Technology Sales Journal

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? 

What's your story?

Have you ever seen the Steven Spielberg film La Amistad? It's an amazing (true) story involving giants of history playing out a crucial incident in the abolition of slavery. Much of the film centres on the attempts of a few good men, fighting against all the odds to have a group of slaves freed from captivity. The chief defense attorney is former President John Quincey Adams. When asked by another member of the defense team (played by Matthew McConaughey) what his strategy was for winning the case, he replied "forget about the facts, it is the best story that will win, we need a really good story"

If selling is about anything, it's about telling a story. What's your story?

Say 'Cheese!'

I recently attended a family wedding. It seemed to me that most people brought a camera to record the happy occasion. Everyone was a photographer for the day.

The beauty of many modern cameras, you can see the results immediately. You understand the ritual…… cameras are passed from Auntie Mary to Uncle Tom. Relations gush appropriately. Nobody wants to point out the obvious….. the photographs are a awful…. underexposed, missing heads and semi closed eyes.

Just because you can take a picture doesn't make you a photographer. Similarly, just because someone can take an order, doesn't make him/her a sales professional.

Think about it……anyone can operate a camera. Modern camera’s try to make everything so simple – no film, red eye reduction, automatic exposure, face detection, zoom lenses, automatic flash, etc.

Yet pictures taken with ‘auto everything’ cameras produce results no better than an old manual camera.

That’s because good photographs have little to do with the camera and everything to do with the relationship between the subject and the photographer.

An amateur believes it’s all about the camera. Just point and shoot. The professional knows it’s all about light, contrast, texture and expression.

Isn’t the same true about selling?

The Great Maldini

Upon completing a highly dangerous tightrope walk in appalling wind and rain over Snake River in Idaho, 'The Great Maldini' was met by an enthusiastic fan, who urged him to make a return trip, this time pushing a wheelbarrow, which the spectator had thoughtfully brought along.

The Great Maldini was not very keen on the idea, given the terrible conditions, but the supporter pressed him, "You can do it - I know you can," he urged.

"You really believe I can do it?" asked Maldini.

"Yes - definitely - you can do it, I know you can do it" the supporter gushed.

"Okay," said Maldini, "Get in the wheelbarrow..."

.....watch what people do, not what they say

Will you be ignored?

Last weekend my family and I went along to visit the Titanic Exhibition in town.

I found many aspects of the exhibition to be fascinating, but at the same time deeply disturbing. Touching the actual bell that was rang out to signal the sate of emergency on board was surreal. So too was viewing fragments of the hull. I could go on.

But what disturbed me most was........ well let me tell you the story.....

The message read: "Captain, titanic – Westbound steamers report icebergs and field ice in 42 degrees North from 49 degrees to 51 degrees West, April 12. Compliments, Barr." 

The message was delivered to Captain Smith on the RMS Titanic. The area referred to in the message was just a few miles north of Titanic’s intended course. 

At 1:42pm on Sunday April 14th, the Titanic received another ice warning, this time from the ship ‘The Baltic’. The massage read: "Captain Smith, Titanic – Greek steamer Athinai reports passing icebergs and large quantities of field ice today in latitude 41⁰52’W." 

At that time the Titanic was at 42⁰35’N, 45⁰50’W, which was dangerously close to the ice field. The message was take to the bridge, but instead of showing it to his officers, Captain Smith took it with him when he went to lunch. On the promenade deck he bumped into Joseph Bruce Ismay (Chairman of White Star Lines) where he handed him the fateful message. Ismay put the telegram in his pocket, where it remained for the next five-and-a-half hours before it was finally posted on the bridge. 

A short while later Chief Wireless Operator Jack Phillips received a message from the westbound SS Mesaba: 

"From Mesaba to Titanic and all eastbound ships. Ice report in latitude 42⁰N to 41⁰25’N, longitude 49⁰W to 50⁰30’W. Saw much heavy pack ice and great number large icebergs. Also field ice. Weather good, clear."

The Mesaba’s message was the sixth ice warning received by the titanic that day. The Titanic was heading straight for a vast belt of ice, stretching some 78 miles across her path. 

In the wireless room, Jack Phillips was busy dealing with the Cape Race traffic when, at 11:00pm, he was suddenly interrupted by a signal from the nearby California, announcing, "We are stopped and surrounded by ice." Angry at the intrusion, Phillips retorted, "Shut up, shut up. You’re jamming my signal. I’m busy. I’m working Cape Race." 

Before the California could give her position, some 20 miles north of the Titanic, she was unceremoniously cut off.

In the eerie darkness of Sunday April 14th 11.40pm the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic struck an iceberg.

As the news filtered throughout the ship, the passengers began to assemble in the forward first-class entrance. A short while later, Captain Smith walked onto the main deck and instructed the crew to evacuate the ship – women and children first.

The initial reaction of many of the passengers was to dismiss any notion that the ship was sinking, and refused to board the lifeboats. As a result many of the boats left half full. To add to the calamity, many passengers, not recognising the significance of the situation they faced, went back inside to avoid the cold night air. 

At 2:15am on April 15th 1912, with 1,500 doomed souls clutching desperately to the ships rails, the Titanic slipped beneath the surface of the freezing North Sea to make it’s 4Km journey to it’s icy grave. 

Why do people ignore warning signs? It's not just confined to the occasional accident/disaster either. Think about all the warnings that existed prior to the 2008/2009 meltdown in Global property and banking sectors. Think too of the people who, for example, fail to consult a doctor when they discover lumps where lumps shouldn't exist.

Think too of the sales people who lose accounts from under their nose. The warning signs are always present, we just don't notice them.

How Do You Sell to the Director of Finance?

IN THE MIND OF THE BUYER

• How does a Financial Director think?
• Are they only interested in cost reduction?
• Do they look for lowest price?
• At what stage do they get involved in the sales process
• How do they like to be sold to?
• How do they find budget when there is no budget?

Next Tuesday I'll be interviewing the Financial Director of The Tech Group a Nasdaq listed company on Dublin City FM to find out the answers to these an many other sales questions.

Join In the Mind of the Buyer on LinkedIn to get the details of the interview an receive a summary of the show and a link to a recording (if you can't tune into the live broadcast)

Content is not King, it's a poor relation

What happens when one of the worlds finest musicians goes incognito in a busy subway in Washington's business district? What happens when a musician who can command $1,000 per minute, takes his priceless Stradivari, dons a baseball cap and plays masterfully for people who would think nothing of paying $150 a ticket to see him perform.

Watch the secretly recorded video and see for yourself.

You're probably thinking that it was a busy metro station and the travellers were under pressure to get to work and therefore paid little attention to the music. Perhaps that's true. Read on and you might find yourself thinking again

Consider for a moment, the process that Scientists go though to have their papers published in their relevant journals. Typically a paper is submitted to an panel of scientists who are chosen because of their expertise in a specific field. The editor of the Scientific Journal then decides whether or not to publish based on the recommendations of the panel.

In 1982 two psychologists had a suspicion about how papers were chosen. So they selected from each of twelve well-known psychology journals an article that had already been published by them. Furthermore, each of the chosen articles had been penned by psychologists from one of ten of the most prestigious psychology departments in the US (Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc.).

Here's comes the interesting bit. They changed the names of the authors to entirely fictitious ones. Furthermore they changed they changed the affiliation of these fictitious authors to lesser know Universities.

After combing through the articles to alter any references to the original author or their affiliated University, they retyped the papers and submitted them for publication in the exact same twelve journals that had originally published them!

Of the twelve journals, only three spotted that they had previously published the article. Of the remaining nine publications, eight rejected the articles (88%). Furthermore, of the panel members (sixteen experts and eight editors) who examined the (re)submissions every single one stated that the paper they reviewed did not merit publication.

It suggests that in deciding whether or not an article deserves to be published or not, the decision makers pay more attention to the author and to the standing of the institution to which they belong than they do to the content.

Content is not King, it's a poor relation.

It is true. The emperor really has no clothes.

The idiot’s self-help guide to how-to books for dummies – made easy.

 

Dave Stein, CEO of ES Research wrote an excellent article some time ago about the folly of sales tips as a source of sales nourishment (Sales Tips: Hazardous to Your Health). I couldn't agree with him more. 

How many Architect firms do you know that offer their prospective clients tips on 'mistakes to avoid when designing your home?'

How about trying to track down a guide to becoming a nuclear scientist in 10-easy-steps?

Visit the Lancet, you won't find any articles promising you top techniques on how to make it as a consultant Obstetrician

Is this need to offer repackaged, recycled, reused (mostly redundant) advice unique to the sales and marketing world?

In a world of instant gratification, have we lost sight of insight. 

Most relevant to what we’re talking about is the fact that so many of the 'tips' offer to ‘make things easy’ or claim to be ‘the simple way’ to do something. Many of them are written by people who have never strayed beyond the borders of that land we call theory. People who have one, linear solution to an issue which, if challenged by the vagaries of reality, would crumble. 

Others are written by people with experience in one particular facet of the issue. (Have you ever noticed how so many of the people who make money out of the internet made it by writing books or creating websites telling you how to ‘make money out of the internet’?)

Others still are written by the ‘I’ve been there so I know’ brigade. But how many of them are written by people who consciously went out there to address the central issue themselves? 

How many of them come out and say ‘Success is a hard slog, here’s an effective way to slog’.

Does your dog bite?

The pearls of making assumptions are well understood (full length article coming soon). This classic scene from the master makes the point in a hilarious fashion. Well worth watching. Thanks to Denis for reminding me about it.

Gone to hell

 

A highly successful Sales Manager was tragically killed in a plane crash. His soul arrived at the Pearly Gates, where St. Peter duly welcomed him.

"Before you get settled in," he said, "We have a little problem... you see, we've never had a Sales Manager make it this far before and we're not really sure what to do with you."

"Oh, I see," said the manager. "Can't you just let me in?"

"Well, I'd like to," said St Peter, "But I have higher orders. We're instructed to let you have a day in hell and a day in heaven, and then you are to choose where you'd like to go for all eternity."

"Actually, I think I'd prefer heaven", said the man.

"Sorry, we have rules..." at which St. Peter put the Sales Manager into the downward bound elevator.

As the doors opened in hell he stepped out onto a beautiful golf course. In the distance was a country club; around him were many friends - past fellow sales reps, all smartly dressed, happy, and cheering him on. They ran up and embraced him warmly and they talked about old times. They played a perfect round of golf and afterwards went to the golf club where he enjoyed a superb surf n’ turf meal. He met the Devil, who was actually rather nice, and he had a wonderful night telling jokes and dancing. Before he knew it, it was time to leave; everyone shook his hand and waved goodbye as he stepped into the lift. The lift went back up to heaven where St. Peter was waiting.

"Now it's time to spend a day in heaven," he said.

So the sales manager spent the next 24 hours lounging around on clouds, playing the harp and singing, which was almost as enjoyable as his day in hell. At the day's end St Peter returned.

"So," he said, "You've spent a day in hell and you've spent a day in heaven. You must choose between the two."

The man thought for a moment and replied, "Well, heaven is certainly lovely, but I actually had a better time in hell. I choose hell."

Accordingly, St. Peter took him to the elevator again and he descended to hell.

When the doors of the elevator opened he found herself standing in a desolate wasteland covered in rubbish and filth. He saw her friends dressed in rags, picking up rubbish and putting it in old sacks. The Devil approached and put his arm around the bemused soul.

"I don't understand," stuttered the Sales Manager, "Yesterday I was here, and there was a golf course, and a leisure club, and we ate lobster, and we danced and had a wonderful happy time. Now all there's just a dirty wasteland of garbage and all my friends look miserable."

The Devil looked at him and smiled. "Yesterday we were hiring, today you're staff."

PS - If you're wondering, I took the picture at Universal Studios in Hollywood this summer. It was on the War of the Worlds set (Tom Cruise). Very realistic place.