If You Can’t Beat ‘Em…

Most of us would finish that phrase with the words “join ’em”.  I learned another trick from a sweet 95 pound first grade teacher at a Catholic grade school.  By no means could she use any physical form of punishment within that grade school environment.  However, she could step on toes.  Yes, with a smile on her face and a misplaced foot, she made her point without ever raising her voice or her hand.

Think about all of the times in your daily life that a non-traditional strategy would work perfectly:  You have a vendor who bold-faced lied about a product or a delivery.  Rather than screaming profanities into the phone, whisper. You can make your point quietly and with such subtly they won’t know what hit ’em. Or how about the employee who was late for the 3^rd time this week?  Hand him a $5 gift card for Starbucks and tell him to take the morning off, paid, to go think about how he would handle the situation if he was the boss.  Have him come back at 11:30 and explain his solution.  If he shows up, he will probably be a great employee going forward.  If he doesn’t, he essentially quit and just made your life easier.

Salespeople can also benefit from a similar strategy.  Your next new piece of business is most likely coming from some other “new piece of business” becoming old. You don’t need a shiny new object dangled out in front of your current customer every day.  A simple, sincere “Thank you” will carry a long way.  Quiet and understated goes farther than you might imagine.