I’m sure you have encountered those people who you wonder if they have any social skills whatsoever.  I used to work with a guy who would walk in to any conversation between people and just start talking about his topic.  No waiting, no gentle interruption – he just walked in and started firing away.  Totally annoying.

In that light comes this article from CNNMoney.com.  The pull quote from the Q & A article:

For one, my old boss, who laid me off from my last job with no warning (and no severance pay), has sent me a friend request.

That is some hubris on the boss’ part.  However, I have to agree with the suggestion made by the author:

Indeed, even if your old boss did you wrong, he was just doing the company’s dirty work, and now apparently wants to keep in touch. Why not take him up on it? The same goes for your other professional acquaintances. You never know who might be in a position to help your career a year, or five years, from now.

The times they are a changin’, aren’t they?  Who would of thought of such complicated work questions just 10 years ago?

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This is the opening sentence from an email caught by my junk filter:

Sorry for not having the pleasure of knowing your mindset before making you this offer as it is utterly hell confidential and genuine by virtue of its nature.

“…utterly hell confidential” is a new construction for me.  This example is anecdotal – the larger issue is the prevalence of email communication in selling.  The days of cold calling are receding while initial email communication is advancing.  This fact adds another factor to successful sales hiring.

The ability to be effective on the phone will always be important in successful selling, but the email approach is replacing the cold call.  In our business, we’ve worked hard to attract interest in our services.  The attraction piece, where prospects contact us, has moved to a 50/50 phone call vs. email split.  When we started this company over 5 years ago, almost all of the initial contacts were phone calls.

Unfortunately for many salespeople, writing ability seems to be a less common skill in today’s world.  Ridiculous sentences like the one listed above are becoming more common.

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I’m on hold this past week with my website hosting company with some questions about our account.  I have a somewhat complex question/request for them which requires the customer service rep to put me on hold to obviously research it.

I don’t mind being put on hold as I am ever hopeful they come back with the solution.  However, I was a bit shocked by the hold music when she put me on hold the first time.

The song was Another One Bites the Dust.

I kept waiting for the dial tone as surely she was preparing to hang up on me.  I was relieved when she returned.  I explained my question further at which point I was put on hold a second time.

I found myself thrust into the middle of Puff the Magic Dragon.

How bizarre.  Oh, and I didn’t get my question solved.

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I received an email recently from someone I presume to be a salesperson looking for work.  Obviously this is a common occurrence these days, but here is the error in the delivery – the email had no writing.  Yup, it was just a blank email with an MS Word attachment that appeared to be a resume.

This approach is a wasted effort in today’s world.  I never opened the attachment for fear it may be some malicious, virus-infested computer-killer.  Dramatic, I know, but the point is valid.  It is similar to a phone call that comes in on your home phone at night and lists nothing more than “Out of Area.”  I wonder who it may be, I think about answering it, but I usually let it go because I suspect it is a telemarketer.  The same approach grips me with these types of unknown, unsolicited emails.

My standard operating procedure is to simply delete them an move on.  I am certain if that was a legitimate email, the person did not intend for this outcome.  This seems like an obvious point – take the time to write something for a cover email.  This salesperson’s approach leads me to make assumptions about his technique and abilities based on the clumsiness of his first contact.

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Clearly the greatest song from the Eagles and a key to discovering lies in an interview.  Forbes.com covers fascinating topic with a startling point at the beginning of the article:

…they only work about 80% of the time, according to the American Polygraph Association.

That is far lower than I expected.  Clearly, it is probably better than the vast majority of people, but I thought the number would be north of 90% for sure.

Ah, but here are the fun “tells” for interviewers to use:

Liars often give short or one-word responses to questions, while truth tellers are more likely to flesh out their answers.

And this:

Skilled liars don’t break a sweat, but the rest of us get a little fidgety. Four possible giveaways: shifty eyes, higher vocal pitch, perspiration and heavier breathing.

Here is a great read:

Liars are often reluctant to admit ordinary storytelling mistakes. When honest people tell stories, they may realize partway through that they left out some details and would unselfconsciously backtrack to fill in holes. They also may realize a previous statement wasn’t quite right, and go back and explain further. Liars, on the other hand, “are worried that someone might catch them in a lie and are reluctant to admit to such ordinary imperfections,” says DePaulo.

Lastly:

Yet another clue: imprecise pronouns. To psychologically distance themselves from a lie, people often pepper their tales with second- and third-person pronouns like “you,” “we” and “they,” says Hancock. Liars are also more likely to ask that questions be repeated and begin responses with phrases like, “to tell you the truth,” and “to be perfectly honest,” says Reid.

May I suggest you read the entire article?

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I was a psych major in college which seemed to be the perfect preparation for a sales career.  I believe it was.  To this day I am still intrigued by the psychology of selling which could truly be described as persuasion.

That background helps explain why I found this ManageSmarter.com article completely gripping – Mastering the Psychology of Persuasion.  You will have to read the entire article to appreciate the depth of it, but let me pull out a couple of points.

First one of the set-up questions:

• Are left-handed people more prone to some mental illnesses, accidents, or seeking positions of power?

And from later in the article:

And while these questions may at first appear to have clear yes or no answers, in reality, there are no definable correlations to them. All of these questions have exceptions to the rule. “It depends,” is the best practical answer. And yet, all answers you came up with in your head may have value if you’re in the sales and management profession.

Let’s take a look at some of these questions more closely. With regard to left-handed people and power: George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama are all lefties. Power hungry? Maybe.

Ok, the left-handed piece hits close to home for me since my wife and son are left-handers.  Yet you see the point – discovering the prospect’s correlation is important for persuading them.

Here are the most recognizable persuasive elements we experience in society:

Habitual patterns. Trigger words or fixed action patterns, automatic behavior patterns, and biases help people organize thoughts and actions.
Consistency and commitment. MacDonald’s hamburgers taste the same from Russia to Denver.
Reciprocation. “I love you. Will you buy my guitar?” The person may be more influenced to buy the guitar as a way to return the gesture of the stated love. Guilt falls under this category.
Likeability. We like people like us. First impressions, and all.
Social proof. Everybody is buying, saying, eating, reading, etc., so I must also.
Authority/power. Law is law and rules are rules.
Scarcity. The more we want something and can’t get it, the more valuable it can appear.
Fear or gain. Research shows fear of loss is stronger than the desire for gain.

The last two are critical to successful selling.  Scarcity is a strong motivator for moving prospects through a qualifying process.  The beauty of it is this – it creates demand in the prospect’s mind in spite of the salesperson.  I have seen some grossly under-developed salespeople thrive based on the perception of scarcity of their solution.

Fear of loss is similar to pain.  The same principle applies here – people move faster to remove pain than to gain pleasure.  The importance of this principle cannot be overstated.  This fact is why features/benefits selling is wasted if the benefit does not remove pain or create the fear of loss.  If your salespeople can combine scarcity with the fear of loss in their qualifying, you will have one highly-developed sales team.

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The news stories are flowing about layoffs, downsizing and closing in this brutal economy.  One such story from abcnews.com shares stories from readers regarding extreme situations for being let go.  This one was amusing:

After a traditional face to face layoff session, my company tried a new kinder gentler approach. They called a big meeting and announced that every employee had e-mail back on their computer that would tell them if they still had a job. I didn’t!

I’ve been let go during layoffs before and there isn’t any easy way to do it.  However, it seems to me that if your communication strategy is to use some form of electronic notification (like Radio Shack from a few years ago), you are probably taking a bad approach to it.  Just a thought.

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Also from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal (emphasis mine):

Nielsen said “member communities” are now at 67 percent participation while e-mail is at 65 percent.

The study found that of Internet users throughout the world, two-thirds visited a social networking site last year. Of those Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook is the leader, with visits every month by 3 of every 10 Internet users, the Nielsen study reports.

In fact, Facebook had a 168 percent increase in users, the study said, while Mountain View, Calif.-based LinkedIn had a 137 percent increase.

The biggest growth spurt for Facebook has been in the category of users from 35 to 49 years of age.

I believe it.  I volunteer to work with teenagers and they all are social site users who mock my antiquated references to email.  That is the generation moving into college and then into the work world.  Be prepared for the change is already underway whether you realize it or not.

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This current economy is giving life to a handful of new words tied to the recession according to this abcnews.com story.  Some of the words are making it into the online site of the major dictionaries.  Thankfully they are not putting the words into the printed version…yet.  Does anyone still buy the hard copy?

Here are a few of these new words entering the lexicon:

decremental: adjective The act or process of decreasing or becoming gradually less; the amount lost by gradual diminution or waste.

Great Recession: noun The current recession, which began in December 2007.  The length and severity of the current recession has led some in the media to dub it the “Great Recession,” a term that echoes the Great Depression of the 1930s.

recessionista: noun One who remains stylish during times of economic hardship; a woman who updates her wardrobe in a frugal manner.

staycation: noun A holiday spent at home, especially due to straitened financial circumstances.

zombie bank: noun A bank that has a negative net worth but continues to operate because of depositor’s insurance or other governmental intervention.

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These are skittish times, aren’t they?  I have seen this among reps and myself – every little item is scrutinized.  Communication, email, reports…I find myself looking for subtle clues in all of them.  Is a layoff coming?  How bad is it?  What is going to happen next?

These are not productive thoughts.  As a manager, how do you quell these fears?  There isn’t one move, tool or approach that will cure it, but a concerted effort will help to minimize your team’s anxiety.

Selling Power offers up an article that has some feel-good points that I question.  However, there is something in the article that caught my eye:

Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Your mother probably told you this growing up and it’s just as important today. Manning says she often sees managers make the mistake of promising a desired outcome rather than acknowledging uncertainty. For instance, don’t tell your staff there won’t be any layoffs at your company because you can’t possibly make that guarantee. “Make no promises,” says Manning. “Don’t build up false expectations because that just creates more fear.” Instead, be honest about what you know, even when – especially when – the news isn’t good. Your reps would rather have the hard truth than a pleasant lie.

Those last two lines are straight-up truth.  The best way to allay these fears is to be forthright with your team.  I believe managers often error in thinking their employees cannot handle the truth of the present situation.  This is a leadership mistake that creates distance between the manager and the employee.

I will close with the next suggestion from the article – it is a good one:

Start a blog. Blogging is a great way to keep your people updated because it has an informal, conversational feel and reps can check it at their convenience. Manning says she knows of several CEOs who are having “tremendous success” with blogging right now, using it as a vehicle to keep employees posted on what’s going on, answering their questions and correcting rumors. Sales managers, she says, could expand those topics to include sales successes, news about products and so on.

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