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Idea Transfusions

If you're looking for a story about some salesdrip, a provocative statement about sales, another pulpit-pounding sermon on honesty or sage advice about how to this or how to that, I'm afraid that today I will sorely disappoint.

No, my friends, today I'm going to do something just a tad more self serving. At least it's a story, and you might even glean an idea of your own, but never let it be said that I failed to warn you of an upcoming sales pitch.

I'm an idea guy to my core. So much so, in fact, that I've started, built and totally abandoned three successful companies, because I succumbed to the "Ooohh, that's shiny" syndrome and quickly set off on a quest toward something else. (Inventors like me usually waffle between rich and broke dozens of times, but we always have fun.)

Anyway, one idea I've always had and never been able to pull off, however, was that I would love to be paid for my ideas.

The problem with getting paid for ideas, you see, is you can't put a price on them until after you've had them, and once you've had them the cat is out of the bag.

About 16 months ago (December 2006), I was sitting with Matthew Homann of realBIGthinking -- we were having one of our idea chats -- and Matt asked me "When you're working through problems with a sales team, what, exactly, happens?"

In my response I included the eight words that actually launched this concept: "It's sort of like a transfusion of ideas."

Almost immediately after those words came out of my mouth, I thought "Idea Transfusion -- that's kinda cool." And since there were only six hits in Google at the time (now there are 15), and the domain name was available, I bought it knowing that someday I'd find a way to use it.

Fast forward to August 3, 2007. I was sitting at an association meeting and T. R. (Tom) Hughes -- a local CEO of a very successful construction company -- was telling the story of how he grew his business. About halfway through his speech he quipped, "Remind me to tell you about this consultant I know. You get all his help up front, then you pay him whatever you think it was worth."

I honestly don't remember a word of Tom's speech after that, because the forces of the universe had suddenly collided in a "triad of shiny":

Get paid for ideas ... Idea Transfusion ... Pay me whatever you think the ideas are worth

"I absolutely MUST take this consultant to lunch" my eardrums screamed, "So I can find out how that works."

Unfortunately for me, Tom had a twist at the end of his speech -- the consultant he mentioned received all requests through prayer.

Of course, if a single shiny idea is enough to get me to close a company, you can imagine my inability to resit a Triad of Shiny. So by that Sunday I had launched an Idea Transfusion session and written a blog entry about it.

Since that day I've done two sessions with two sales teams -- both resulting in wonderful ideas, thrilled clients and really nice checks. And today I launched the Idea Transfusion Team -- the exact same concept only instead of just me, it's me and 28 other crazy attorneys, accountants, consultants, coaches, mentors, trainers, entrepreneurs, etc.

See http://www.IdeaTransfusion.com. (No, it's not a new company -- just a brand through which we're providing these unique facilitation and presentation services.)

And let the games begin.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Loyal Customers My Arse

Consultants around the world are bashing the idea of having satisfied customers, saying that satisfied customers are merely customers who are "Waiting to go somewhere else."

"You want loyal customers!" they shout. "Because loyal customers give referrals and referrals will make you rich!"

I'm sorry, but I cry "Bullshit!"

In his book, "INFLUENCE, Science and Practice," Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. discusses the law of Reciprocation -- a pervasive obligation in all human cultures to give as much as you have received. While many examples in his book have significance to this post, the sections that seem most appropriate go like this:

The impressive aspect of the rule for reciprocation and the sense of obligation that goes with it is its pervasiveness in human culture. It is so widespread that after intensive study, sociologists such as Alvin Gouldner can report there is no human society that does not subscribe to the rule. And within each society it seems pervasive also; it permeates exchanges of every kind.

Cultural anthropologists Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox view this "web of indebtedness" as a unique adaptive mechanism of human beings, allowing for the division of labor, the exchange of diverse forms of goods, the exchange of different services (making it possible for experts to develop), and the creation of a cluster of interdependencies that bind individuals together into highly efficient units.

Make no mistake, human societies derive a truly significant competitive advantage from the reciprocity rule, and consequently they make sure their members are trained to comply with and believe in it. Each of us has been taught to live up to the rule, and each of us knows about the social sanctions and derision applied to anyone who violates it. The labels we assign to such a person are loaded with negativity -- moocher, ingrate, welsher.

If a satisfied customer is a customer "waiting to go somewhere else," then what is a loyal customer?

Let's do the reciprocation math:

• The customer paid you a fee.
• In the customer's view, you provided products or service greater than that fee.
• As repayment of the debt, the customer gave you his or her loyalty.

Best case, you're even.

Worst case, the loyal customer feels you owe him or her something in return for the loyalty bestowed.

Any case, referrals are not about to gush. Sure, loyal customers are better than satisfied customers, but when it comes to receiving tons of referrals, loyalty falls far short.

Here's a Sage of Selling Secret -- keep this under your hat:

The Law Of The Bull's-Eye
You will never do better than hit the target at which you aim, so make that target a good one.

Keep your satisfied customers.

Keep your loyal customers too.

But if you want referrals to gush, how about making Walking Ambassadors out of every customer you have?

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Who's Your David?

Many of us know and love at least one.

There will be one at most networking events you attend.

Every company that has one will do anything in its power to keep it.

Any company without one is doomed to mediocrity.

Yes, I'm speaking of that rarest of breeds -- the David.

I would say he marches to the beat of a different drummer, but it's not the beat that makes him a David.

I could call him a maverick, but that's too simple to convey the complexity required to reach the level of a David.

It's not even his politically correct incorrectness that gives him is Davidesque.

That's the thing about a David -- it can't be accurately defined by the nonDavids of the world.

But what I can tell you is how to find a David when you need one:

• Put on your very best suit and tie.
• Attend an association or networking event where the attorneys, bankers and financial moguls hang out.
• Listen closely for the whisper, "Can you believe he wore that?"
• Follow their gaze to your David.

And when you find your David in his shorts, sandals and horridly absent tie, instead of looking down your nose, try looking up his.

There are some incredible ideas up there.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Live: Non-Traditional Sales Team

Yes, that's right. Only weeks after posting "Sales Commissions Must Die" I am building my first-ever non-traditional sales team for a client.

Here's a brief review of how this came about.

In the sales call when I was discussing the team with Matthew Porter, founder and CEO of Contegix, I asked: "Why don't you build this team yourself?"

Matthew replied, "I can hire engineers with almost 100 percent accuracy, because that's a technical conversation and they can't BS me about technology." Then he added, "But hiring salespeople scares me to death."

I am not afraid of hiring salespeople, because that's a conversation where my expertise generally outshines theirs. However, even if I waved a magic wand and poofed a great sales team for Matthew, he would be left to manage the team and be in pretty much the same boat -- unsure of everything they're telling him and no real expertise to spot the BS.

So as we began the project to design his team, I asked Matthew to describe the types of engineers he has on board now.

"We have two main teams," Matthew replied. "One team -- our Ramp-Up Team -- is highly experienced at helping our clients in their transition to our servers, because there are a ton of one-off problems that must be solved during the switch. The second team -- our Maintenance Team -- is adept at anticipating problems before they occur, and diagnosing and fixing problems quickly when they do happen."

I asked Matthew how he keeps his people focused, and he replied with exactly the attitude I was hoping to see -- "They all know their primary goal is to absolutely thrill every customer."

You should have seen Matthew's eyes light up when I asked, "Then instead of building a sales team that gets paid to close deals, why don't we build a pre-customer engineering team that is paid a salary, just like your other guys, and tasked with the same objective, to thrill every prospect who calls Contegix? If we did that, wouldn't you end up with exactly the customers you want, and only the customers you want?"

Of course, Matthew had to make the leap of faith that simply taking great care of all prospects -- even those his team helps to choose other providers -- will produce sales, but that was a leap he was easily willing to make. Especially after letting me listen in as he managed a few in-bound sales inquiries himself, because that's exactly how Matthew naturally sells.

Here's the job description if you're interested in seeing how to word one: http://www.contegix.com/company/careers.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Sales Commissions Must Die

The only way the world will ever achieve honesty and ethics in sales is to completely eliminate sales commissions from the equation.

And you can quote me on that.

I've been trying to capture this concept in writing for six months, but I kept hitting roadblocks, deleting what I wrote and shelving it for a while. I think I figured out why -- making the full case is too complex for a short blog entry. Instead, I need to convey the concept in basic form and hope a few people who agree and disagree pick up the banner, start a debate and flesh it out together.

So following will be a disjointed train of thought that I hope makes the basic point.

• I believe that all salespeople should be honest with their prospects and strive to be moral and ethical in all aspects of their jobs. Just like all executives, department heads, managers, employees, etc. in every other department at all companies. And I think those who don't -- meaning the career liars -- should be drawn and quartered in the town square. (Okay, maybe torture is a tad strong. How about we just line them up for the firing squad instead?)
• One of the things my father taught me in my youth came in the form of a casual comment he made while snapping a lock closed on his tool trailer. "Locks keep honest people honest," he said. "They won't stop the career criminals, but they will keep the honest folks from succumbing to easy temptation."
• There is no "make sure my employees are honest" process you can invent that a dishonest employee can't get around. (See Dad's lesson about locks.)
• In my experience, the top people on a sales team -- the 20 percent that close 80 percent of the business -- would not be happy without the bottom 80 percent, because they truly enjoy being recognized as the best. And without the bottom people to sit in wide-eyed awe, your ego gets no strokes.
• On every sales team with which I have ever been involved, I have found most dishonesty resides in the tier-two salespeople -- the folks who are driven to be the best but who just can't seem to get there. (Interestingly, it's usually honesty that will get them to the top, but they just don't "get it.")
• Assuming your company is larger than one person, and successful, it is surely built of people working together for a common cause. To illustrate this point, let's talk about a 100-person manufacturer with a standard corporate structure. It has operations teams, manufacturing teams, accounting teams, HR teams, marketing teams, PR teams, delivery teams, maintenance teams -- you get the idea. All the people on these teams draw salaries or an hourly wage -- none get base pay for individual accomplishment. Sure, the company uses a profit-sharing model or bonus structure to reward growth and individual achievement, but its employees' base pay is fixed -- and everyone thrives.
• I believe it is contrary to company culture, sound business practices and common sense to pay your sales team differently than all these other teams at your company. And I believe this pay difference is the root cause of all conflicts generated within the sales department itself, and between the sales department and all other departments.
• Suppose for a moment you paid each person on your accounting team a small salary plus a portion of any bottom-line dollar he or she could generate for the company every day. Further suppose you put a chart on the wall of all accountants' status -- showing their rankings of best to worse in their ability to generate those dollars. What kind of people would be attracted to this team? Would they be competitive or collaborative? Would they be money-driven or team-oriented? Would those with bills to pay -- like the guy with the gambling problem -- be tempted to cook the books a bit, "spin" results or exaggerate "all the money we're about to save"? Would they get along as well with the other departments -- the ones spending the money they're trying to save? Would egos clash? Would bottom-tier accountants come and go every year? Would top-tier accountants strut just a bit?

Whenever you have a situation where one team -- a company, for example -- is made up of two groups -- employees drawing salary and salespeople earning commissions -- you will have constant conflict between the two groups. And no locks will ever cease the conflict.

Sales commissions reward competitiveness over collaboration. Sales commissions reward individuality and chest-beating over teamwork. Sales commissions reward trickery over honesty.

If you want your sales team to exhibit the same collaboration, teamwork and honesty demonstrated by the rest of the people at your company, sales commissions must die.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Stratospheric Success

If you want success, give.

If you want huge success, give huge.

If you want stratospheric success ... (you get the point).

Earlier this week a colleague gave me a copy of a new book, "The Go-Giver," by Bob Burg and John David Mann. I've read a lot of business books through the years, and I have never failed to disagree with some of the concepts conveyed -- because I'm an often arrogant, do-it-myself, 10,000-ideas-a-day maverick.

Thankfully, Burg and Mann have broken that perfect record of dissent and made an impact on my life in the process. I am now in the throws of reevaluating my own giving nature and, unfortunately, finding that while I give a lot, I have not been giving at the stratospheric level.

Interestingly enough, just more than one year ago I considered giving all my sales training away for free, since I was more interested in working on higher-level issues with sales managers and executives. But I could never figure out how to make that generate sales, so I didn't pull the trigger.

And back when I wrote my first (and still only) book, I considered giving it away free. But for the first eight months, I gave only a couple chapters free, hoping that "test drive" would stimulate sales. It wasn't until I decided to forget about sales completely -- putting the entire book on my website -- that sales took care of themselves.

Every time in my life I said "screw it" and gave away the farm, my crops grew stronger than ever.

About 30 minutes ago, I implemented the idea to give away the free sales training. I have no strategy for how that will create success, nor am I keeping track. You see, Karma is just like gravity -- the bigger the object the more it attracts other objects. That's why giving at stratospheric levels always works -- when your Karma is huge, all things come to you.

From this moment on, all sales training that my company provides will be completely, totally, free.

Note: In my opinion, if you believe in giving and don't read a copy of "The Go-Giver" immediately, it's a mistake.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

I Find No Joy In A Balanced Life

About three minutes ago the voice inside my head started arguing about this "balanced life" concept everyone is discussing these days -- especially so since the new year is coming. I remember my train of thought starting with Chinese turtles, but am not entirely sure of the progression from there to balanced lives. However, when the argument subsided, I found myself sitting at my computer, typing this opening paragraph into my "Compose New Post" screen.

I truly have no earthly idea what to say from here, so I'll just turn the keys over to the inner voice and see what happens. (I'll use the speed-writing exercise I explain in my book -- you simply type as fast as you can for five to 10 minutes and then clean up what you've written a bit when you're done.)

The hair on the back of my neck stands up whenever someone says "you must have a balanced life" but I've never stopped to ask myself why. Now I think I know -- balancing is damned hard work. (Ever tried to walk a tightrope?)

Why in the world would anyone wanting a balanced life add the task of creating that balanced life to his to-do list? Seems counter productive to me. Unless, of course, you're one of those folks who thrive on documenting things and making lists.

I'm just not one of those folks.

Yet at the same time, I always seem to be pretty happy -- never stressed beyond that healthy dose of stress that entrepreneurs like me love, great relationship with Cindy, good friends, a cat that will actually sit on my lap and purr. So under the assumption that a balanced life is about being happy, and figuring that I'm usually a pretty happy guy whose life is anything but balanced, then what am I doing right?

In my vernacular, I don't live a balanced life -- I live a blended life. I simply refuse to let time of day, day of week, week of month or month of year determine when I should be doing what.

Want to go for a bike ride at 1 p.m. Tuesday? No problem. Just reschedule the 2 p.m. client meeting and get on the bike.

Need to mow the lawn Friday morning because it's going to rain all weekend? Fine. Just get on the mower and worry about work sometime Saturday, Sunday, Monday -- or whenever you get inspired.

Got a speech tomorrow and still drawing a blank at 8 p.m. today? No big deal. Just put on some coffee and stay up late.

Late getting out those December holiday cards? Just send "Happy January" cards instead.

To me, creating a balanced life is a process of compartmentalizing and scheduling so you force in the right doses of spiritual, family, work, exercise, and so on each week. But to me, forced balance is no balance, because there are few things I hate more than rigid schedules.

So I blend my life instead. Do I occasionally drop a ball? Sure. Have I gained and lost 20 pounds a dozen times? Yep. Has a bike ride ever cost me a sale? Probably.

I simply refuse to care about these little things. And it's the peace of not caring that makes me happy and puts me in the frame of mind to get the big things done.

So I say the hell with the tightrope. Give me the blender instead. (Besides, I've never seen a tightrope make a margarita.)

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Passing The Pack

By now most of you know I'm the founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association -- a nonprofit trade association for people who sell.

What many of you don't know is that I'm also launching a non-traditional speakers bureau where I'll represent the attorneys, accountants, consultants, coaches, mentors, trainers, entrepreneurs, and so forth who don't speak as their primary career, but do speak professionally. It's non-traditional in that it will be local to my hometown and I won't be representing the career speakers most bureaus like to represent. (If I can't be different, I don't want to play.)

One of the marketing strategies for this bureau is to have each speaker create a four-hour workshop that can accommodate 30, 50 or 70 people, and that incorporates a unique experience like climbing a wall, racking a high-performance cart, jumping out of a plane, or whatever. Because most of the speakers in the bureau are not familiar with this type of training, I contacted Mary Kausch, an experiential learning savant, to ask her exactly what it takes to craft a power-house experiential workshop.

Mary's response was something along the lines of, "Gill, it would take three to four hours to teach someone enough so he or she could understand it and actually get it right."

After asking her what she'd charge for this learning experience, I decided to leverage the power of the group to get the training I wanted, without having to foot the entire bill. Here's how:

For all you trainers (me included) who would rather watch your competition through your rear-view mirror, I have an opportunity to announce:

• What?: A custom experiential workshop crafted and presented by Mary Kausch, president of HR etc!!
• Why?: Learn how to effectively incorporate exciting and difficult experiences into the workshops you give, so you can charge a whole lot more, be requested more frequently and blow the doors off your competition.
• Date-Time: January 9, 2008, 1 to 4 p.m.
• Place: Grand Prix Speedways conference center and indoor race track in Earth City, Mo. (five minutes west of Lambert Airport in St. Louis).
• Cost: We each (me included) write Mary a check for $100. You'll also cover the cost of any racing you choose to do at Grand Prix Speedways -- it's about $20 a race. (Budget for one race, because Mary may incorporate that experience into her workshop -- that is entirely up to her.)
• Personal Note: I introduce people all the time and I frequently refer people I know and trust. But it's the select few upon whom I'll stake my own reputation. Mary is in this group.

If you conduct training workshops and want to double, triple, perhaps quadruple your fees while becoming a more-sought-after speaker, then incorporate fantastic group experiences into your workshops using Mary's high-powered techniques.

I'll be there as will at least 10 people I already invited. If you want to attend too, do the following:

• Make a check for $100 out to HR etc!!
• Mail the check to me at 4866 Theiss Rd., St. Louis, MO 63128 (I'm coordinating this for Mary).
• Send an e-mail to me at gwagner@honestselling.com telling me "I'll be there and the check is on its way."
• Show up on January 9 for a great learning experience that will give you the skills you need to pass the pack.

Note To Travelers: If you must travel to St. Louis to attend this event, I'll be glad to host a free, Sales Wisdom Swap session in St. Louis that morning and invite you to attend. We'll find someplace nearby Grand Prix to meet at about 10 a.m. and talk sales for about 2.5 hours. (When it's time for lunch we'll order in or buy our own food.) At about 12:30 p.m. we'll head to Grand Prix for Mary's workshop.

Zoom, Zoom,

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

UNSUBUSCRIBE ME RIGHT NOW!

Since March of 2000 I've been wrestling to find a way to bring honesty back to the sales profession without pissing people off. So I wrote a ton of articles and my first book and crafted a bunch of speeches all geared toward one thing, showing salespeople ways to be honest and achieve the sales results they want.

Most of my message has been why honesty works, how-to advice or my best attempt at an even-handed evaluation of available sales systems. And while I've been thanked for that positive advice and have made a decent living, I must admit that I have completely failed at my big-picture mission to bring honesty and integrity back to the sales profession and thereby transform the lives of salespeople everywhere.

Buried somewhere in the pages of one of his wonderful books, Roy Williams (one of my very favorite authors) mentions you can tell that an ad will work wonders if the first responses you get are negative. The basic reason is due to a combination of factors:

• People buy for emotional reasons, not logical ones.
• To strike a strong emotional cord, your message must be provocative.
• Life is a Normal Curve, so you'll get just as many negative responses to a provocative message as you will positive responses.
• The people who hate your message almost always speak up first.

On November 12 I received this memo from Roy Williams. It could not have arrived at a more perfect time, because only two days earlier I had made the emotional decision to stop pulling punches, to call a sleaze a sleaze, to wag a finger that needed wagging, to take on the salesdrips of the world -- to "unleash the tiger," as Roy might say.

Since then I've written a half-dozen posts. The first 21 responses I received ranged from people simply unsubscribing to some who sent me wonderfully hateful e-mails. (Response number 22 came from a CEO I totally respect who told me he loved the new attitude and that I should keep it up.)

While I'll always attack the methods, rather than the person, I look forward to spending the next eight years hunting down salesdrips and eating them for lunch. Who knows, maybe I can get 50 more people to unsubscribe this week.

ROAR!

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Walk Your Talk Or Take A Hike

In late 1996, when my partner and I first started our IT firm, I contacted one of the E-myth franchise guys to see whether his company could help me organize my company's processes -- documenting everything the way Michael Gerber discusses in his E-myth books so I could more easily grow.

At the end of my first conversation with the franchisee, he promised to follow up with a bit more information and then to call to discuss it.

I never received the information. I never received the call. As a result, I ended up going with the mentoring program of Alan Weiss, president of Summit Consulting Group, Inc.

More than seven years later, this past October 30, I got to hear Michael Gerber himself speak, and subsequently wrote a blog entry about the presentation. The part of the story I didn't report goes as follows:

Several times during Gerber's speech, he referenced his "Dreaming Room®" -- an event where he helps entrepreneurs crystallize their visions -- and told attendees of the upcoming dates so we could sign up. I was intrigued by the concept and the opportunity, so in the VIP reception that followed I handed Gerber my card.

Me: "I'm intrigued by your Dreaming Room concept and I might want to attend. Can you call me about it?"

Gerber: (with a slight gleam in his eye and small grin) "I won't promise it will be a phone call."

Me: (chuckling slightly) "Then let me rephrase. Will you please plug me into whatever process you've created to follow up with people interested in the Dreaming Room?"

Gerber: "Gladly."

Today at lunch I learned that Steven Kelly (president of MESSAGEbuzz -- a text-message marketing company) had a similar conversation with Gerber that day -- handing him a card and asking for information. It's been 17 days, we're both still waiting and we agreed that because of the lack of follow-up, neither of us would attend now if it was free.

Are you walking your talk? If not, why the hell should we?

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association