Greg's Right FIT #430

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on the Referrals
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on the Referrals

• Referrals and positive word of mouth are less about the product or service, and more about how the person giving the referral feels about the person they're telling. We tell people we like about things we think will make them better. 
• To get more referrals, start with making your customers better. Better = you and your products/service help them get results they wouldn't have without you. 
• Better results are only part of what makes you referable. A truer test is whether your customers feel like they know more than others because of your products. The smarter/more expert they feel, the more likely they are to recommend you.
• Don't be a best kept secret. Some customers you are helping want to keep you to themselves, especially in competitive industries. Get past this by asking for introductions. Publicize anonymous results. Share stories.

Being Human - Due in part to my efforts

“Well more than two thirds of the press releases from Douglas MacArthur's command reference only one person – himself."
– historian Stanley Weintraub

My customers are better at finding new business than their competitors. They spend less money, spend less time, and get better results. I help them get there, but what part of their results are due solely to the fact they hired me? 

It's a question I struggled to answer in the past. Some would tell me to take 100% credit. Like in the resumes that say, "I grew the division from $2MM in sales to $100MM." Really? That seems like a lot to take credit for. Others would say, just show your client's logo and let the prospect infer what they will. One told me that's why she guest lectured at Harvard. Their logo carries some weight, she said, and that's why she put it prominently on the home page of her website. Neither approach seemed like the right fit for me. I was told, "Quit being so rational! People just want a good story." True, I guess.  

I told this to a talented man I hired to coach me on positioning. (Mark Levy) He wanted me to tout my client's results as evidence of my effectiveness. I described my hesitation, and he said, okay, then say, "due in part to my efforts." 

Makes sense. People are going to think what they want and will hear what they want to hear. It makes it easier to take some credit for helping a client land their biggest client to date, or having their most profitable year ever. 

Feel free to use it. And if you want to talk to the best positioning coach in the business, give Mark a call. 

Random Stuff

“I was very interested in maximizing experience, but this doesn’t seem to be what people want to do,” he told Tyler Cowen in an interview in 2018. “Happiness feels good in the moment. But it’s in the moment. What you’re left with are your memories. And that’s a very striking thing—that memories stay with you, and the reality of life is gone in an instant.” – Daniel Kahneman 

In my early sales training I was taught perception is reality. If the prospect thinks something is true, what you think is reality doesn't matter, if they believe it, it's true. I was trained to use this my advantage. "Greg, whatever you say is half true at best. If the prospect says it, however, it's truth." Manipulative way to see the world, I guess, but the more I tried it, the more I could see my trainers were right. 

Fast-forward a few years/decades, and I ran into the book "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman. In it, he outlines his thoughts and experiments on how we humans think. Hundreds of pages on a very smart person thinking about thinking.

I loved it. Still do. 

People are complex and mysterious. The poets might say we are "unknowable." This doesn't stop us from categorizing them, making assumptions, and celebrating their foibles. 

Like how I feel about everyone associated with the other team. When my team plays your team, you are dumb. Your players are dumb. I hope we beat you in an embarrassing way.

Today I feel this way about the Tennessee men's basketball team.

Go Jays. Beat the Vols. Maximize my happiness for a minute.  

RIP Mr. Kahneman.