Stereotypes, bias, and the mind

As a member of a culturally stigmatized group (Americans) in the eyes of many of the people I come into contact with while I travel for work. I found these designs by Yanko Tsvetkov highly entertaining. After all, I recognize that the we, of the much vilified USA, have earned our bad reputation. We often are loud talking, impatient, greedy capitalists.

From Yanko Tsvetkov's Mapping Stereotypes

Stereotypes of many Europeans that are held my Americans are not too far off the mark. Stereotypes and biases (cultural or otherwise) are an important part of how people work. With the amount of data that the typical person is confronted with daily, to process every decision, each interaction from a neutral stand point is a veritable impossibility. 

What can we do when the sales team accepts the customers Status Quo?

In a recent workshop with the sales and technical team of a small, yet significant CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) software company I was struck by the number of times that the sales team conceded that the "customer doesn't do it that way" so they don't see them changing methods.

Since when is selling about letting the status quo be good good enough? How about this? The status quo is that we don't get any revenue from the prospect, why challenge that in the eyes of the customer?

Ron Popeil never sold anything by accepting others view of good enough (image  wolfprint.stritch.edu)

Is it not the challenge for the sales person to convince the Desert Nomad to buy sand, or the Eskimo Ice, or the Lady in the white gloves want Ketchup flavored Popsicles? Then why, when I present the use-case for our software, do we roll over when the customer expresses that the model doesn't fit there current business paradigm? OK, if you say so. No need to grow our business. Have a nice day.

• Since when has selling bee about completely ceding the value-arguments to our technical people?
• Why is it so bad to challenge the customers feeling that "we are fine" without any change?
• No, you don't tell them they've been doing it wrong, you just show them a better way.

If you don't believe that what your are selling is a needed improvement to the status quo, please move on; get out of the way of those who can offer change.

Brown Bag Lunch: Selling Innovation/Change

I made the presentation, but unfortunately my camera has such a disappointing battery that I have not video of the talk. But here is the slide show instead. I post via slideshare.

Since the talking I do is not captured, I have to make sure that I give credit where it is due. Also, for more places to see, things to read, or inspiring voices you can look up:

• Simon Sinek, Start with Why (the what, how, is not original)
• Dan Ariely for the comparative difference thought starter
• mondaydots for first showing comparitive difference to me, and planting ideas for the simplicity of the presentation

Don't Talk with your Mouth full: Technopark Zurich Brownbag lunch presentation

I have been invited to make a presentation at the Zurich Technopark. Apparently the Self-Proclaimed-Die-Expert and Techni-ho is a "world renowned" expert on Technical Evangelism.

I will be presenting on the theme:

Selling innovation/change

Technical Evangelism by the numbers

The basic theme of the presentation will be a return to one of my earlier concepts; and attempt to quantify the amount of resistance that people have to new ideas:

I doubt that any of the 3 people who read this blog will necessarily be in the Zurich Area this week (the presentation is Thursday the 20th of January, 2011 at 12:30). But if I cared whether or not people listened or read what I do, this blog would not exist. 

I will consider posting the entire presentation after the debut on Thursday.

Customer Service = untapped oppurtunity

Recently Simon Sinek posted a view regarding Customer Service Re:Focus: You Shouldn’t Need To Wield A Gun To Get Customer Service. There he asks:

My question is, why do I have to hold a proverbial gun to a company’s head before I get a decent level of service.  That's not good customer service...  

 Customer service is when a company works everyday to keep your business so that they never face a threat of losing it. 

Each call from a customer represents an opportunity, to further your position with the customer or go backward. One truth to consider when putting together the customer service philosophy at any business is to remember there is no benefit to the idea that customer service is about maintaining customers. In business, you are either growing or shrinking, but generally you cannot ever hope to stay the same. After all, staying the same means you are losing to the people who are growing--even modestly.

If the phone rings at customer service, you already have what is most likely an incipient disgruntled customer--an embryonic pissed of user, or future flame mail sender, or angry blogger in the making. It should be your mission to convert that call into a [insert your company name here] super fan, Facebook fan, or follower.

It is an opportunity to interface with your customer, one who took the time to call you (before they voted with their wallets and feet). Embrace that opportunity and make it matter, instead of looking at it as a chore.

Sell the problem (borrowed from Seth)

In a recent post Seth Godin suggests that we need to be good as selling the problem (before we can sell the solution).

Seth's Blog: Sell the problem

Getting your clients or prospects on the same page as you, by demonstrating your understanding of their pain, and then suggesting that you have a remedy to that pain is one of the keys to successfully changing them from prospect to customer.

If the customer does not at first recognize the problem or pain the resistance to change is certain to go to infinity. If we do not have a reasonable alternative to the current situation that too sets the resistance to infinity.

Both points Seth is good enough to mention in hist blog. But I would add that we cannot forget to include the ever important W.I.F.M. (what's in-in for ME) and the desire to feel that it was their idea.

Get them on board with the problem, present them with a beneficial alternative, that makes the individual succeed as well as the company and let them THINK it was their idea.