October 2008 Archives
Decision Triggers: My 2 Cents Worth
I call it ‘My 2 cents worth’ influence strategy. But it can be worth immediate cash to you as it has been worth millions when applied. A $15,000 luxury hot tub spa was producing slow sales. In determining what to do to move sales Dr. Cialdini, an influence strategist, asked the salesman, “What would an addition to a home cost in this neighborhood?”
“About $70,000.”
Next time a prospect asks begin your answer with, “What would an addition to your home run you?”
and immediately after they say $65 - $75,000, you add in this information, “Well this luxury spa is like an addition to your home, and its $15,000.” Sales skyrocketed.
them from prospects to buyers.
When you put in your ‘2 cents worth’ make it worthwhile for the customer or your colleague. This is replicable. The masters of influence use it every day.
Imagine 3 buckets. One with hot water, one with ice and one room temperature.
Place your hand in the hot water and then into the room temperature bucket, it will seem cold.
Place your hand in the ice water and then into the room temperature bucket, it will seem hot.
Bucket of Ice Bucket of Perception Bucket of Hot Water
Hot? Cold?
Depends on what came first
Whatever came first affected the ‘bucket of perception’. It was the contrast that determined the ‘bucket of perception’.
Ask yourself compared to what?
The contrast principle is also the foundational thought process used when creating winning brands. Listerine compared to Scope. Bayer compared to Tylenol.
If you are not using the contrast principle I can assure you are bungling opportunity.
And this strategy only costs your “2 cents’ whether you use it with your customers, your peers or your boss.
Recessions are slippery ice. No one knew how to score better on ice than Wayne Gretsky. Arguably the greatest hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretsky scored more goals, 894, than anyone else.
How did he do it? And how can he teach us to score on slippery ice?
Gretsky was an Advantage-Maker.
Fundamentally, Advantage-Makers interact with the world differently. In Gretsky’s words, instead of waiting, I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.
We should take Gretsky’s advice to heart. Shift into the short term future to score. In hockey a few seconds can make all the difference. Gretsky read the ice so well time seemed to slow down for him.
In my book, I make the point: There is no time like the present to create the future.
In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake devastated the city and its banking community. Bank of America, a small bank at the time, seized the advantage-making opportunity, continued making loans and went on to become one of the largest bank in the U.S.A.
You live in the real world of constraints. Limited resources and time. You must to do more with less, do it faster and better.
Are you skating to where the puck is going to be?
- As your market shifts can you shift fast enough?
- As your customer’s request change, asking more for less, can you multiply value so they stay with you rather than with your competition?
- As your competition adjusts can you shift to make it simpler for customers to stick with you?
- As your organization shifts to adapt to the economic shock, can you make it easier for your employees to play to win again, rather than play to avoid losing?
65% of change efforts fail in good times. And that number gets a lot worse in bad times.
Now is NOT the time to be one of the losers by making common avoidable mistakes. Your blind-spots are dangerous. They prevent you from finding the right shift.
Choose the wrong shift, and you'll look really bad and your credibility will be squandered. Your leadership is at stake.
Here are some of your constraints:
- Competition
- Organizational silos
- Lack of alignment
- Time and delivery schedules
- Execution challenges
- Shortages
- Inefficiencies
- Workload outstripping capacity
- Talent
Shifting is not based upon positive thinking. It is, however, a result of thinking powerfully, harnessing your ingenuity, and developing choice-making powers.
In these times of economic peril, “It’s not the best who wins, it’s who is most adaptive.”
People confuse these two and it leads to poor performance. Arguably IBM was the best but they couldn’t adapt, or adapt fast enough, and they took a terrible beating in the marketplace until they shifted what they were doing.
The economic waves of change will make business dinosaurs... Adapt or die.
You’ve heard, “If you continue to do what doesn’t work and expect it to work, that’s called insanity. Do something different!”
OK! But how?
Let me see if I can begin to help you here.
And, yes, it’s ok to get help on this. Many of the brilliant Advantage-Makers I’ve described in my book, The Advantage-Makers, collaborated, had mentors and advisors to successfully shift.
The ‘how’ to do things differently is in the art and science of strategic shifting.
You need maneuverability in your thinking. And you need it now, not later.
One immediate way to do that is to identify your ‘attempted solutions;’
Doing more of the same, harder, seldom gets you where you want to be.
For example, telling your team to work harder, when they’re already working hard, seldom changes anything, and may make it worse. You mean well, but it’s not going to work. Most executives are surprised to discover they have blind-spots and need help to see they are repeating mistakes.
When you are not getting the results you want, ask yourself, how’s your approach working for you, really?
Don’t let your ego get in the way. If you can’t see it, ask others sooner rather than later, or there may not be a later. One tell-tale sign is problems that keep repeating. Find the pattern.
Then, when you know the pattern, shift 180 degree and you’ll often spot solutions. You’ll be amazed at the results if done right.
Solutions to problems are often hidden in plain sight.
For example, Most of you know about the Avis slogan, “We’re Number 2, We Try Harder”.
But you may not know HOW and WHY that strategic shift worked and how it can help you.
Avis was on the verge of bankruptcy.
The more they tried to be Number 1 against Hertz, the more Hertz fought back and the further Avis dropped. A losing game.
Look at the clues in Avis’ persistence, their repeated ‘attempted’ solutions.
Don’t be fooled by the myth of persistence; ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.’ What if the persistence is actually the problem!?
It was a brilliant 180 degree shift to go to, “We’re Number 2, We Try Harder.”
While this shift was ‘hidden in plain sight,’ it wasn’t easy because of the conventional wisdom that to be Number 1, you must persist until you drop.
(Influencing the executives to use this shift was part of the persuasion skill that made this effort a success; this will be covered in future blogs.)
For now, is your persisting in conventional wisdom a blind-spot as you battle the recession and economic downturn? If so, you may get lucky and still be around.
But this downturn is no time for luck, or for amateurs.
You must have a steady hand and do something sensibly different to create advantages.
Getting your people to think this way has huge upside leverage for you and the organization. Sadly, most people wait too long, and don’t find the real leverage.
I’m not talking about crazy swings, but shifts that count.
The skill of advantage-making enable you to anticipate and make moves others overlook.
Start thinking now: what is my winning move(s), my winning shift(s)?
Chuck Fox, CEO Chameleon Systems said to me, "The biggest mistake I made was not finding the winning shift sooner!"
What’s the biggest hidden killer of business?
It's central to leadership, sales, influence, persuasion, marketing, performance, doing more with less, getting stuff done on time, taking the right tack, and outwitting your competition in the midst of economic uncertainty.
This is not a trick question.
It’s knowing how to manage interactions.
The road to hell is paved with mishandled interactions.
Sticky problems become stickier when you don’t handle interactions skillfully.
And it doesn’t have to be that way.
Your interactions with customers, colleagues, and especially with your competitors' strategy make a huge difference.
Jan Carlson, president of SAS Airlines, turned an ailing airline, SAS, around from $20 million in the red to $80 million in earnings by managing interactions. Specifically, he identified 5 significant "Moments of Truth" – the points of contact in your business interactions in which you create advantages or disadvantages. Like baggage handling, seat selection, boarding, and departing from the plane etc.
Carlson asked the question, "What business are we really in? We are not in the business of flying airplanes. We are in the business of providing for the transportation needs of the traveling public. Therefore, our real assets are not the airplanes, but the passengers. We have to focus on giving them quality service for repeat business."
And Carlson got to work influencing customer perceptions by managing the interactions. On average there were 10,000 daily passengers experiencing 5 Moments of Truth each flight. That’s 50,000 Moments of Truth each and every day.
Carlson was an Advantage-Maker. Shifting interactions changes the game. And furthermore, he shifted structures to accommodate to the new interactions with the customer. By shifting structures you shapes behavior with less resistance.
How many moments of truth does your business have? Have you identified them?
Do you know how to manage those interactions?
Are you skillfully shifting the structures to shape customer behavior or aligning employee actions?
