STRATEGY TODAY - Common Era Faults
Improve proficiency in selling and living
Posted by Elizabeth Jackson | Dec 14, 2017 | Insights | 0 |
Many things have changed in today’s world of business and commerce. We can see it in advertisements, which hang on billboards, magazines, and airports. We also see it in the way people travel, walk face down staring at cell phones, and the way they talk, or not talk, to one another. It is so evident and pervasive, to a point that it makes a handshake, or a smile – a bit suspect. These are the results of decades of a common-era fault, says the author of The Best How to Sell Book, Think the Think – Sam Selim, who recently published and unveiled his new book this year, after his return from a trip to Hawaii.
Sam, a 30 –year corporate sales and business veteran, says that he has always been curious about what makes things work. Even in a crowded room, he would always ask himself, as wondered about the person across the room, or the old man in the corner, or the janitor that is avoiding eye contact. He says People seem to have grown apart, separated, by motive and desire, money, confidence or lack of it. In his book, he starts fixing this common-era fault, by first dismantling the misperceptions that have taken root in the world of business, trade and the profession of selling. He does this by claiming that our society today, has been faked into believing that “Personality” gets you farther than “Character”, that we have been weaned away from “Vision” – and fooled into believing we should now have “Sight” instead. One of the biggest fake “Mantras” that Sam identifies, is that our Common-era fault has been a shift to short-lived moments of “Motivation”, instead of the lasting and guiding effects of “Inspiration”.
It took over a decade of personal journal entries – before and after business meetings, long cross-country trips, and many moments of self-analysis before the book actually jumped out of the pages, and into Sam’s mind. It became instantly clear to me, he says, that corporate world has separated all the little meaningful cogs and gears, which make humans inspired to achieve more and be more. All of a sudden, we needed a way to manage portfolios and stock earnings on a quarterly basis. We needed to be within a penny of an earnings report – then we had to replace people on a six-month rolling cycle, maybe because they cycled out of “projection”. Corporations started to feel like they needed to buy bigger boats – a symbolism for “people”. In his book, he builds a journey to success, which combines all the key elements of a lasting win-win business strategy. According to Sam, this should include the Customer, The Company, and its people. He starts off by deconstructing some myths, then reconnects and rebuilds the essence of what makes the sum of it all, even greater – and lasting. He says, instead of building new boats and ships – what we really need is a rising tide that raises all the ships. He says, we need to move away from single event motivation, and replace it with a system that, when connected together properly, initiates the right “Cause and Effect” perpetual motion – of productivity and reward.
After writing his book, Sam developed such a system (BRASS) – based on the concepts in his book. He says, instead of a single “hype” event – this system embraces the laws of “Process & Progress”, he connects key elements – like “Movement & Traction”, and moving away from “Next Step” strategy – to an “In-Synch” strategy. The system takes several weeks of “Learn & Apply” and is unleashed through a 3-phase process, which is glued together through “Induction, Immersion and Propulsion”. We cannot avoid the fact that we live our lives in a world governed by the laws of “Cause & Effect” – let’s use this to increase the quality of life, the customer experience – and investor and stakeholder rewards.
http://www.strategytoday.org/2017/12/improve-proficiency-in-selling-and-living/