Do you have a Jimmy Hendrix working for you?

Back in the early 80's, every Saturday night without fail, my friends and I would 'frequent' a nightclub that was ambitiously called 'tingles'. It was little more than a bingo hall with a couple of strobe lights and a few coloured filters that helped distinguish it, by a very fine line, from a 1950's 'country' (i.e. culchie) ballroom.

Memory can play tricks on the mind, but I recall the jubulent response from 'the boys with long hair' anytime Jimmy Hendrix was played. It didn't have to be 'Hendrix' of course. Anything by 'The Quo' or AC/DC would suffice.

In an instant, a swarm of spotty faced teenagers would gather in a circle and in a bid to outperform Hendrix, played  their imaginary 'guitars' with a  gusto that would have seriously impressed the great man himself.

With hair flying and a faces like constipated gerbils, the young rockers would ditch all self consciousness as they plucked, flung and fretted their virtual instruments with feckless abandonment.

I seem to recall performing an aria or two myself. I remember being really impressed with how I performed to 'A Whole Lot a Rosie'.

Afterwards, I struggled to understand why my fingers wouldn't work when I tried to get to grips with a friends Gibson. Why wasn't I able to perform in the real word what I had clearly mastered in the virtual world.

I don't know about you, but I see a lot of people in the selling business who are virtuosos in their own mind but perform like well dressed heffalumps in front of a prospect. Any pressure from a prospect and they wimp, cave and crumble. They act like like those 'talking' dolls where you pull a string and out pours the latest digitized buzzwords created by some back office product marketer.

Is it their fault though? Is the hiring and recruitment process to blame?

Aren't most interviews little more than 'air guitar' auditions?

What do you think? 

Comments

[Sebastien]

Great post Paul! I am a big Hendrix fan myself and witnessed the same situation many years ago when I was a student.

I definitelly agree with what you are saying, there are a lot of these talking dolls. The good thing about difficult economic times is that these dolls clearly have to either change their attitude or change job...
One of my first thing I learned in Selling is that selling only starts when the customer is objecting. I experienced it many many times, and I also saw very often that the talking dolls would shrink and try to leave the room as soon as humanly possible. This is where the good sales professional will pick up the fight and will come much closer to a deal.
Selling is a funny type of job, as almost everyone can start a career wherever they come from. In the past 10 years business was actually so easy (in Ireland) that a lot of people wanted their share of the pie. With a much tougher environment I suspect a lot of them are now feeling dazed and confused (an other great musical reference from the past, not Jimmy though!).