THE GREAT DISRUPTION: IS IT REALLY ON?

A lot of us have been hearing warnings of catastrophe for years and have hardened ourselves to it. Personally it takes little effort to ignore or dismiss most disaster predictions or to develop a deaf ear. After all one has to get on with living with all the regular day to day problems.

Paul Gilding is formerly a frustrated environmentalist that used to think if you could picture the impending disaster scarily, but accurately enough people would do something about it. He has now concluded that was delusional.  However he draws parallels with World War II. Looking back in hindsight there were lots of indicators and warnings. Not much heed was given, but when the boiling point was reached there was a massive concerted effort to deal with it. The key for Gilding will be when environmental problems such as climate change come with serious economic costs, public opinion will shift dramatically.

Like all predicted problems when they actually occur it is better to have some preparation. Gilding has plenty of advice, but tempers it with the realization that details are very hard to predict.

At the bottom of the problem is our feeling that our economy must be continuously growing. If there are finite resources sooner or later you will run into problems unless you find a way to use existing resources in a sustainable way. After the 9/11 tragedy the advice from George W Bush was to "shop." The implication being that to get back to normal and not let the terrorists win, the most important thing was to resume shopping and let our economy keep growing.

By our incessant emphasis on using up resources to keep the economy growing we are approaching a tipping point that points to a "Great Disruption."

The solution involves a bunch of things you are already familiar with and that we have been told are too expensive and disruptive for our economy and way of life. Reduce carbon emissions as quickly as possible and turn to alternative sources of energy. This means a switch from oil and its support industries to something cleaner with a lot of very difficult adjustments. It means cutting out as much as possible harmful practices that seem normal to-day. This process will not be completed for decades.

All is not lost. With disruptions come opportunities to re-direct our activities. Paul explores a basic goal of mankind--happiness. Studies he refers to suggest that happiness for poor people can be increased by small increments in wealth, but as wealth continues to increase it no longer necessarily increases happiness and certainly not at the same pace as before. But we are conditioned to strive for more wealth. A big disruptive shift of circumstances will encourage an examination of what we value most. If we choose mankind can provide meaningful jobs and a higher purpose for everyone. Fun will still be part of our future.

People can learn to work together for our overall happiness. Nobody knows how things will work out, but it seems to me after reading this book (and many books picturing upcoming environmental problems) we are inevitably headed to some major changes, in fact a Great Disruption. Paul Gilding thinks we can turn things around. I wonder.

Read the book. It is certainly thought provoking.

A SALEMAN'S INTROSPECTION AS A BUYER

A lot of money is applied to understanding the buyer. At some point many sales people despair of ever understanding the crazy, stupid and even sometimes seemingly vicious behavior of buyers. The prospects just don't understand the life changing opportunity they are being offered.

A good place to start, is with your self.  You have chosen selling as hopefully a good way to get enough money to help you be a buyer.  Most of us love to spend money and are trying to figure out how to get more so we can spend more. A few of us are security conscious and can't get a big enough pile to protect us against that rainy day when we will need money to buy the necessities.

Many of us are dipping into our credit and have planned expenditures for money we assume will come our way.  Modern society has so many "new" things and some of us feel we have to keep on top of whatever is new.

What is the problem? As some Wall Street analysts have figured out there are two main motives that fuel investors (and I would include consumers) which are Greed and Fear. They are both easy to identify with if you are really honest.

Greed, is that insatiable desire to have more and better things (including experiences). We don't all want the same things for the same reasons, but we all want more. So why isn't that prospect like everybody else and buy the excellent value we are offering at some inconvenience to ourselves?

Counterbalancing Greed is Fear. At some point everyone fears losing something. Often it is concrete goods, or something semi-concrete like money.   For most of us a big fear is losing the good will or respect of people we love or fear.  We know if we spend too much money on unimportant things we may not have enough for the really important things.  If we share our goals with others we fear they might be upset with our mistakes.

Young people are accused of spending their money on superficial things and not saving for the rainy day. But at some point they realize there is a limit to what they can spend. For some it goes beyond their cash and bank account to include credit in one form or another.

To actually buy something we all go through stages. I will use an example I wrestle with. I am going about my business trying to make a living when I realize I am slightly hungry and I crave the taste of a chocolate bar and there are some just a few steps away.  Mind you, I only have so much change in my pocket and I have struggled about my need for a big financial plan so I can get a newer car or go on vacation. Do they have my favorite?  If they don't I might be able to resist a little bit. Did the weigh scale scare me a little?  It is only this once. If the lineup is not too long and my time is relatively free. Sooner or later I give in and gobble it down before I have time to regret my decision. Then I reflect on it--tasted good, feel a bit fuller and more energetic. Probably gained some weight and don't have any money for a newspaper or parking meter. Better to be more discriminatory and focused on finances. So there are some positives and negatives as other priorities are weighed.

We are all hit with the messages. As a salesman I hit people with messages and I hope my superiors are spending money on advertising with the latest technology and psychology to deliver reinforcing messages. We all, and I mean you as well are very resistant to most of the messages. We have to be--we couldn't give in to all the pleas or we would be in debt well over our heads. We know if we are to get more of what we really want we have to hold onto as much money or credit as we can.

On top of fear is the limits of time. You don't have time to even listen to all the buying opportunities. Be honest you want more time to do what you want to do and that doesn't allow a lot of time to listen to even more sales propositions.

Do you trust sales people? Do you suspect hidden motives? Do you blame a sales person for a bad buying decision, but personally take credit for good decisions? Has a sales person ever let you down?  How did you feel? Has a sales person ever exceeded your expectations? How did that feel?

Before you try to analyze the motives of your prospects take a good look at your motives. They aren't all that different..

HOW "NO ANSWERS" CAN HELP YOU MOVE FORWARD IN SALES.

What is a "No Answer"? They are the times that seem to happen all too often when someone does not pick up the phone when you are trying to establish a sales contact or when the phone is constantly busy or when you are too unprepared to leave a message in their voice mail. For myself I have tended to forget them and certainly not record them. Are they important? It depends.

The minimal point of any sales effort is to either give or learn some information. If nothing happens what information is there and who cares?

Unfortunately in sales a lot of what you learn is negative. They aren't the least bit interested in what you are selling, they haven't the money or they aren't even the right person to talk to. You might learn they don't like the available colours or the way it plugs in. All this information and other negatives can help you to refocus or redirect your efforts. Some people believe there is no room for negativity in sales, but I believe there are positives even in negatives.

An unanswered phone call is delivering negative information. They aren't there, they don't choose to pick up the phone or maybe you dialled the wrong number. Maybe they are on vacation, out of business or even dead.  If the matter isn't urgent you will move onto other efforts. Maybe you will try again in a few minutes or a few days. In some cases it might drag on for a long time.

With a busy signal it could of course indicate they are very busy, but it also could be the phone is off the hook or that you have the wrong number.

Eventually the situation might be resolved. You learn you have the wrong number, you find the right time or the right person or you find out it is a dead end (at least for the time being). On your data base you enter more refined contact details such as a better number or a better time.

If you leave a voice mail you are at least giving some information. Even though they do not pick up the phone there often will be a voice message that you can learn something from. They still are in business or not, maybe a name can be confirmed or pronunciation or gender determined.

Maybe before all of your unanswered calls are resolved you try to measure your efforts against your results to determine if you are making progress. Whether your results have been good or bad shouldn't you measure all your effort?  In the long run you want to avoid wasting your time so it might be a good idea to learn how you have spent your time and determine if there is a better way. Ultimately you should arrive at a figure that indicates how much total effort you made to get a result (a sale or a dollar figure).  Your goal is to improve that figure, not by avoiding negative outcomes, but pushing past them. You will find that to be successful in sales you have to keep going despite the all too often negative results.

Wouldn't it be good to realize just what times and days you have made an effort so that weeks later you can make sense of your efforts and minimize wasted time.

Sometimes you give up just because no one seems to ever answer the phone. Check the possibilities that you have the wrong number, or that you are phoning when they just aren't there. You might have to concede that they just don't want to talk to you. When you are able to determine the situation you can move forward. At least you have recorded an effort and can take some comfort that you aren't just waiting for someone to contact you.

If you aren't afraid of a no answer you will make more calls, some of which might be no answers or worse, but you will be moving closer to positive results.

If all information were positive we wouldn't need to measure it as much. As we gain in experience our efficiency and effectiveness should improve. Measurements that include all our efforts are more accurate. When we make targeted and informed efforts we will make progress.

TELL TO WIN OFFERS WINNING FORMULA

Peter Guber is best known as a movie producer of such movies as "Rain Man," "Batman", "Midnight Express" and "Gorillas in the Mist". He has also gotten involved in a few interesting side issues, such as baseball teams and parks, and teaching at UCLA. I wouldn't think of him as a sales person, but in fact he is a prime example of someone with big ideas that he was able to sell to other people.

The inspiration for "Tell to Win" was his wonder of the story. Facts and figures often get overlooked, but a good story can pack an emotional wallop. Peter realized many of his friends had used stories to win over converts to their idea. He broke down the process and set out searching friends to better understand the process.

His friends including such people as Nelson Mandela, Deepak Chopra, Magic Johnson, Pat Riley, Dan Siegel, Robert Rosen, Carl Sagan, Tony Robbins, all people who found a story had made a difference in getting something important done. One of the most interesting efforts he made was to go to Papua New Guinea where there is a strong oral tradition.

A lot of factors go into a successful story and Peter explores them one by one with illustrations from the experience of his friends trying to change attitudes. The basic concern is that people are inundated with facts and statistics and often gloss over them. What often compels people to take a closer look is a story with emotional content that they can identify with.

We grow up with stories. The best stories emerge from a violation of our expectations. For instance there is a problem people are familiar with or can at least identify with and the result is not what was expected.

A particular story is not necessarily appropriate at all times for all audiences. A key factor is to know your audience and what they will respond to. Timing is an issue in itself and you need to be sensitive to it. This can only come from careful listening

Stories have been important to me as a salesman. A really relevant story can be hard to dig up. It pays to be patient, but look for the opportunity. One of my favorite stories came when I worked for a cleaning product company. We had decided that a primary target would be veterinarians as we had discovered our product was very effective at dealing with skunk odour. We developed stories about successful de-skunkings and how much impact it had on social settings. My favorite story ended up being how I introduced myself and illustrates many of the principles of Peter's book.

We learned about someone who happened to be a receptionist at a vet clinic, but our acquaintance came through her involvement as a dog trainer assistant. She explained to someone else in the company that as a receptionist she got peed on a lot by dogs visiting the clinic and found our cleaner the best at cleaning up her clothes. I tracked her down to clarify the story and thought about how it fitted into my situation.  I made cold calls and of course the first person I saw was the receptionist. Thinking on it further I realized that they are generally the first to meet the people and the first to meet the pets and I guessed the first person that got peed on by a visiting animal. That was all I needed.

I would start off with something like "I guess you are the first person to meet all the people." They would nod, but not get too involved.  "I guess you are also the first person to see all the animals." Another nod, but still not quite tuned in, maybe even a little annoyed. Then I would say,  "you are also probably the first person to get peed on." At that point many would laugh and others would admit it was a problem.  I then explained that I had been told this by another receptionist who found what I had in my hand to be the best solution. Their interest was fairly keen and they were receptive to the rest of what I wanted to say. Often bringing in someone else with more authority, letting me get closer to a decision maker.  I later had help to adapt this approach in French for calls in Quebec and found they reacted pretty much the same way.

Peter has a very interesting website where you can see videos of conversations, his schedule and more stories. Just check out www.peterguber.com

If you examine your own circumstances you have your own stories about why you do certain things, why you like certain things. You have been told why other people do things. If you are trying to persuade someone to do something they aren't inclined to do, a story about why someone else found it worth their while will be helplful.

WHAT IS A BOLLYWOOD JODI?

In honour of the IIFA awards this evening I would like to offer a new Bollywood item.

A jodi is simply the couple in a romantic movie. For those of us who can get obsessed with Bollywood, a jodi is something we consider in evaluating any movie we have seen or ones we anticipate.

Hollywood over its history has often touted couples as a dynamic component of a movie to hype up your interest. An old one is Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn. Not quite so old might be Doris Day and Rock Hudson. A more modern one might be Brad Pitt and Angela Jolie. The idea of course is that they are such glamorous and sexy people and their chemistry will light up the screen. Many couplings are picked for their individual popularity and budget, but some combinations really do add interest to the movie.

In Bollywood the concept is more intense and fans develop their own favorite jodis. I haven't seen that many Bollywood movies so my thoughts are mostly for the last 15 years or so. In reality there are too many to note in a short blog.

Some of my favorite jodis form around the male star Shah Rukh Khan. In 1995 he made his mark opposite Kajol in "Diwale Duhania le Jayenge" that was one of the most ground breaking movies. They went onto "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" that spanned a longer period of time and showed Shah Rukh as a father for the first time and Kajol transposes herself from a tomboy to someone more glamorous. Still another popular movie where they run off together against his father's wishes was "Kabhi Khushie Kabhie Gham."    More recently "My Name is Khan" saw them together again, this time with Shah Rukh playing someone with Asperger's and a lot of persistence to win the heart of Kajol and then after some historical changes forced to redeem his love.

Earlier in his career Shah Rukh had a jodi with Juhi Chawla which is worth recalling as the two afterwards formed business relations for both movie productions and cricket. Most of their movies together were comedies and they played off each other very well. Ones that I recall were "Yes, Boss"; "One Ka 2 Ka 4" ; and more recently "Boothnath" which was considered a special appearance by Shah Rukh. Juhi made an interesting special appearance at the very end of "Kabhi haan Kabhi Naa" where Shah Rukh had lost the girl, but as the narrator said he didn't get discouraged and Juhi appears magically and you can sense this would be the match meant to be.

Another favorite jodi is Shah Rukh and Rani Mukerji. It is amazing how in movies the jodi can be configured in different ways. In "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", Rani is Shah Rukh's first real love, but her death and letters to her daughter are what spark his pursuit of Kajol.  In "Khabie Khushie Kabhie Gham" she is actually rejected by Shah Rukh in his pursuit again of Kajol, but takes it in good spirits. They come together in" Chalte Chalte" in an poor boy/rich girl mix that is realistic in the sense that they are quarreling even at the end.  Another favorite is "Paheli" where Shah Rukh plays both a cuckolded husband and a ghost who wins Rani's heart.

Again Shah Rukh picks the ladies I like. Preity Zinta. I first saw the pairing with one of my first Bollywood movies," Kal Ho Na Ho."  It turned out to be a love triangle with lots of misunderstandings. Shah Rukh won her heart, but pushed her to another hero, Saif Ali Khan. Ironically in another heavy movie, "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" they start out married while Shah Rukh falls in love with Rani and they start an adulterous affair. In "Veer-Zaara" Shah Rukh spends years in jail to be reunited with Preity in his old age and only due to the efforts of Rani Mukerji playing a lawyer.

One other jodi for Shah Rukh is worth mentioning. Asoka was a big epic historial movie where he paired with Kareena Kapoor. In another movie she played Kajol's younger sister. "Ra One", a movie portraying Shah Rukh as a super hero to come out later this year with Kareena playing the leading lady and they are also filming together in another movie Angoor due in 2012.

Aamir Khan is considered a more serious actor and he broke with tradition in pretty well always actually kissing his jodi partner. He has paired up with Juhi Chawla in a movie that proved a big breakthrough for him," Qayamat Se Qayamet Tak" in 1988. He formed a a strong jodi with Preity Zinta in "Dil Chata Hai."  In one of his biggest pictures, "3 Idiots" he teamed up with Kareena Kapoor to very good effect. One of my favorite pairing was with newcomer (to Bollywood) Asin in "Ghajini."  I am looking forward to her pairing up with Shah Rukh Khan sometime in the next two years.

A younger jodi was Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor. I didn't really appreciate either one of them until "Jab We Met." They were real lovers when this was filmed after having performed together in a few others. It is one of my favorite romantic films, partly because they did have that chemistry. Both are exceptional dancers and the music helped the cause.

Recent news might heighten interest in another jodi--this time an actual husband and wife. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. Her pregnancy was announced just a short time ago. Their wedding in 2007 apparently was one of the biggest deals in India. She was a former Miss World in 1994 and has been seen in a few American movies and he is the son of a Amitabh and Jaya Bhaduri, reigning Bollywood couple. Abhishek appeared in "Kuch Naa Kaho." they have done "Guru" and "Raavan" and "Sarkar Raj" together.

Perhaps the top Bollywood male dancer is Hrithik Roshan and he has participated in a few winning jodis. One partner was Aishwarya Rai in "Jodhaa Akbar" and lately "Guzzarich."  He also paired with Preity Zinta in Lakshya. I will be looking for another one with this jodi "Koi Mil Gaya."    One of his jodis I didn't like was with Kareena Kapoor, but they have both matured since then.

In closing--this is not a typical jodi, but one of the most spectacular casting of all time and all cultures was Amitabh playing the son of his actual son in a movie called "Paa". He played a 13 year old with progeria. Abitabh won a well deserved award for that. Another pairing, in the same movie more traditional was Abhishek with Vidya Balan, the first time I have seen her (but it won't be the last).

There are lots of other jodis and there certainly lots of attractive popular actors and actresses. Movie goers like to talk about their favorites and speculate which jodi they would be most excited about. How about you? Hollywood, Bollywood or elsewhere?

BRUSHING YOUR DOG'S TEETH CAN BE AN IMPORTANT PART OF SOCIALIZATION

A big part of trying to persuade people to think of brushing their dog's teeth comes with the health benefits and economic benefits. A problem is that this motivation is not quite enough for some dog owners. They will take a cheap or easier way of dealing with the problem.

It was suggested to me by a retailer, Lynn who works at Pawsh in Cambridge that an important benefit is socializing.

We love playing with our dogs and things can get pretty rough sometimes. We learn not to get them too upset or we might get bitten. If we have children we are careful that they don't play too rough. Occasionally our dogs will pick up something of concern such as potentially poisonous or dangerous food. On some occasions we might be asked to give the dog a pill or medicine that we soon learn they will resist. These experiences illustrate a limit to trust.

Brushing a dog's teeth is a way of building trust. The dog needs to understand that you do not want to hurt it, but that you want to do something that at first might be a bit scary or uncomfortable. Brushing a dog's teeth requires patience. Do a little at a time letting your dog appreciate you mean no harm. Over time some dogs will enjoy the experience and it should not be unpleasant for the person doing the brushing.

At some point the brushing should become pretty routine. At this point the trust level between you and your dog has been elevated. You can certainly continue to have fun with your dog, but be more comfortable. Your dog should be more co-operative when taking things out of or into their mouth.

The fact that your dog is healthier and you might have less need to spend money at the vet's might be the main motivation for the effort, but having a more trusting relation with your dog is one of the benefits.

The photo on the top is an example of using the Triple Pet finger brush and on the bottom is using the Triple Pet classic brush.

THERE ARE TWO DIMENSIONS TO NUMBERS WHEN SELLING

Numbers are everywhere, but for salespeople the key ones are those that reflect an effort to make a sale. Most sales people get very discouraged by rejection particularly when they make their first efforts. They are likely to be told that you just have to contact enough people and you will get more sales. That is true, but only tells part of the story.

For many years I worked with newspaper carriers and learned that I was expected to take them out canvassing which basically was knocking on doors asking for subscriptions. Its terminology reflects a numbers mentality. I remember one morning after a very frustrating canvassing effort where I had recruited one young boy and he only knocked on doors for 1/2 an hour and brought me 1 order. My colleague, Rick Hill reported 48 orders, but it took him four hours with 6 canvassers. I was embarrassed, but worked out the mathematics and realized I had gotten the same production on a per head per hour basis.

What a difference! Not only did my friend get much more reward for his effort, but there were a few other lessons. My one order could have been considered flukey, but when you have more than one person making an effort over a period of time you have competition and you might even have co-operation where some will help out a beginner. You also have a learning curve and some confidence boosting. With the larger numbers Rick had more youngsters wanting to join his crew.

I did improve in this numbers game after making all sorts of efforts to encourage youngsters to participate. Considered a fairly good manager in terms of training carriers for delivery and keeping their accounts up to date, but I really was not too impressive at selling. Then I met Roma Dempsey who had come over from another newspaper. She kept some of her top sellers.

She offered to take me with her crew and help boost our techniques. Like myself she would talk to the canvassers telling them what to say and giving them a pep talk. Where the difference came was she took the most successful canvasser and had him work with other youngsters. She rewarded him for this training effort. Before too long my canvassers were performing much better and the process became fun.

That made me realize the other dimension of numbers.  First we deal with what every body understands, quantity. More hours, more doors, more phone calls, are some of the ways we measure quantity.

Quality is a lot more difficult to measure, but is more critical. When I got into more direct sales I recognized the importance of prospecting, qualifying, targeting, product knowledge, presentation skills and following up. As you improve in these areas you will get more rewards for your effort.

An important equation is Quantity x Quality=Results. When you fail to make a sale there is always a reason. One of the most basic is that your prospect was not properly qualified. They might not have had the interest, the ability to pay, or the authority to decide. More attention to those details in advance will save a lot of wasted time. Perhaps you couldn't answer one of their questions. Product knowledge can make a difference, but perhaps even more important is understanding the prospect. Maybe you were too abrupt in your approach or maybe you took too long to get to the point. You might even be able to salvage the sale if you follow up by answering the question or making the product more relevant to the prospect. If you didn't ask the right questions you would not understand what they are interested in.  As a rule the more efforts you make, the more skills you develop. The knowledge and skills need to be developed. The more you study the more you learn.

Believe me there would be no need for sales at all if people would just figure out that the new mousetrap would improve their lives, on their own. If you have any thing for sale including ideas it does pay to learn a bit about selling as nothing happens until somebody sells something.

If you are not involved with "sales" (I respect you for making it this far) you might not see the relevance to you, but I am sure you have some ideas. Until you are accepted as an authority you have to deal with those who think they already are. You need to identify who really can help you, who might have a reason to help you or let you help them. How can you best present your idea? Should you give up just because they didn't respond well to your first effort? Should you look for someone else who might be more responsive? These are selling questions. Improve your quantity (of efforts) and your quality (of efforts) and you are more likely to sell your idea. Your idea might be as simple as I can help you if you are willing to reward me.

The photo was done by my brother Marshall http://www.fotoworks.ca on a trip through South Dakota.  It is of a bunch of cowboys herding a much larger bunch of cows. You can interpret in different ways--I was just drawing attention to the numbers of the two sets of animals and trying to solve a problem.