Win to the Fourth Power

     Many years ago I had a sales manager who would regularly take the entire team and support staff to the corner bar to build social capital.  I doubt he knew that term though.  Often we know things to be true before someone labels it for scientific measurement.   After an hour or so it would not be unusual for him to stand on a chair and say: "God told me to tell you to sell more radio!  Watermelon shooters for everyone."

     Certainly the sales industry has evolved over the years.  The close the deal at any costs and whether or not you can deliver should be dead.  I remember moving into the consultative selling approach and the era of Win-Win.  The client wins and the organization wins.  I believe in part from an evolving theology it's Win-Win-Win-Win I've come to believe in.

1. Customer Win: Pick any major (and some minor) theologies you want.  We're meant to take care of each other.  If you take care of your customer's (neighbor's) needs, everything else will be fine.
2. Organizational Win: If superior customer service (not mediocre) is a daily focus, sales will increase and the multiple employment offshoots that support organization development, product or service, have jobs too.
3. Community Win: If the customer and the organization are served, there's larger positive impacts in the community though some are better at it than others.
4. Family Win:  If the previous three are making progress, all of our families are better off.

    I intentionally don't consider self in the equation.  The examples of individuals choosing self over others in all businesses and governments is ripe with unintended sometimes devastating consequences.  Unfortunately it's the too big to jail folks who get away with it while those with less assets get prison terms or lose everything.  The example set by the more equal democracy in Iceland of bailing out the people and jailing the banksters will unfortunately never fly in America, Europe and the UK.  But I degress.

     The fact is everyone is in sales whether we have that title or not.  At some point in the near future I have an interview with Daniel Pink coming up.  We were trying for March but our schedules didn't meld and now we're at the end of April.  When the time is right that it will have the most impact in my region, it'll happen.  Search previous ramblings from me and you'll find Drive and A Whole New Mind discussed, but the latest effort released in January is To Sell is Human.  Like everything else Dan does, it's phenomenal.  As an academic, I particularly like that he includes the reference listings for the sources.  If you've got the time, watch the interview below from The Good Life Project.