Update on "what" versus "who"

Reading the excellent, "Good to Great" by Jim Collins, one of the 100 best business books of all time. 

As a previous post mentions, I feel the "what" is more important than the "who"; however, Collins talks at length about how the "who" is more important. 

Based on Collins definitions of "what" and "who", I feel the "what" is still more important as Collins talks about "getting the right people on the bus," which to me is a "what" that leads to a "who."

Thoughts?

Honestly

Our collective fear behind more personal information migrating to online databases isn't really the loss of privacy. Instead, our fear is that that information can strip away the lies we tell ourselves and expose our true selves, not to others, but to us. 

This thought slapped me across the face while reading Super Crunchers, by Ian Ayres. Ayres points out that Visa, based on purchase history, can predict with relative accuracy if a married couple will be divorced in 5 years. 

To most, this information probably carries a terrifying "big brother" connotation. On the other hand, wouldn't you want to know this information? Having watched several divorces unfold from the periphary, it seems most divorce announcements shocker the individual receiving divorce notice. What if, 5 years before you were served, you had a brief conversation with your Visa rep who adivsed you that you were on a path towards divorce? I would certainly be happy for the chance to correct the course of my marriage.

Let's leave what most consider "personal" information for a second. Anthony Bourdain writes in Kitchen Confidential about a server who showed up late for work after returning from vacation claiming that her plane was delayed. Her boss called the airline, discovered that the plane had arrived on time and promptly fired the server for lying. 

Today that server's boss wouldn't need to call, he could find arrival times on a myriad of websites.

With so much of our information available online or through easily sourced databases, our chances of getting caught in a lie are exponentially bigger than even 10 years ago. 

At the same time what are the mental and emotional costs of facing up to our true selves? To paraphrase Joe Thornley at the CPRS national conference in Halifax last June, I have one life online. 

Having one life would make it easier to be truthful. What do you think?

The “what” is more important than the “who”

In fables, animals often take place of humans. For example, the fable of the Frog in the Well teaches a lesson about being boastful.

Imagine for a second though, that you told this story to a colleague and their response was something like, “well yeah, but frog's can’t talk.” Silly response, yes? Well, here’s an example that may hit closer to home.

You’re chatting with a colleague. Your colleague says, “did you hear that Steve got our manager to increase our customer surveys from 4 to 6 this year?” Wow, big news. Your colleague got approval to increase an expense when your expenses were cut 20% and you have the increased deliverables.

Now you have two ways to react. You could focus on the who, Steve, and be jealous that he got a budget increase while you got your budget cut. You may think things like, “well Steve and our manager always go for coffee so they’re buddy-buddy, no wonder he got approval.”

Your second choice, which is vastly more productive, is to focus on the what, Steve got approval to increase customer surveys from 4 to 6. As Malcolm Gladwell laid out in his excellent new book, Outliers successful individuals don’t just happen they have help along the way. Steve didn’t magically get approval from your shared boss he had help (not the “buddy-buddy” help mentioned above).

You want to find out is what Steve did to get approval from your boss because that information will help you get approval for your next idea. Was it charts and graphs; an amazing PowerPoint; statistics that linked surveys to increased revenues? There’s one person who knows, Steve – ask him.

Yes, it might suck that you are being asked to do more with less; however, reacting emotionally only drives you farther away from your goals. By focusing on the what of your situation instead of the who you will bounce back from adversity faster and be more likely to get approval for your ideas in the future.

Closing Time

60% of all ideas fail to sell in North America because the seller fails to ask "so we're going to do business, right?" A prof at BCIT laid that stat on me almost 10 years ago and it stuck with me throughout my varying careers as journalist, marketer and salesperson.

Think of that stat like this. If 5 Honda Civics are available at a car dealership, and each is worth $20,000, 3 of those cars (and $60,000 in revenue) will not sell because the dealership's salespeople don't ask, "so when would you like to take delivery?"

Shocking, no?

Let's go away from a traditional sales situation. Imagine you are sitting across from a colleague. You are in your organization's conference room, both of you have notebooks, you have extra papers that explain the idea you want to sell to your colleague. You explain how you came up with your idea and why you feel it would be beneficial for your organization. Your colleague asks questions, you provide answers. You feel your colleague has "bought in" to your idea so you end the meeting and leave feeling satisfied. 

Now you're presenting your idea at a group meeting. Again you explain your idea and the benefits you perceive your idea will bring to your organization. Your colleagues put your idea under scrutiny so you look to your colleague mentioned above for support. To your dismay, that colleague picks your idea apart further! If you had only asked, "is this an idea you would support?" in your first meeting.

If your ideas are good enough to present, make sure you close the deal, batting .400 is only good in baseball.

Selling ideas internally

Seth Godin wrote a great post recently about selling ideas to big companies from an external perspective. What about selling ideas to companies of any size from an internal perspective?

Selling ideas internally is more difficult because you are selling into your corporate culture. All of the politics, legends, norms and other factors that created the corporate culture at your company weigh on you when selling internally. 

Key to successfully selling your ideas internally is how you show that your idea will either make money or save time (which makes money through increased productivity). Showing how your ideas make money or save time is easier if your idea is a strategy that relates to a specific company objective instead of only a tactical action (issue a news release, sponsor a sports team in an operating community, submit reports in PDF only, etc.). 

For example, if your company sets an objective of increasing positive media coverage by 20% in the next 12 months compared to the previous 12 months, you will have greater success selling an idea that directly relates to that objective (like increasing support for local not-for-profits) than an idea that indirectly relates to that objective (like increasing internal recycling).

A caveat before you get the idea that directly linking your ideas to company objectives will mean easy sales. Remember that you won't be the only individual in your company coming up with ideas to meet your company's objectives. Your idea may be the best idea to meet a specific objective; however, unless you successfully sold the specific individual who has the power to choose your idea, you will fail to close your sale. 

Successfully selling your ideas internally comes down to understanding your company's objectives, choosing a specific objective, creating a strategic idea that directly relates to the success of your chosen objective, understanding which individual will chose ideas related to your chosen objective, listening to that individual's needs and demonstrating how your idea meets those needs and contributes to the success of your chosen objective.

Are you listening?

Think about hearing. Unless you're deaf you can't not hear. You can ignore, but you can't avoid hearing.

Now think about listening. You hear constantly, but how often do you actually absorb what is said and respond to the meaning of what was said instead reacting to what was heard.

Reacting to what you hear takes you down a path of failure as what is said may not be what is meant. In my previous post, I talked about selling your ideas to specific individuals instead of generic people. Individuals won't always reveal their true intentions in their words. instead tone, inflection and context are key to understanding exactly what your audience is feeding back to you.

If you are listening, a successful meeting should follow this pattern - question, listen, question, listen, provide specific information, listen for feedback, question, listen, question, listen, provide specific information, agree on a next step (hold a press conference, sign a contract, hire a new employee, etc.).

"Peope" aren't buying

"People" is a mostly useless throw away word, like "they." 

We're not selling to homogeneous "people," we're selling to distinct "individuals" who each have different reasons for buying your ideas.

You will enjoy greater success in getting your ideas accepted (aka "closing a sale") if you speak to each individual's reasons for buying instead of blundering through a canned presentation.

A great example of speaking to an individual's reasons for buying is the "devil's advocate." You have worked with this individual in the past, the one who seeks to poke a hole in every idea no matter how solid the idea may be.

A friend told me recently about how he dealt with a devil's advocate on a team he led; he let the devil's advocate play their role. Every time his team came up with an idea, he asked the devil's advocate to poke a hole in it. Eventually, the devil's advocate couldn't poke any more holes in their team's idea so they bought in. 

Next time you're pitching, make it your goal to understand why each person would buy your idea, you'll be surprised at your success in getting your ideas accepted.