…personal development for smart professionals
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Confessions of a Psychiatric Intake Counselor
035 days
If you’re in the business of selling products or services, surely you realize sometimes people believe your sales pitch and sometimes your words fall on deaf ears.
While some people are better at reading the body language of others, most people have a pretty good ability to know a line of BS when they hear it. No matter how big and dazzling your smile, no matter how many times you look them in the eyes and call them by their first name; some people just instinctively don’t trust a salesman (I happen to be one of them) and most people can tell when you are just using some cheap psychological sales tactic you learned in a seminar last week
Unwilling customers
I’ve worked in the intake department of psychiatric hospitals for more than 15 years. The product I sell is an inpatient admission for people seeking mental health treatment or treatment of various addictions. Many of my “customers” are hesitant and sometimes unwilling consumers of the product I “sell”. While it is considered bad form to consider the statistics of how many people I’m able to persuade to admit themselves voluntarily, my numbers speak for themselves.
Never mind the implications of my ability to connect quickly and deeply with people who are having a psychiatric crisis or who have been dragged to rehab by a van load of loving friends and relatives, I have a pretty good ‘close’ rate.
“You remind me of…”
My secret? It’s painfully simple. I try very hard to find something to like about every person with whom I speak. With very few exceptions, I’m able to connect with nearly every patient and most family members of those patients.
When I smile at a patient or a family member, it isn’t because I’m trying some psychological sales tactic on them -I genuinely care about that person.
Maybe it’s they way they avoid talking about the real issues that brought them into my office that reminds me of myself. Maybe it’s the way they are leery of what I have to say in much the same way I’d be if I were on the other side of that desk. Sometimes I see something that reminds me of a friend or family member. Regardless of what it is I see that makes me care about that person, I build a caring attitude on those attributes in other people I am able to find likable. Sometimes, a stubborn personality will remind me of a loved one and I can build on my experiences in dealing with that personal as well.
I like you…i really do
The bottom line is that my caring attitude is based on truly liking something about every person I interact with. On the rare occasion I don’t use this technique or for some reason can’t find anything to like about someone, I come across as fake or only superficially interested in their wellbeing.
There are lots of programs out there that teach sales tactics and psychological techniques for closing a sale. From my experience, people are able to see through those tactics if you don’t genuinely care about them. I submit that you really need to use psychology on yourself to ‘trick’ yourself into caring about your customers -all of them. Finding a way to care about them as if they were a close friend or family member is vital to your ‘believability’.
It is also important that you are in a position to sell something that is good quality and that ends up being what your customer really needs or wants. If you have to compromise your integrity in the business transaction or sales process, that’s a whole other matter.
photo by:
Mike Knapek
Make Yourself Scarce!
173 days
photo credit: Steve Parker
Normally, when someone tells you to make yourself scarce, it isn’t a compliment. They want you to go away.
There is a different way to look at this. Scarcity creates value. We tend to value things we can’t get much of. Indian head pennies, for example, are worth much more than a penny minted last year; in some cases, hundreds of dollars more. Original paintings by Van Gogh fetch among the highest prices in the art world.
In the business world today, there are many things that are scarce, uncommon and even downright rare like customer service that exceeds expectations. Stellar customer service has become so rare that when we encounter it we are almost suspicious.
A young man at a fast food hamburger joint waited on me and some friends a few weeks ago. How many times has someone sold you a hamburger then come to your table a few minutes later to ask, “is everything alright?” That’s the sort of thing you expect anywhere except at a fast food hamburger joint, but this guy’s enthusiasm was truly impressive.
My prediction is, unless somewhere along the way he gets hypnotized and brainwashed into subscribing to the status quo, this young man will find his way to the top of whichever organization is lucky enough to employ him. Maybe not right away, but he will eventually find an employer that values the employee that goes out of his or her way to provide 5 star customer service even when it isn’t expected. Customer service for this young man is an art. Not just art, art that is rare and valuable. I wouldn’t be surprised if this young man ends up owning his own business because he gets so frustrated with the lack of enthusiasm others have for providing stellar customer service.
I’m not exaggerating much when I say, this kid is probably more valuable to that company than most of the senior management staff, yet he is paid a miserable fraction of the salary.
- What about you?
- How valuable to your business or profession are you?
- If you’re not at work for a week, do customers even notice?
- Is what you do art or just marking time and following the crowd?
It’s easy to create stellar customer service that is scarce. Just ‘go the extra mile’ as the old saying goes. Most people are too lazy or brainwashed by a culture that seems to value the status quo over doing anything above and beyond the call of duty.
Look around you. The businesses and professionals that thrive, even in a down economy, are the ones that provide something competitors aren’t providing. Its time to get busy creating scarcity by doing something your competitors aren’t doing — even when you’re tired, even if its Monday morning or Friday afternoon, even if you don’t think it makes a difference.
WOW Me or I’m Gone!
214 days
The most successful companies in the world are ones that WOW their customers. They don’t all WOW in the same way, but they all go out of their way to impress the socks off their customers and potential customers.
There are different ways to WOW customers. Wal-Mart WOWs with low prices, Apple WOWs with innovative bells and whistles, Starbucks WOWs with the coffee shop experience, zappos.com WOWs with free shipping and easy return policy.
All of these companies have one thing in common; in certain areas they blow away the competition. Notice I said “in certain areas” not “in all areas.” Virtually all of those companies fall short in areas -but not in their core competency. In their respective core competencies, these companies clearly outshine their competition.
What makes Wal-Mart so attractive is their relentless attention to low prices. Most small businesses can’t compete on price. For most small businesses, to compete based on price is like getting into a race to the bottom in which all the competitors will ultimately lose.
The experience of using an Apple iPhone surpasses by far that of using a prepaid, disposable phone that you buy at a department store. The phrase “there’s an app for that” gets at the heart of what an iPhone can do and that is, NEARLY EVERYTHING. Apple is in the business of putting a product in your hands that will do so much to make your life easier you may wonder how the human race ever survived this long without Apple’s advancements.
Starbucks is not in the business of selling cheap coffee. If you want cheap coffee, there are plenty of other places to find it. If you frequent Starbucks, chances are it isn’t for the cheap coffee. Is probably for the ambience, the made fresh while you wait experience. You can get a cappuccino from most convenience stores but it’s nowhere near the caliber of what you will get at Starbucks.
zappos.com competes with the bricks and mortar shoe stores in the mall by making it almost as quick and easy to shop online as it is to drive across town to the mall. Their no-hassle and quick turnaround policy for returns makes it less trouble to send shoes that don’t fit back and get a replacement pair in a surprisingly short period of time.
How about you? In what area do you WOW your customers. What is it that you do that makes your customers tell their friends about you?
Failure to WOW in at least one area is very predictive of failure. Chances are, there are dozens of people out there who do exactly what you do. If you ever expect to stand out from the crowd and thrive as a business, you’re going to have to focus more on finding things your customers want and need and less on selling them what you have. By getting out of your box and into your customer’s world of needs, wants and desires you will find new opportunities to WOW them. It’s the business that WOW customers that survive and even thrive despite the ups and downs of the economy.
How do you WOW customers? Easy, do something they don’t expect which will make their lives and experience with you better than they expected. It sounds cliché, but EXCEED EXPECTATIONS must become your mantra if you really want to succeed in business and leave your competition in the dust. If you don’t exceed expectations, someone else will. Find the one or two areas where you can absolutely blow the doors off your competition then focus on delivering a product or service that WOWs your customers and potential customers.
How to Quit like a Winner
0312 days
Vince Lombardi was wrong. ”Winners never quit and quitters never win” is a crock!
In reality, winners quit all the time. They just quit the “right” things to quit. They quit doing things that don’t adequately contribute to success.
Right now, there are several things you should quit doing because those things aren’t productive and never will be.
For example, a massage therapist who tries to market his or her services to the general population is wasting time, money, and energy. You know as well as I do, some people will NEVER darken the doorsteps of the office of a massage therapist -its just too “fu-fu.” If you really want a winning marketing strategy, target the people who are most likely to be in the market for a massage or at least open to the idea.
The real estate agent who thinks advertising in the yellow pages and the Sunday paper is ‘enough’, clearly needs to quit playing by yesterday’s rules and innovate new ways of connecting with potential buyers and sellers.
Here are just a few things you should quit doing immediately:
- Quit waiting for approval! You don’t need approval or encouragement from other people to do what you know in your gut is right, just do it!
- Quit wasting money on advertising if it isn’t working. “Just getting your name out there” is pointless if the ad doesn’t get paying customers through the door.
- Quit looking at your competition. Innovate and start providing that “extra touch” none of your competitors have thought of yet.
- Quit waiting for things to be “just right” before you launch that new project. You don’t have to get it perfect; just get it going!
Now that we’ve established that you need to be a quitter (sometimes); let me give you my list of things you should NEVER quit doing:
- Never stop asking yourself “how can I make my products and services better?”
- Never assume that because you are the market leader today that “business as usual” will keep you in the lead.
- Never assume you can’t learn things from other industries and adapt them to your business.
- Never stop learning. The practice of constantly learning new things is not just good for your business and professional development; it keeps your brain agile and healthy.
Persistence is only helpful if it is applied to the “right” things. If you’re on a train going the wrong way, persistence is not a good thing.
Square Watermelons
0320 days
Nearly 20 years ago, Japanese farmers came up with an innovative way to solve an irritating yet not life threatening problem for Japanese consumers.
If you’ve ever struggled with refrigerating a watermelon, you understand the frustrations -never mind trying to cut the darn thing. Japanese refrigerators are apparently much smaller than those sold in the US. It was actually a shortage of storage space that prompted a Japanese farmer to tinker with Mother Nature by placing a plexiglass cube around a growing watermelon thus forcing the melon to grow into the shape of a square.
Heres the amazing thing about the 20-year-old practice of growing square watermelon; the retail price is double and sometimes triple that of a round watermelon. Is there a market for a square watermelon that is double the price but tons of added convenience? You better believe there is.
Whats the marketing takeaway? You guessed it, “theres a market for everything.”
Producers don’t need everyone in Japan to buy a square watermelon. Just a niche of people willing to shell out the equivalent of $85 US dollars compared to the typical $15 US dollars is more than enough to generate sizable profits.
This story also demonstrates the value of focusing on problems as a means to increase profits. Solve a problem and leapfrog over your competition at the same time.
Growing square watermelons demonstrates “out of the box” thinking and a willingness to question limitations. Many business leaders faced with the problems inherent in round watermelons would say, “too bad, that’s just how they grow.” Instead, farmers asked themselves the empowering question “how can we solve this?” not, “can this be done?”.
If you’re self employed, consider yourself lucky. You don’t have to form a committee or do a feasibility study lasting months and even years. Open your eyes and ears, look and listen to customers and potential customers talk about problems and frustrations. Challenge the status quo and blind acceptance that things must be done the way they’ve always been done.
Small businesses have a distinct advantage over large corporations. Entrepreneurs are usually close to the front lines. They are in a better position to see and hear opportunities for innovation and act much quicker.
Quit asking “is there a better way?” There is a better way, you just have to find it (and profit from it).
