The 3 “A”s of selling…Part 1, Attitude

Attitude is a funny thing, one minute it is there, the next it is gone.  Who says?  Who controls it?

It’s a beautiful morning.  You had a sensible breakfast, the family were really cheerful, you gathered all your bits and pieces, a quick glance in the mirror…looking good!  Easy drive to your first appointment, traffic is light, the sun is shining.  Some favourite music playing in the car, your mind is preparing for the day and it is going to be amazing.  Life is good.  You have an important first meeting, actually very important, but you are in perfect time.

As you swing round a bend in the road you are faced with red brake lights as far as the eye can see.  A total log-jam.  It is never busy here, and not a single car is moving.  You are going to be late, this is not good.  How could you have left it so late, this is desperate.

So we have to wonder at how our attitude shifts so quickly.  I have a colleague, Ian Dickson, a great business coach, who talks about his number.  On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the best, what is your attitude right now?  Ian is always at least a 7 (well his public face is at least an 8, but I am erring on a little acting).  How does he do that?

Do you know anyone who is constantly “up”?  Or conversely, I am sure you know people who are permanently “down” or ”under the circumstances” as I like to call them.

Am I talking about mood or attitude?  If I savagely paraphrase the definitions in the Mental State (or Status) Examination (MSE), used in psychiatric assessment, mood is the internal state, whereas attitude is the outward manifestation, not the affect of the mood as much as the face put on it to others.

So it is exactly the attitude that is important here.  Whereas our mood swings because of a number of contributing factors (not least chemical), our attitude is really under our control as it is the way we portray those inner feelings and how we interact with others.

How are we perceived by our customers, regardless of our mood or what is happening in our lives?  One thing that is important to a business relationship is of course consistency.  Just as it is difficult being close to someone who blows hot and cold, who reacts differently to the same thing on different days, it is also uncomfortable doing business with people like this.

May I introduce Marge Johnson.  Some years ago, I moved to a new area.  When talking about getting settled in to the new house, I was warned by colleagues in my office that I would have fun with the cable company.  I would only have one supplier as they had a monopoly in the area, but that they were terrible to deal with.

Sure enough, after checking online and making a call to get my service set up, I started hitting problems.  One thing after another went wrong from the wrong date to be home for the installation, to them not turning up, to the wrong equipment etc..

I started having longer and more frustrating calls with their “help desk”.  I found their desk manned by people who could only work to inflexible scripts, who didn’t seem to know a great deal and who frankly didn’t seem to care.  It became more and more frustrating.

Eventually, one call went downhill so far, I demanded to speak to a supervisor.  I mean demanded.  After trying to avoid putting me through for some time, eventually I was put on hold for a supervisor.  “Pity the poor fool” who was about to pick up the phone and pity their eardrums that were never going to be the same again.  (My attitude was certainly in the toilet at this stage.)

“Hello, my name’s Marge Johnson, I know you are having a very frustrating time Mr Murphy, I am going to make that all better.  How can I help?”  A softly spoken, but authoritative, mature voice.  (Sorry, Marge, I don’t know how old you were at the time, and I don’t mean old, you just didn’t sound 20something.)  Immediately the wind was taken out of my sails.  I could hardly rant at my “favourite aunt”.

Not only did Marge Johnson sound totally disarming, but she had all the right attitude.  It was all about “us” fixing things together, I would explain, she would emphathise and understand and then come up with remedial action.  If I was on a rant to nothing, well more of a whine by now, she would listen and understand even if there was no remedial action necessary.  The whole conversation didn’t take that long either.  Minutes and we had all the action plan in place.

The rest of the saga is for another day, but the real revelation was the attitude Marge Johnson portrayed to me…it was perfect for the situation.

We adopted “the Marge Johnson factor” in my company to mean, setting the right attitude towards customers and prospects.  But having only met Marge briefly today, you can think of it as the favourite aunt or uncle syndrome.

Why aunt or uncle?  Well, if you have one or can visualize one, what are they?  Consistent, warm, on your side, positive, have appropriate answers to anything and never mind being asked.  They pick you up when you are down, empathise but without wallowing in sympathy (for too long, just enough).  They are or appear slightly older, wiser or in some way someone to look up to and trust.  Now it’s your turn, what else is there about your favourite aunt or uncle that you would like to emulate with your customers, clients or prospects?

You can and should choose your attitude throughout your day.  But to be more successful than you are today, if that is your desire, you must choose your attitude and maintain it whilst interacting with others in business.  If you don’t like the “favourite aunt or uncle” approach, who do you most like buying from?  What are the elements of their attitude that make you appreciate working with them?

Having decided what attitude you wish to portray, make copious notes of the detail, review them often, particularly before interactions.  And as you drive away, put the phone down or walk away from the meeting, ask yourself “how did I deviate from my chosen attitude?”

Next time, the 2^nd “A”…can you guess what it is?