While pouring out a bucket of sweat in the gym and thinking about the world we live in, it occurred to me that a lot of people are just cogs in the machine. Cogs that are easily replaced, eh?
You ever notice?
Some of the people in some of the businesses are here today and gone tomorrow and no one seems to miss them. Then there are those who if they were to vanish, the business might never be the same. If you work for a business, which are you?
Now if you’re the owner, there’s a whole argument to be made about completely replacing yourself so you can pursue your ultimate outcomes but that’ll have to wait for another day.
What got me thinking about all this was coming across some notes I made from a Seth Godin post a couple of years ago where he talked about the motivations that exist for workers in a business. He was talking about when we sell to a business and we are dealing with someone other than the owner. Here’s his list and then we’ll talk about it:
Avoiding risk
Avoiding hassle
Gaining praise
Gaining power
Having fun
Making a profit
In that order…
This is important to know when you call on businesses in a selling role that their number one motivation is not related to money or profit. It’s to avoid risk. They simply do not want to make a bad decision that makes them or their bosses look bad.
Next is to avoid hassle – which forces us to think in terms of our sales process, and whether or not our clients have to think too much to make it worth doing business. If we make it harder than it needs to be (especially on the conversion from prospect to customer the first time) we probably won’t get the deal.
For extra credit, think through your sales process on making re-orders so simple that it becomes a real hassle to even think about switching.
Don’t underestimate the powerful motivation of earning praise from one’s boss either. It’s well established that people will do more to gain praise than to get more money. Hence the entire industry for employee recognition gifts.
Gaining power can also be huge too. If we, as subordinates, make smart decisions that make us and our bosses look good, we stand a much better chance of being promoted. Making sense?
Next, if the process of doing business with you is or can be made fun – you will have a hidden advantage over your competitors.
Last (and least) of these motivators is money. The price of the things your business sells. But if you didn’t operate with these things in mind, you might get a bit of resistance and jump directly to negotiating your prices… Not so fast!
So if you want to become indispensable, take some time to remember that this is what motivates those you do business with (other than the owner) and when you use as many of them as you can in your sales to others, you’ll win.
You might even want to take this list and tape it inside of your portfolio/notepad so you see it when calling on prospects. Aligning yourself with their motivations is like business jujitsu.
Agree? Disagree? Hate me for making you think about it all? Speak your truth by commenting below or click here to contact me.
