Thinking Out Loud -- It's A Gift, And A Curse

I'm a "try it and see if it sticks" problem solver. So when I'm faced with a problem I throw a hundred ideas at it to see which ones catch hold. Then I refine and perfect them until one idea rises to the top.

On really big issues, I usually invite others -- friends, colleagues, strangers -- into the thought process. And when they engage, I happily debate the most controversial sides of the issue I can find, because I enjoy the mental challenge of arguing the less popular point of view.

It's no secret I'm on a crusade to eliminate dishonesty from sales -- at least to whatever level is actually achievable, given that in any large group of people you will always have the criminal element. I'm married to that crusade forever, so this blog post is not about that issue.

At the beginning of 2008, however, an old saying my dad always used dawned on me -- "Locks keep honest people honest." And it occurred to me that perhaps salespeople behave dishonestly because it makes them money -- "If I lie and close the sale I'll get paid." So I wondered:

• If we eliminate commissions forever, would that eliminate the incentive to lie?
• Would the elimination of commissions be the lock that keeps honest people honest?
• If salespeople didn't get paid to close sales, would they have any incentive to lie?

These are some of the questions I've been fleshing out out all year -- mostly by arguing in favor of eliminating commissions and sometimes in full view of the public.

Here are the results so far:

I might have lost a few good relationships, because I wasn't clear enough with everyone that my method of thinking out loud includes making bold, controversial statements and watching the reactions those statements cause. (To be completely honest, I wasn't clear about this with them, because I wasn't consciously aware of it myself. It was only only during this process that someone pointed it out to me. Those who know me well understand this, but those who don't know me as well reacted differently.)

I am now willing to state a strongly held opinion that commissions are NOT the root of dishonesty in sales. It does occur to me that dishonest people might be more attracted to the sales profession than to other professions (still have to figure out how to prove or disprove that theory). But I'm going on record that in my opinion, commissions are not the root of all sales evil.

In my recent debate on the value of commissions, however, it did occur to me that commissions create a control war. That seems a reasonable statement to me at this time, and I'd enjoy your opinion on the matter if you care to share it. Who knows, yours may be the opinion that changes my mind.

I was surprised to learn that so many people don't understand the concept, or value, of a true debate. When I wrote "Sales Commissions Must Die" for the St. Louis Small Business Monthly, I wore the hat of a zealot who was totally against commissions. That's what you do in a debate -- you argue your side to the death. The value is it stimulates thinking and opens the door on new ideas. The pitfall is you must be sure people understand the nature of debating or they'll react as though you're a heretic. It was that debate, in fact, that stimulated the control war idea.

So in future debates I'll make sure it's clear that I'm in true debate mode.

I solidified my thinking on the value of systems for everything that can possibly be systematized. I've always believed in systems, and have found more and better ways to apply that thinking as a result of this thought process, including building a salary-based sales team where everyone is compensated to run the systems created by sales engineers. So far it's working on one team. Only time will tell whether, where and how the model can be applied successfully.

I also ate a bit of crow over some past statements. Not for making the statements themselves -- I'll never apologize for thinking -- but for not being clear about my intent of merely thinking out loud. Part of that was my own lack of understanding of how I process problems, and of its impact on others who have different thought processes or styles.

Ever since I heard Alan Weiss mutter the words "I'm constantly amazed at how stupid I was just two weeks ago," I've been using that same statement to ensure I keep learning.

Just two weeks ago I realized I was stupidly thinking out loud in a world where people didn't realize I was doing so.

Lesson learned.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Comments

[Dixie Gillaspie]

We love to "hear" you thinking and I'm glad to hear you're going to give the full disclosure when you're thinking out loud. Just don't ever quit thinking - we'd all lose so much if you did.