Getting it right versus being right
We're living in an age where, thanks to Google, everyone is a know-it-all. Or, more accurately, we're living in an age where everyone assumes that they can find what they need to know just by Googling it, so they may as well say they know, even though they don't. There are more "experts" per square mile than there used to be, and a lot fewer people who could be categorized as humble students of [whatever]. Everyone has an opinion, even when they don't really know what they're talking about.
If you're running a business, you have customers. They are actually the ones who truly do "know it all," when it comes to you making sales. They know what they want. They know you might have it. They know what they expect of you, when they come to you to investigate what you sell. They also know enough about your product already, to be able to tell if you really know what you're talking about - or not. They soon know if they are going to buy from you, as they interact with your website and salespeople.
One of my clients recently forwarded this article to me, which appeared in Inc., and was written by Joel Spolsky, a renowned writer and developer. In the article, "Why Circuit City failed and why B&H Thrives," Joel does a fantastic job of describing the salespeople hired by Circuit City versus those who work for B&H. Circuit City actually fired all their knowledgeable salespeople and replaced them with cheaper generic salespeople who pretended to know it all. Of course this was a doomed strategy, but obviously Circuit City management didn't think so at the time. Bean counting has its place, but not at the head of the conference table.
The B&H salespeople, on the other hand, really do know what they need to know in order to help their customers make good buying decisions. They even recommend cheaper alternatives when it's appropriate. Any customer who has that experience with any company will go out of his way to do business with them again.
Getting back to your customers, they know what you need to know in order to sell to others like them. If you are humble enough to find out what they know, you will sell more. If you think they can't teach you anything, you will sell less. Pretty basic.
I've seen plenty of sales organizations filled with know-it-alls, people who want to be right in any situation, even when they're wrong. These salespeople actually argue with customers. A customer may say, "Yes, I know that I could use this product for that, but in my experience, it doesn't work that well." The know-it-all salesperson will launch into a soliloquy (the customer would call it a tirade), telling the customer why his experience is invalid. This is quite insulting, of course, and leads the customer to take his business elsewhere.
This behavior costs you sales. There is an alternative, one that you, as a company owner, could instill in your salespeople.
Let's say you have a salesperson named Brad. Brad is determined to be right. Brad will blurt out the first idea that pops into his head, and then stubbornly stick to it. He won't think through all the alternatives, nor will he have the patience to discuss them with others. He won't even be open to any alternatives. It's more important for him to convince others he's right, than it is for him to actually be right.
Brad is alienating customers with his behavior, and costing you sales. No one likes a know-it-all. How do you get Brad to change?
You sit down with him and discuss the difference between "being right" and "getting it right." Ask him to describe the difference between someone who was determined to "be right" versus someone who was determined to "get it right." The difference would seem to be subtle, but it's not.
Someone who only cares about being right is contentious, stubborn, and focused on what's good for them. Everything else is secondary, including customer satisfaction, managerial approval, and cooperating with other members of the team. It's quite easy for contentious people to get stuck on a concept and defend it until the lights go out, virtually guaranteeing that their "rightness" will turn out to be wrong.
Conversely, someone who focuses on "getting it right," is not concerned about himself. He's thinking about the task at hand. He's constantly running through the best possible approaches in his mind. He's open to suggestions. He researches the possibilities. He's humble - and ready to learn, because he knows that's how he's going to get it right. He is pursuing the perfect solution, and it won't be far off. We're all familiar with Brad's results, although Brad never seems to notice - let alone admit - that he's blown it.
After establishing the difference between those two states of mind, you (or whoever is coaching Brad) will have to work with him to make sure he starts to incorporate this new way of thinking into his calls. For example, instead of arguing with the customer when they make an observation, he should take that as an opportunity to learn something from the customer, and to have a meaningful conversation with the customer about it.
"Getting it right," when you're in sales, means helping the customer solve his problem. That's what the people are doing at B&H, which is why their store is full. Getting it right means listening, thinking, and working on the best possible solution for the customer. That grateful customer will remember you next time he needs something similar, and will also tell others about you - just as Joel did in his article.
The "getting it right" principle applies to running your business, too. It's often tempting to take your first idea and run with it, while better ideas are just around the corner waiting for you to come looking for them. It even helps to think, "What would it look like, if I got this right?" This way of thinking leads to efficient, revenue-producing behaviors and decisions.
