It’s a truism in business that what gets measured gets done. That’s usually a good thing, except when a relentless focus on the What overshadows a valid concern for the How, as illustrated by two stories I came across in Sunday’s news media.
The first story was by David Segal in the New York Times business section, in which he elaborated on an earlier story, detailing how Staples emphasizes the selling of warranties and accessories on computers and other equipment. Sales reps are expected to sell an average of $200 of add-ons per machine, or risk termination. The result? Sales reps often refuse to sell computers to customers who won’t purchase the plans, or they will lie about the manufacturer’s warranty to push redundant and unnecessarily expensive plans. In one example, Epson has a floor sticker that touts their warranty as the best in the business, and reps are supposedly told to stand on the sticker!
Since the original story came out in September, Staples management sent out an email telling its reps that they could be subject to disciplinary action if caught using these practices, but has not changed its $200 expectation.
On Sunday evening, 60 minutes ran a story on Health Management Associates, a hospital chain that allegedly pressured its emergency room doctors to admit 20% of patients into the hospital, regardless of medical need. According to the story, doctors were told (by administrators with no medical training), or goaded by a software package, to admit patients with no compelling medical reason to do, in order to fill empty beds. As in the Staples story, threats of termination for non-compliance were implied or overtly discussed. The hospital spokesperson interviewed on camera denied the practice, which interviewer Steve Kroft said had been corroborated by approximately 100 people they interviewed.
You can’t conclude from the limited detail presented that management meant to drive its employees to use questionable practices. Maybe problems like this arise because managers down the line find it easier to bark orders and threats than to provide their employees with the training and resources to help them meet tough goals. Or maybe the people at the top are so out of touch with conditions on the front line that they pull unrealistic goals out of their arse to satisfy investors. Or maybe it’s hard to find honest people to hire for the workforce.
Actually, that last reason is by far the least likely explanation of all. I believe that the vast majority of people in business are honest, and want to do the right thing for their employers and their customers. But, as Deming said, “a bad system will beat a good person every time”.
There’s nothing wrong with aggressive measurements, and providing incentives to drive increasing productivity from your salespeople—all employees, in fact. But executives and managers have a professional and ethical obligation not to place employees into a quandary whereby they daily have to choose between a paycheck and ethical behavior.
We all know that good questions can uncover information that helps us in the sales process, but Dave Brock ‘s article on sales questioning this morning makes the important point that “the real power of effective questioning is how it helps the customer.” Questions help the customer by getting them to clarify the issues they’re trying to address and to think of things differently.
As he says, “the whole tone of a sales call changes when the customer says, ‘I’ve never considered that before.’” Dave is absolutely right, and it’s a wonderful feeling when that happens. I think back to a call I made to a prospect just to set up an appointment. He told me I was wasting my time, because they already had a sales process. When I asked him what percentage of his sales force were actively using their process, he paused and said, “Maybe we should meet to talk about that.”
But it’s also important to note that you should not expect good questions—even your very best questions—to always have an immediate visible effect. It’s not highly likely that the customer will say, “Wow, I never thought about it that way before!” In fact, the most likely reaction to this type of challenge question is either silence or some sort of combative answer. If you do get this reaction, do not think that your question has failed in its intent.
First of all, no one likes a know-it-all, especially when they’re right. Even if only to save face, the customer is probably not going to give you the immediate satisfaction of admitting you’re right.
Second, opinions are comfortable, and changing them is hard. Victor Hugo said “there is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come.” The corollary to that sentiment is that ideas take time.
Put yourself in their position: Have you ever been asked a question that forced you to rethink your opinion, or at least to look at your situation through a different perspective? It probably didn’t feel too good at the time, did it? Long-held opinions don’t get changed instantly because of a single flash of insight, especially when that insight comes from someone else. They take time to work. Sometimes a great question is like a seed that plants itself in the customer’s brain and gradually takes root. By the time the first shoots are visible, the root system has taken a firm grip on the soil beneath.
Finally, the more astute buyers won’t let on that they’re excited about your idea because it weakens their negotiating position.
In fact, if the customer is too quick to come around to your point of view, maybe they’re simply the impressionable type who will change their minds back just as quickly when someone else challenges your challenge.
So don’t think that your excellent question has failed if the customer does not react in the way you hoped. They may need time to think about what you said, or they may need to talk about it internally. Your goal is to open their mind to a different perspective; don’t re-close it by pressing too hard for an answer.
The truth is in here somewhere
Occasionally he stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened.
Winston Churchill
I was wrong, but at least I know why.
My guy didn’t win last night, but this article is not about politics. It’s about critical thinking, objectivity, and trusting the numbers. And trust me, I’ll relate it to sales in the end.
Like so many others, I’ve been closely following the polls over the past few weeks for a clue to the outcome. Almost all of the polls predicted Obama’s victory, but there was plenty of other “evidence” that suggested the polls were wrong, and that’s what I chose to focus on:
- Some experts said the polls were fundamentally flawed because they were based on 2008 turnout proportions, and of course everyone knew that the Democrats would not turn out in those same numbers this time around.
- Others told us how large and passionate Romney’s crowds were in the past two or three weeks, and said that would make the difference.
- Still others assured us that undecideds tend to break for the challenger.
- My own theory was that the polls are fundamentally flawed because people either don’t have home landlines anymore, and those that do use caller ID to avoid answering calls from pollsters, thereby making random samples impossible.
Of course, when I was explaining that theory to my son, who works in politics, he pointed out that if my theory were correct, it would probably mean that the polls would overstate Romney’s support, because younger people are less likely to have landlines. (He was much more objective and accurate than I was during this whole process.)
Naturally, experts on the other side had ready answers for my theories, but of course those weren’t the ones I focused on. My own confirmation bias told me that they were victims of confirmation bias. Here’s another example: just last weekend the Miami Herald, my local paper, published a poll showing Romney ahead in Florida by 6 points, and yet the same day the Wall Street Journal poll showed Obama ahead in Florida. I noted the disparity, but of course put more faith in the Herald numbers, because after all, they would know more about Florida, wouldn’t they? I suppose if it had been the other way around, I would have justified the WSJ numbers by saying they’re a much more prestigious paper.
At least when I was doing this, I was completely aware of what I was doing. When I would click on a favorable article and ignore another, I knew I was indulging my confirmation bias. I knew that that I was not being completely objective, but I hoped that this time I was wrong. I was a “prisoner of hope”, but at least I knew it. In some ways, I was using the entire process as an experiment, and the results are pretty conclusive: trust the numbers, not your gut.
Here’s where all this relates to sales. Mike Weinberg, in his book New Sales.Simplified., cautions salespeople against becoming prisoners of hope. Hope is a great motivator but a poor crutch. Salespeople become prisoners of hope when they fail to prospect, because they hope something will fall into their laps. The funnel numbers may be bleak, but instead of doing the work to fill the funnel with qualified prospects, they instead fall back on hope as their principal strategy. Something will come up, they say; it always does. Except when it doesn’t.
Trust the numbers, especially when you don’t like what they’re telling you.
Sometimes material for a blog post just falls in your lap. I received the following email from a marketing company. I think they’re trying to sell me something, but I’m not sure what. Maybe it’s options, or leverage, or simply a trusted partnership?
I’ve copied it exactly, except for removing the company name.
Hi Jack,
I wanted to touch base with you directly, as we have been working with organizations in similar vertical markets, providing a scalable, Marketing infrastructure.
My company, _________ provides these services (Fortune 500 type marketing options) and utilizes leading technology to make this all accessible.
We have found that many leading executives leverage our people and tools, in an effort to focus their finite resources on the core business at hand.
Finally small and mid-sized companies have a trusted partner to help them contain marketing costs. Minimize employer-related risks, relieve the administrative burden of marketing, and keep their focus on business success.
I would like to set up some time to discuss your current marketing environment, and see if our solution may be a good fit for you. Let me know some date(s)/times(s) that work, and I can coordinate calendars for a meeting.
As Dave Barry says, I’m not making this stuff up.
