not a thing to complain about. As we were leaving, I went to the men’s room, opened the door, and my eyes were seemingly lasered-out by the glaring stark white everywhere. WOW! What a shock!
If you go to any of these big chain restaurants, you know that the washrooms tend to follow the design and decor trend of the eating areas – dark, soft, cozy etc. That’s what I was expecting, and it sure is not what I got. It’s debatable whether it is the fault of Applebee’s or myself, but my money is that it is because their industry has set my expectations, and they let me down.
What has happened is that my memory of the great food, service and value at Applebees is diluted by my memory of their washrooms. Sure, that won’t stop me going there, but the washrooms shouldn’t take equal billing to the food, value, and service in my memory.
What about you, in your business? I’m willing to bet that you promote yourself as being different from the others in the marketplace, right? By doing so, you are setting people’s expectations. How well do you meet and surpass the expectations you set? Want to know? Ask people.
By the way, do yourself a favour and stop asking other people in your profession to evaluate your offerings, your web site, blog, etc. – step outside your industry and ask people. Ask people why they chose to do business with you. The vast majority of people I do business with tell me that they were relieved to discover that they way I present myself online is the way I really am – I meet their expectations.
A great sales trainer, Bill Barrett, caught my attention the first time I saw him (1995), because of his tie. Being a tie fanatic myself, I had to talk with Bill about it, and I still remember the tie and conversation (it was one of the Denny’s ‘Save The Children’ ties). But more, I remember that Bill was an extroverted, passionate educator from whom I learned quite a lot. I also remember his ties, because they are a reflection of him.
Tags: Applebees, Bill Barrett, Denny's, expectations, zig ziglar
Mon, July 25 2011 » Mental Moments » No Comments
If you’re like me, you find books that teach through the use of fables or stories to be the most impactful. That certainly is the case in the follow-up to author Clint Swindall’s first book, Engaged Leadership. Living For the Weekday is all about people taking responsibility for their current situation in life, and realizing the big changes that can come from small steps.
As I’m finishing this book, a thought really struck me – I live my life looking for the lesson(s) in every experience, every minute of my breathing. I figure that things happen for a reason, and I want to know what that reason is. I totally live in this cause-and-effect world, knowing that whatever happens, happens because of something I allowed.
Where the lesson of this book really hit, for my life, is in my chosen vocation. I am a coach and a teacher. It’s my passion. It’s what I live and breathe for. I am at my most engaged state when I am teaching and coaching. And I used to think I am lucky to be able to earn my living doing the thing that brings me the most passion. I also used to think that I am lucky to have identified what my true passion is. And then I realized, it’s not luck.
It’s a lifetime of preparation (though I didn’t really know it for the first 30 years of preparation!). My passion first appeared in my 14th year. My Dad took the family to a presentation by a company named Xoces, a program on defining what you want in life. After that program, I wrote a personal Mission Statement – a pretty radical thing for a kid from England, just a year in Canada. Part of that Mission Statement was that I want to leave this world having improved, through my teaching, the lives of as many people as possible. I forgot about that until I found that document just a couple of years ago.
It further revealed itself, after the fact, with all the connections I started making 20 years ago, across North america. My family always questioned the wisdom of my giving so much to so many people; I always pushed back that there was some unknown purpose behind it all.
I know, based on published research, that i am in the vast majority in life – I live my passions. I get confirmation of how rare it is to live one’s passion from the number of people I meet every week who say ‘You’re so lucky; I wish I could get out of this business and do what I want to do’. I tell them it’s not luck; it’s a plan. I didn’t plan as well as I could have, and my immediate family suffered somewhat for that. But we are almost there.
I get 100% of my time to live my passion in my work, and my wife gets to live her work passion 60% of the time. That’s pretty darned rare in this world, so we count our blessings every day.
I also see life as a continuous series of teaching opportunities. It’s an innate part of me, and sometimes it’s a struggle not to teach in the moment, and I don’t always win that struggle. So when we meet, please forgive me if I seem to ‘need’ to share the lessons in something we are discussing. I work on it.
As I’m reading the ‘how-to-apply-this-stuff’ section of Clint’s book, I realize how little it would take for people to live their passion. There’s no magic pill, and it takes courage, commitment, and the support of family and friends, but with some hard work, you can do it.
Need some help discovering what your passion even is? Need some time to get things figured out? Ask me – it’s my passion.
Tags: clint swindall, engaged leadership, learning, living for the weekday, passion
Wed, June 1 2011 » Mental Moments » No Comments