Your Name is Your Buzzer

By now, all of us have been to a restaurant, coffee bar or smoothie place that asks for your name when you place an order. At first, this seemed like an innocuous trend. A friendly way for each of us to get to know each other a little better. You're not a number at Starbucks, you're a name for gosh sakes!

But, the usefulness of this little practice has outlived its cuteness and it's time for us to say enough is enough.

I was in a new smoothie store not too long ago. The place wasn't very crowded. Let's see there was one, two. . . two of us in the store. Me and a very old man in front of me. The old man was trying to order a smoothie for himself and his grandson. His adult daughter was nearby. After staring at the menu board and trying to figure out what all the symbols and signs were trying to tell him, the old man told the teen boy behind the cash register what he wanted. Then the trouble began:

Teen Boy: What is your name?

Old Man: Huh?

Teen Boy: Your name?

Old Man: (blank stare followed by a desperate look at the menu board followed by a desperate look towards his daughter)

Daughter to Teen Boy: What do you need?

Teen Boy: I need his name for the order.

Daughter: Why do you need his name?

Teen Boy: I have to put a name into the computer or else I can't total the order.

Daughter: Oh, his name is Martin.

About mid-way through this exchange I fantasized about leaping over the counter and stuffing Teen Boy's head into a blender. The poor man is having trouble! Just put any name into the stupid computer and stop the madness, Teen Boy!

Of course, the idea behind getting a name for the order makes sense. Since there will be a lag between the time the order is taken and the time it is served, the server will need to be able to identify who ordered what. Rather than yelling out "Double Orange Mania", the server will call out your name. Since two people may have ordered the same Double Orange Mania but are unlikely to have the same name, this should help avoid confusion. But, the practice of asking for the name and using the name to distribute the orders is cumbersome, unreliable and feels invasive. My wife and I were recently at Panera Bread and witnessed this exchange:

Cashier: "And what is your name please?"

Asian Man: "Excuse me?"

Cashier: "Your name please."

Asian Man: (after conferring with his three Asian companions) Jin Sung

When the food was ready at the far end of the counter, the preparer yells out, "Jim." The Asian customers are standing nearby but don't respond to "Jim" because the name they gave was "Jin". Noticing that "Jim" is not claiming his food, the preparer gets on the microphone and says, "Jim, your order is ready. Jim." Meanwhile, the only men (and therefore the only possible "Jim's") standing near the counter are the Asian guys. For reasons known only to themselves, the preparers do not engage the customers in an actual conversation. Instead, they periodically get on the microphone desperately seeking Jim.

Frankly, I'm surprised that some genius hasn't decided to differentiate their operation by asking for a customer's favorite color. "Order ready for chartreuse. Chartreuse, your order is ready."

Can we please stop with the nonsense and get back to a system that worked perfectly well - numbers? Personally, I'm not offended (and I don't know anyone who is) when a bakery or a busy store asks me to take a number upon entering. In fact, I find comfort in the fact that there is an actual system for identifying which customer belongs to which order. A system which is accurate, easy to use and provides very little room for confusion. A system that wasn't broken and didn't need to be fixed.

So what if the person behind the counter doesn't call me out by name. I'll get over the fact that we aren't likely to become best buddies.

The Clarifying Question

My wife hates it when I talk to telephone sales people. She thinks I'm rude and she would rather that I just didn't answer the phone at all instead of being rude to the working stiff on the other end of the line.

But, I'm not rude. I'm giving the seller an opportunity to sell me without being a complete pushover. I am testing their skills so that I can write about what works and what doesn't and educate those sellers interested in learning about the trade. Rude? For goodness sakes, I'm doing the world of sales a favor!

So, anyway, we receive a call and the caller ID says it is from Duane Reade. I knew it was a solicitor because we had ignored this same call on a couple of other occasions. But, needing to do the world of sales a favor, I answered the call.

"Hi, is this Tim?"

"Yes, it is."

"Tim, my name is Joe from Golf Digest. How are you doing today?"

"Fine, Joe." (Sometimes I say, "Do you really care?" but my wife thinks that is rude and she might be right.)

"Good. The reason for the call is to make sure that you are receiving your Golf Digest and that you are happy with the magazine."

(Another version of the "I'm not really calling to sell you anything" approach. Potentially annoying. Does any reasonable person actually believe that an automatically dialed phone call is coming from the customer service department of a magazine? If you don't want people to be rude to you (which I wasn't, of course) perhaps you shouldn't assume they are stupid.)

"I am happy with the magazine."

"That's great! I'll tell you what we are going to do. We are going to upgrade your account to 'preferred' and offer you our best rate of $1.88 per issue for renewing. How does that sound?"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I said, no."

"You don't want to renew?"

"No."

"Alright then. You have a nice night."

With that, Joe was gone. But, he shouldn't have been gone. Joe got confused by my first 'No'. Mainly because it was out of context. He didn't ask me a yes/no question but got a 'No' anyway. He asked me, "How does that sound?" Naturally, he was expecting me to be excited about achieving 'preferred' status and to say that "it sounds good". When I said, 'No' I threw him off his script and he didn't know what to do.

So, Joe made a fatal mistake and he assumed that he knew what my 'No' meant. He offered me the reason I said 'No' by saying, "You don't want to renew?" He should never have done that because he has now made it really easy for me to agree with him that I don't want to renew.

When a customer throws you off by answering one of your questions in a way that doesn't make any sense, you must get clarification of what is going on! For all Joe knows, I could have been saying 'No' to one of my rude children asking me a question while I was on the phone. Criminy! Is his training so bad and his reliance on his script so rigid that he just collapses when the customer refuses to play along?

How 'bout you? Is your training that bad or your reliance on a script that rigid?

Here is what Joe should have done after my initial 'No'.

"Tim, you just said 'No' to a question that isn't really a yes/no question. Was that 'No' directed toward me or someone in the room with you?"

"That 'No' was directed towards you, Joe."

"Okay. I'm a little confused. You like the magazine. I just offered you our very best rate to renew and you said 'No'. Why would a person say 'No' to renewing at our very best rate if they are happy with the magazine?"

(If you are thinking that you would never have the courage to go this direction with the conversation then you must get out of sales immediately! This is a simple clarifying question that must be asked.)

"Simple, really, Joe. I ordered a one year subscription of the magazine and I have received two copies. That means that I have ten months left before I need to renew. I never renew subscriptions until the subscription is about to expire."

"I understand completely and it makes sense. Here's the deal, though. We will never be able to offer this rate again. So, by renewing early you will get the very best deal and you will be locking in the very best deal for as long as you want. Even though you have only been receiving the magazine for two months, you have already experienced our award winning columnists, stroke-saving tips and interviews with the world's best golfers and most influential golf course designers. As an avid golfer, I know you wouldn't want to give that up and as a smart business man you wouldn't want to pass up the savings being offered today. Would you prefer to extend your subscription for one, two or three years?"

When prospects throw you off, don't just give up! Fight back with clarifying questions!

The Wisdom of our Fathers

My father didn't tell me a lot about how to succeed in business. Maybe, he wanted me to learn on my own. Maybe, he didn't really know so he chose not to advise. Either way, when he did dispense advice it was rare. Perhaps, that is why I remember it all.

I was managing a Domino's Pizza store out of college. This was a great job. One that I wish everyone could have so they would understand what I'm talking about. Try to picture what it was like. I worked in the store from 3p till about 3a six days a week. The majority of that time was spent making pizzas and ensuring they were delivered within 30 minutes of the order being received. On my day off and during other available times, I was recruiting delivery drivers or meeting with my boss or going to training classes or doing some field-level marketing to goose the sales. I was responsible for every aspect of running the store with the exception of paying the bills. A finer business education was not available at any price and they were paying me!

The store was beginning to really hum. I won a couple of awards and sales were up. I imagine that the cockiness was apparent in my voice the next time I spoke to my Dad.

"So, you think you're a pretty good motivator, Timmy?" (My Dad is one of only two adults who ever called me Timmy once I was past the age of 15)

"Yes, I know I am."

"Well, how many people do you think you can motivate?"

"I'm not sure I follow you. How can I put a number on it?"

"I already know the number. I'm asking you what you think it is. Can you motivate ten people or a hundred or a thousand?"

"Dad, I am sure that I can motivate a roomful of people. Put me in a big enough room and I can motivate ten thousand people."

"Ten thousand?"

"You know what, Dad, get me on TV and I can motivate a million!"

"That would be pretty good if you could motivate a million people. But, the answer is exactly one."

"One. Which one? What are talking about?" (Listening back on this conversation, now, as I play it in my mind I imagine my voice as more than just a little irritated.)

"There is only one person that you can motivate and that person is yourself. You can not motivate anyone else to do anything."

"I see what you are saying, Dad. But, I don't agree. There is no question that every single day at work I am getting people pumped up to do their job better. I do this by setting a good example of what a hard worker looks like and by having a positive attitude. I am able to convey my positivity to the other workers and motivate them to do a good job."

"You are no doubt setting a good example and being positive is great but I am telling you that the only person that you are able to motivate is yourself."

I was in my early 20's at the time and probably couldn't be told too many things by too many people. After all, like yourself, I pretty much knew it all back then. Luckily, experience has a way of teaching us that there was more to learn and it was many years later that I learned the wisdom of what my father was saying.

Motivation comes from within. Individuals who want to achieve goals establish them for themselves and then they set a path to achieve those goals. When we witness people exhibiting behavior that is consistent with their goals, we say they are motivated. But, the goal that a person wants to achieve - one that he is motivated to achieve - is always determined by that individual. As a result, it is the owner of the goal that is able to motivate himself and no one else.

For sure, the sales manager may set a goal that is also consistent with the seller's own goal and the seller will be motivated to achieve that goal. But, the motivation did not come from the sales manager. Imagine a scenario where the seller wants to break the record for most sales in a month. The sales manager offers an incentive to the entire team. The seller who breaks the monthly sales record will earn an additional $1,000 and a day off! The sellers who already care about being the record holder will have an added incentive to achieve that goal. But, the sales manager didn't motivate them to become the record holder. The sales manager simply provided an incentive for the motivated sellers to marshall their efforts during a certain period of time. When someone breaks the record, the sales manager will ask which of the two incentives provided the necessary impetus for their amazing achievement.

The seller might say, "Well, I didn't really care about the day off since we are paid on commission."

The sales manager decides that a $1,000 award for breaking the record provided the necessary motivation and establishes a permanent incentive of $1,000 for anyone breaking a monthly sales record. The sales manager is surprised when the record isn't broken the next month or the month thereafter. After all, the first time the record was broken it was because of the $1,000, wasn't it?

Records are never broken by the unmotivated but they are broken all the time by those not incentived.

Of course, sales managers, coaches, teachers, parents, etc. have a role in motivation. Their job is to create an environment in which the motivated (seller, athlete, student, child, etc.) stays motivated.

While my Dad was technically correct about the number of people any of us can motivate. The truth is that the best sales managers are motivational. They foster positivity and they remove obstacles. The best sales managers are motivated to assist sellers in the achievement of their goals and for a great seller there is nothing more motivating than that.

The Confidence Provider

People who sell can tell you when a sale has been made or not made long before the customer says "yes" or "no". They know when they are getting through to someone. When the target of their persuasion is beginning to come around.

People who can sell know that a sale is a transfer of confidence.

Consequently, sellers must have a great deal of confidence before they can make a sale. Confidence in what?

Confidence that their product or service will do what the brochure says it will do.

Confidence that the support people that need to make certain things happen will make those things happen.

Confidence that the company is going to continue to stand behind its product and always do the right thing.

Confidence that his next paycheck isn't going to bounce.

Confidence that the web site is going to be up and running when he gets in front of the customer and needs to make a demonstration.

Confidence that the airline is going to get him to the meeting on time.

Confidence that the boss is going to approve the terms he needs in order to make the deal happen.

Confidence that his car is going to start and that his favorite suit will be clean and that the top button of his shirt is going to be repaired by the dry cleaner like they said it was.

Confidence that he'll order the right thing at lunch even though he has never had sushi before.

Confidence that his wife will still love him even if his sales are "below plan" this month.

If it sounds as if sales people are pretty needy, you're beginning to understand the necessary role of the sales manager. (And you thought it was to project forecasts accurately.)

The Lies of Our Fathers

Did you grow up with the big lie? I did. My father told it to me many times and here it is:

"You can be anything and do anything that you put your mind to."

I believed this for the first 17 years of my life before cracks started to form in both the logic and the sensibility of this assertion.

In high school, there was no one on the track team that trained harder than I trained. My specialties were the long jump and the triple jump. These were chosen because I mistakenly believed that there would be a limited amount of running involved. Regardless, I pushed myself through it, knowing that every wind sprint would strengthen my legs. The legs that would propel me over a massive distance and help me land successfully in a giant pit of sand. After the running, there was jumping. Jumping for distance. Jumping for height. Hopping on one leg around the track. Hopping up the stadium steps. There was weight training and stretching. I read books about jumping and mastered the techniques necessary to fly as far as possible. When the meets came, I broke out my 100' tape measure and marked the exact distance I needed to run to hit the board in precisely the right spot. My jumps were pure and clean and beautiful and, usually, good for second or third place. First place? That went to the guys who could flat out fly down the runway and throw themselves into the air. Technique? No. Measurement of their approach? Heck, no. Beautiful and pure and clean? No, no and no. Better than me? Yes. Normally by more than just a little.

No one could deny that I had put my mind to it. But, I was not the high school track star that I wanted to be.

Later, perhaps in my 20's, I was sure that he was wrong, wrong, wrong and the knowledge of his wrongness made me feel lied to and angry.

What if I wanted to be an astronaut?

Sure, as long as you put your mind to it.

Wrong! I get sick on the TeaCup ride at the county fair. There is no way that I would make it in one of those centrifuge spinners. Astronauts can not throw up when they experience a couple of g's, Dad.

In my 30's, I knew he was wrong but I had forgiven him for the lie because I knew that it was a form of encouragement.

What if I wanted to be a professional golfer?

Sure, if you put your mind to it.

Dad, I appreciate it but you and I both know that I don't have enough golfing talent to become a professional. I could practice all day and all night and, although I would get better, I would never get good enough to make a living on the professional golf tour.

You don't know that.

I'm in my 30's now, Dad, and I do know that. You know what, it's okay. The professional golfers could try as hard as they want and not be as good as me at what I do professionally.

Now, in my 40's, I still know he was wrong but I have a new philosophy about the wisdom of the lie. Believing that we are capable of more than what we've experienced so far is intrinsic in our ability to achieve more than what we've achieved in the past.

Do you think I could run a marathon?

Sure, if you put your mind to it.

So, I did put my mind to it a few years back. Until that time, I had run several 10k's in my time but never a marathon. I developed a training program. Bought some decent sneakers. Started running. After a couple of months, I was running for nearly two hours straight. Pretty decent progress and I still had a couple of months to go before the marathon. I decided to enter a half-marathon. I was ready for the half and felt good on race day. Two hours and twenty minutes later, I had finished my first half marathon. A couple of days later I got sick and stayed sick for six weeks. Coughing, weezing. Went to the doctor and got some strong decongestant but it didn't help much. Eventually, had to get an inhaler and a steroid. Finally, I was better but had lost nearly two months training time. I decided to put off the marathon.

After a couple of months of not running, I decided that I could still do a marathon if I put my mind to it. Back to the training. The annual half-marathon rolled around and I entered. Two hours and twenty minutes later, I had finished my second half-marathon. Later that day, I couldn't walk. The next day was worse. Turns out that I had a stress fracture in my right shin. The anterior shin muscle gave up and the bone started taking on too much of the impact. At least that's the reason my doctor gave me. So, I wore a boot for six weeks. Had to put off the marathon again.

Then, I decided that I could still do a marathon. This time, my plan was to build the strength in my legs through weight lifting and running. I started to work hard on my anterior shin muscles to avoid another stress fracture. After a few months, I ran a 10k without incident. By the time the training regimen had gotten me to 9 miles, the familiar pain was back in my shins and I decided that maturity demanded a re-evaluation of the wisdom of continuing to put my mind to accomplishing a marathon.

So, I never did do a marathon despite putting my mind to it. And the lie of my father reared its ugly head once more in my life. But, now I have another perspective.

If I didn't believe that I could run a marathon, I would never have run a half-marathon. And, you know, a half-marathon is a pretty cool thing.

If I had never tried to be a track star, I never would have long jumped 20'.

If you didn't believe you could earn $500,000 in a year, you may never have earned $200,000. If you didn't believe you could be the valedictorian, you may not have made the grades to get in med school. If you didn't believe the best looking girl in your class would go to the prom with you, you might never have met her friend - your future wife.

By stretching our boundaries, we achieve more. We don't always achieve the original goal but so what. That's not really the point our fathers were trying to make. The point they were trying to make is much better summed up by a saying that my mother had about nearly everything:

"You don't really know unless you try."