James Stevenson, who owns Virtual Aviation in the United Kingdom, just read The Go-Giver and Go-Givers Sell More and is looking to apply the principles to his business.

But, he had a question, which was:

“While reading the books, I had in the back of my mind a situation I currently have with a potential customer who is proving hard to satisfy. He wants to book a corporate training event with us, but is apparently not interested in the value we offer, but only in getting us to slash our prices.

“I find myself still unsure as to how to apply ‘The Go-Giver approach’ to this situation. Is it simply to give him the discount he wants and take a loss on the deal? I hope not. But if we tell him that we will not sell to him at the price he wants, we certainly won’t be making a friend that will refer us to others!

I’m sure you’re busy, but any advice you can give would be much appreciated.”

—–

Hi James,

Thank you for writing. If I may suggest, it’s not necessarily that he isn’t interested in the value you offer but simply does not see the value as being equal to or exceeding the price.

Now, your response might be, “Yes, he does see the value. But he still wants the best financial deal he can get.”

To that I would reply, “fair enough. Since neither of us can read his mind – and some people simply believe they should negotiate price as a course of doing business regardless of whether the see the value – the only way we can know for sure is if you stick with your price. If he goes ahead and purchases then, yes, he sees the value. If he says no, then he does not see the value.

So, in my opinion, you have three choices.

#1 Simply stick with your price with no further explanation. He either accepts it and does business with you or he does not. While there is a time and place for that (so long as you are gracious and professional about it), I don’t think it’s your best choice in this situation. Neither is the following, which is…

#2 Lower your price. While he may purchase, he will have less respect for the value he is receiving (definitely), will have less respect for you as a person/business-person (probably) and you will feel badly (I would imagine) because you know you are not receiving the financial remuneration you are asking despite the magnificent value you will be providing him. You’re even taking a loss, which is certainly not a good way of doing business. And, there is no reason to do so. That is not what being a Go-Giver is about.

And, regarding the referrals you think you’ll be getting from him as a result of lowering your price and obtaining his business?…If you do get any, he will have first advised those he refers to you that you will eventually come down to the price they ask. Is that really the kind of people you want to be referred to? Instead, my suggestion would be…

#3 Persuade him of the fact that the value you are providing is much more than the money he is paying in exchange for that value. Once you do that successfully, you will have his business. And, you’ll feel great about it. Just as importantly, he will feel great about it because he will be more secure in the knowledge that he is dealing with a person who is extremely confident of the value and overall buying experience he is providing and isn’t afraid to charge for it. You’ll also more than likely receive many more referrals from this person, and these referrals will be of high-quality, expecting to pay full price for the exceptional value you will provide them.

As my good friend, Art Sobczak says…

“Remember, it’s never a price issue; it’s only a value question.”

James, I hope this helps.

—–

James replied that he was going to utilize the above, and he also suggested something else he will try, which was excellent. In fact, it’s something I often do, and simply forgot to suggest it. Any guesses? I’ll post the answer in the next article.

Hint: It comes right out of The Go-Giver and Go-Givers Sell More.

Tags: General

In Last Week’s Video Brief, we began our discussion of the ego, Now, let’s look at how ego is specifically involved in the selling process and how, by understanding this, we can be of best service to our prospect.

Follow the action idea and practice it. Don’t put pressure on yourself to be perfect. However, you will find that as you stay conscious of this and focus on it, it’ll make a dramatic difference in your ability to add value to that person in front of you.

Tags: General

Sometime back I had the honor of sharing the platform with success coach and bestselling author, Mike Litman.

During his presentation, he suggested creating an “asset of value.” This is a part of you that you “bring to the table,” a way you can always add to the relationship.

What a great idea! And, an “asset of value” can include so many things. Among them are information, advice, referrals, introductions, names of great books you’ve read, retweets of quality on Twitter, a kind word, articles of interest, and much, much more, including your “way of being”…those things you do that are uniquely associated with you and that provide value just by virtue of being an extension of your personal values.

Come up with your unique “Asset of Value” and share it on an ongoing basis with those with whom you wish to establish mutually beneficial, give and take, win/win relationships.

You’ll become known for your “signature” asset of value and position yourself as a true center of influence; the type people seek out to do business with and refer business to.

So, the natural question is…what is your signature asset of value? And, if you aren’t able to fully articulate yours yet, feel free to share some examples of “assets of value” of others that have impressed you that you feel it would be good for us to know about.

Tags: General

In Part 1 we looked at the concept of going out of our way to be kind to those people who are in positions where they are usually not shown a great deal of respect. We do this simply because it’s the right way to be. The fact is, however, at times it will also pay huge dividends.

As promised at the end, today’s illustration will feature an example that is absolutely not usual or duplicatable. But it sure is a cool story with a great lesson.

It showcases the extra-special abilities of Hall of Fame quarterback and now highly successful entrepreneur, Fran Tarkenton. As a quarterback, and a small one at only 5′10″, Fran was continually the target of the huge, tough, often merciless defensive linemen.

Linemen can be mean to quarterbacks. They’re supposed to be. That’s their job. On top of that, they know they don’t earn the kind of money most quarterbacks earn and they certainly don’t enjoy the same adulation and glory. Those 320+ pound guys can be downright rough on the Fran Tarkentons of the world.

But Fran is a master of people skills. He is now, and certainly was back then. According to his former teammate, Ahmad Rashad, after a particularly rough hit, Fran would acknowledge his attacker by saying something like, “Great day for football, isn’t it?” or “Man, that was quite a hit.”

These guys weren’t exactly used to quarterbacks actually talking to them in more than four letter words – and they certainly weren’t used to being treated as human beings.

Before long, they weren’t quite as aggressive, mean and nasty with Fran. Sure, they’d still hit him, but they wouldn’t rough him up as they did other quarterbacks.  He took the anger out of them and probably added years to his Hall of Fame career.

Wow, that’s when Winning Without intimidation really comes in handy – when your life depends upon it!

Of course, most of us aren’t professional quarterbacks, or otherwise chased by wild-eyed, maniacal, and just plain nasty very large human beings even for non-athletic reasons…I hope. So, let’s go back to how we treat those who are generally not treated with a great deal of respect by other people. This also applies to anyone who may not seem to be in a position to do something for us.

Maybe they are the one in need. As mentioned earlier, do you think of them as important and significant human beings? Do you genuinely feel that way on the inside {so that your feelings radiate on the outside}? Yes, it does make a definite difference. And that alone is enough. However, it also almost ensures they’ll go out of their way to make sure you are happy if that’s something the situation calls for.

Again, that’s not the reason you treat everyone with respect, kindness and dignity . . . just the “result.”

Tags: General

Should governments accept the dictates of markets? It's the question raging across the econoverse in the wake of demands for austerity from bondholders.

But it's the wrong question. The right question is: are organizations and markets making decisions that help make people, communities, and society better off in the long run, by allocating their scarce resources to the most productive uses? The correct role of governance is to shape the decisions of markets, by breathing life into social preferences and expectations. Here's what I mean by that. Once upon a time, markets "wanted" indentured servitude, debtors prisons, and child labor. But those decisions were unacceptable to society, and so governments took on the challenge of shaping them, reforming markets by preventing them from choosing those options.

The key word is reform. It's shorthand for "macro institutional innovation" — creating new institutions that govern countries, economies, and regions.

Today, its increasingly clear that markets and companies aren't making the right decisions — and that without reform, they won't. Markets have been misallocating resources for decades, minimizing welfare gains. Consider the trillions spent on bailing out banks in just the latest housing bubble, for example. And those are a drop in the bucket compared to how inefficiently markets allocate, say, oil. The eventuality that oil will run out isn't priced into the market, just the marginal cost of producing the next drop.

What happened? How did our most basic economic tools become so blunted? There's much hand-wringing amongst macroeconomists about the failures of theory and models. I think the real failure is elsewhere: in real-world innovation. Though economists and management thinkers extolled the virtues of innovation repeatedly, firms were just mastering low-level product, service, and technological innovation. Ironically, it was the most powerful kind of innovation that was left ignored, and so simply stopped happening: institutional innovation.

The first half of the 20th century was a golden age, a period of intense institutional innovation. Simon Kuznets laid down the foundations of GDP. At Bretton Woods, world leaders built a global exchange rate regime. The idea of global governance and justice was formalized in international codes of law and tribunals. The groundwork was dug for new kinds of organizations, like 501c's, formalized in the 50s.

But the latter half of the 20th century was a relative dark age, a period of institutional disinnovation. The global exchange rate regime laid down at Bretton Woods simply fell apart. GDP, built for a world of factories, consumer goods, and superhighways, was never updated to measure the costs and benefits of a radically interdependent, post-industrial, information-based economy. New kinds of organizations languished, and the idea that the "corporation" was the terminus of organizational evolution became dogma. Therein lies the problem: our economy's trying desperately to shift past the industrial era, but our macro institutions are a rusting, creaking iron cage, trapping us in it.

Today, new reformers can kickstart radical macro institutional innovation. And It's not just for policy makers. In the 21st century, governance is no longer just about governments. What's different, now, is that smart entrepreneurs, investors, and companies can DIY it. Here are four areas where it's needed most, fastest:

New measures of national income. GDP is outdated; inaccurate, invalid, and unreliable. Better measures of national income that count real costs (like pollution) and benefits (like health) are what will shape better behavior from organizations and markets.

Measures of well-being. GDP is a measure of income. What's missing from that picture? Well-being, of course. More income doesn't automatically make everyone better off all the time, in the same ways. Without measures of well being to live up to, no better behavior is likely to ever flow from organizations and markets.

New currencies. A currency is an especially cruel a form of collective punishment, an implicit tax. In the aftermath of inevitable, regular-as-clockwork financial crisis, everyone holding a currency suffers, whether or not they had anything to do with said crisis. When currencies are created that are independent of countries and regions, people will the choice to escape the bone-headed organizations and markets within them. That, in turn, will set incentives for better behavior. Creating "product"? Stop. Create a currency instead.

New measures of returns. What counts as a "return," anyways? Increasingly, as we've recently discussed, bleeding edge investors are beginning to develop measures of returns to people, communities, and society. They provide a more nuanced, sophisticated picture of the value a firm has actually created — or a market allocated — than mere financial returns ("profit"). Better behavior from organizations and markets is ineluctably tied to better measurements of what is returned from them.

Want to be a radical innovator? Be a reformer. Today's great challenge is reshaping the macro institutions of the global economy. That is what the transition to the 21st century demands. Right now, what we've got is a set of macro institutions left over from the industrial era. They're obsolete and out of touch. They are what let firms and markets to behave exactly the same way as a century ago. What it means to transition to a post-industrial economy is to have built macro institutions that matter to people — not just machines.

It is the countries, companies, and people that can build them who, I think, will reap tomorrow's greatest rewards. Why? Because they will be shaping and molding the next tomorrow's high ground. And there's no source of advantage greater than that.

Tags: General

It’s often said, “A person who is nice to their friends but not to the waiter is not a nice person.” After all, one test of a person’s character can be said to come from how they treat those who are not in a position to help them.

Yet, complimenting – or even simply being polite to – a person not usually complimented, shown respect, or even acknowledged by others, can also have a tremendous impact on how far that person will go out of their way to help you, should the need arise. While this is not the reason to be nice to them, it is often the result.

What a nice way to live life when you consistently go out of your way to compliment those people who serve others but are not usually treated with a great deal of respect. From the street-sweeper to the skycap, from the hotel doorman to, well, any service person – aside from tipping or a quick thank you, do you refer to them as sir or ma’am? Do you acknowledge them with kindness? Do you genuinely think of them as important and significant, and does it show?

Yes, it makes a definite difference to their self-esteem. It also reflects how far they’ll go out of their way to make sure you are happy. And you never know when that will come in handy.

Again, that isn’t why you do it. You do it because it’s the right way to be, the right thing to do, and because it aligns with your value system in terms of how you feel is the best way to treat others. However, don’t argue with the results. Being this type of person will also pay off in big dividends.

“But” one might wonder, “not every person I’m nice to will ever be in a position to help me.”

That’s correct, they won’t. However, you’ll be practicing the habit of kindness on a continual basic (assuming you are not already; and I’m sure you are) and, as T. Harv Eker says, “How you do anything is how you do everything.”

Have you found this to be true? Are there times you’ve extended yourself for someone even a bit more than usual because you just knew it would make their day that much more special, and it came back to you in a very practical and positive way?

In Part Two, we’ll look at an example we don’t see every day and, in actuality, will probably never happen to us…but it’s still a great example.

Tags: General