Winners and Losers

According to Gregory F. Christiano, the 1950s were a great time to be a kid. For Christiano and his neighborhood pals growing up in the Bronx, the world was their playground — literally. Instead of sitting in front of TV sets to play Xbox and PlayStation, the kids who lived around 184th Street between Washington and Park Avenues

ayed street games, the kind that all his friends knew and loved. As Christiano explains, they could create, play, and compete in an infinite number of ways:

We made use of the walls, the stoops, courtyards, sidewalks, curbs, sewers, manhole covers, parked cars, lampposts, fire hydrants, even the red fire alarm box at the corner! Everything on the block had potential; nothing was untouchable and became an integral part of play.

W hile there were no rulebooks to read or referees to declare a winner, all the kids knew how to play. And they knew who won and who lost. If your pal shouted, “ Last one to the stoop is a rotten egg, ” then you knew you had just lost the game of “ Foot Race. ” If you lost, you could always call for a “ Do Over, ” which meant you had another shot to win the point or win the game. Winning is important, whether you ’ re the kid from 184th Street or the sales professional who wants to be the best on your block. Since everyone wants to win, it ’ s understandable that big companies and small fi rms alike are not interested in building relationships and growing long - term opportunities at the expense of short - term profi ts and immediate wins. After all, today ’ s sales and successes mean that you can stay ahead of the competition and maintain market share.

But is winning by using the traditional sales approach really the best way? NCR president John Patterson decided to win by crushing his competition any way he could. That decision resulted in a one - year jail sentence for antitrust violations. Phil, the Mazda car salesman, tried to win by speeding up the sale, and it backfi red, since Rob left the dealership and bought a Prius instead. While winning is important, it does matter how you get there.

How can you win in a way that doesn ’ t harm the customer or create negative side effects in the process? How can you win in a way that doesn ’ t sacrifi ce your long - term potential or your reputation for a sale in the moment?

Pushing Rocks up a Mountain

"But it's nearly impossible to win when it requires doing something akin to pushing rocks up a mountain," says the advocate of the old - school strategies.

In Greek mythology, there ’ s a myth about a god named Sisyphus. The son of Aeolus, King of Thessaly, and Enarete, Sisyphus had a reputation among the gods as being a big troublemaker. He was known for robbing and murdering travelers along the roads in Corinth. He betrayed the secrets of the gods and even chained up the god of death, Thanatos, preventing Thanatos from reaching the underworld. Fed up with his antics, Hades intervened and infl icted a severe punishment on Sisyphus.

As a penalty for his betrayal, he was banned to the world of the dead and was required to push a rock up a hill — over and over and over again. Once he reached the top of the hill, the law of gravity asserted its infl uence, causing the rock to roll immediately back down the hill. The pull of gravity on the rock meant that Sisyphus had to go back down the hill to begin his work of pushing the rock up the hill all over again.

From the perspective of the gods, it was the perfect punishment for the one who had betrayed them. Sisyphus had to push the rock up the hill for eternity, never making progress or experiencing one moment of relief from the labor and suffering that came as a result of his punishment.

Because the laws of his world meant that the rock would always roll downhill once Sisyphus had pushed it to the top, his efforts made no difference and seemed ultimately futile. No matter how hard he tried, he could not do enough to overcome the law of gravity that counteracted all of his efforts.

Unless you are condemned to a life of endlessly pushing a rock up a hill, you probably won ’ t do it voluntarily. Well, you might try it a few times and then realize that your efforts aren ’ t going to make much of a difference or be strong enough to bend the law of gravity.

Attempting to change the status quo, groupthink, and worldview regarding the typical sales tactics similarly requires effort, focus, and intention, not to mention a different strategy than merely pushing a rock up a hill. Why? Like it or not, individual sales professionals, sales execs, companies, and consumers have all bought into the “ reality ” of what sales means, a reality built upon the typical sales tactics. Many customers and sales veterans alike are resigned to believing that closing techniques, pitches, and other strategies used to speed up the sale are just “ how things work ” — elements that society fi nds “ acceptable ” as a means of selling products and services. And, like the law of gravity, many erroneously believe that this worldview is extremely diffi cult, if not impossible, to change. After all, what ’ s the big deal if you tell white lies about your service so that the prospect will go ahead and buy? It may not be ideal, but that ’ s the way everyone ’ s doing it . . . .

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