In Cold Blood?

We have a great penchant for putting the cart before the horse. The movers and shakers of this world need to recognize that we have to turn the world right side up, not upside down! Buyers and sellers need to understand that we have a great need to buy and sell in cold blood. Trust your feelings, we are told; that is how we all get sold. Think. How often have you been told to get out of your comfort zone? More times than you care to poke a stick at, I trow. Then why are we taught to get people in their comfort zone and raise excitement in there? It’s because we devolve to trusting our emotions more than cognition. We ought to be employing both feeling and thinking. Too often we lean too far in either direction.

Do We Need It?

A lot of this feeling/ thinking discussion would not even exist if we asked ourselves whether we need to buy something before we start buying anything. If we don’t need it, don’t even look at it. Confirm that need by asking whether we would still buy it if it wasn’t on offer at a tempting discount. If you think you need a new cellphone, ask how much more effective that new cellphone will make you. Ask if there are things you could do differently with your current, still-good cellphone which would make you more effective. People like to go for “retail therapy.” Do you, the buyer, really need that therapy? Are you happy paying the therapist?

Must They Buy It?

It is sad that so much sales training focuses merely on how to get the sale. Trainers say so little about how what is sold actually serves the buyer well. The world’s first known department store, Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia, actually put up signboards encouraging people not to overspend, but to buy what they needed and could afford. Do you ask whether your customers need what you sell? Do you look for how else you could serve them?

Stay Cool. Have Cold Blood.

Strong emotions are necessary for strong action. Do consider whether your actions before the strong emotions have resulted from thinking and deciding in cold blood. Making business decisions with your head gets you great results. Making business decisions with your heart gets you heartache, as Harvey MacKay likes to say. Buy and sell head-first. Your heart will thank you for it!