Normal
0

false
false
false

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

There are
several critical sales skills that that can increase your success with your
clients that go beyond the traditional mass produced ‘one size fits all’ sales
training. Skills associated with account strategy, competitive counter tactics,
advanced questioning models to reveal value, the neuroscience of change and my
personal favorite; status.

Status awareness
and manipulation is one of those allusive attributes that people often think a
great sales person is ‘born with’.  Like
most value sales skills, some come to them naturally and perform them in an
unconsciously competent state of mind. Until I attended an improvisation
workshop many years ago with Keith Johnstone I had not experienced status as a
learnable skill. Further research led us to incorporate status as a major
component in our Collaboration & Influence Model that we include in our
workshops. Status awareness and manipulation, your own and how you use it to
affect a situation, is a key ingredient in sales and leadership.

Defining
status relative to interpersonal or group situations can be a challenge. Our
first thought is title, power or social standing, which is only the tip of the behavioral
iceberg.  In theatre status refers to the
relative importance of the characters to each other or objects in a situation.
Most comedy is based on the movement of status; a pompous man walks across the
street, head held high, owning the world in his mind and he trips and falls
into a puddle. We laugh because his status went from high to low, he go his. A
low status character, a frail old lady falls into the same puddle and we feel
sorry for her. Her status didn’t change. A street person, dirty and dressed poorly
can strut around like he owns the place, his status very high. A multi
millionaire can be shy and unassuming with a low status. Status is a
combination of body language, tone of voice, intent, assumptions, observation
and reaction. Our status is effected (raised or lowered) by other people,
places or things.

“Researchers
announced today that people who read articles on the internet are 87% more
likely to be happy and successful than their competitors.” I just increased
your status.

We are
constantly keeping track of our status relative to others. Status is also about
pecking order, real or imagined. We hold a metal representation of our status
in our minds during interactions and it affects our metal processes. In fact
research show that we use the same part of our brain we use for processing numbers.
When we feel our status has been increased our bodies release dopamine
(associated with pleasure). One study showed that an increase in status was
similar to a financial windfall and that being left out of an activity, a
status reduction, is perceived by the brain using the same circuitry as pain.

Status in
the business world is extremely important and many are consciously unaware of
its affects and manipulations. Don’t be fooled, status does not equal power. As
with all behavioral observation and interaction status is a self calculated
attribute and may be out of whack with reality. 
Think of the self important person who thinks they run the company, clearly
high status but perhaps not in charge or even an influencer. Or, the CEO who is
quite and humble yet walks into the room and everyone pays attention and
notices her, real power, low status.

We
manipulate our status and those around us constantly. Lets take a typical sales
call; the buyer, let say the CIO, is talking to you about the value and ROI of
the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning Software) you are selling. It’s a multi-million
sale and the success is not all based on features and functions. During the
conversation the CIO will feel more comfortable if your status is slightly
below his. When he talks you listen intently, think about what he says, give it
weight, and even if you don’t agree with a comment or concern you accept it.
When it is your turn to respond, increase your status, sit taller in the chair,
take more space. It is important to be perceived as the ‘trusted expert’ so
your answer should be to the point, delivered with confidence. If you portray
low status while answering with the correct information it still comes off as
un-inspiring. With your next question ask the CIO his opinion of something
important to the situation or even personal, this act increases his status. If
you keep your status very close to his he will feel comfortable, raise it when
you need to be the trusted advisor and lower it again. Amongst friends we
decrease each others status a sign of familiarity, a playful comment about some
one’s inability to do something. Manipulating the CIO’s status in this manner,
if appropriate, and getting a chuckle conveys a level of trust you can build
on. You may have seen facilitators do this; a quick comment on their inability
to do something gets a laugh. The audience likes the comments and in turn does
not see the facilitator as a threat. If the facilitator is aware of status she
can keep her status high, lots of confidence, control the room, etc. but ever
once and awhile have a laugh at her expense to keep her status mobile. It is
also a good facilitation strategy to pick the one or two high status
individuals in the audience and play with status in order to keep them in line
when required.

All of our
social interaction is driven by instincts left over from a time when survival
depended on our awareness and reaction to a situation. As our first level of
processing we evaluate whether the situation is a threat and we avoid it, or if
we should approach and hopefully there is an award. Awareness of how our status
affects others in this context is critical to meeting your objective on a sales
call, in a boardroom or any leadership situation. If you control and manipulate
your status you can avoid being perceived as a threat and still be a leader.

Homework;
watch a TV sitcom (sorry) with the sound muted and see where the punch lines
are by the change in status between characters.

Consider
adding status awareness as part of your next sales call. Think about how you
are perceived by the client and watch for status variations during the meeting.
Try shifting your higher or lower status than a friend during a conversation
for practice.

If your
target relationship with a client is as a trusted advisor and if your purpose
is to obtain an insider position then observing and manipulating status is a
critical success factor.

Below are
examples high and low status behaviors and how to manipulate them.

High-status behaviors

·        
When
walking, assuming that other people will get out of your path.

·        
Making
eye contact while speaking.

·        
Not
checking the other person's eyes for a reaction to what you said.

·        
Having
no visible reaction to what the other person said.

·        
Speaking
in complete sentences.

·        
Interrupting
before you know what you are going to say.

·        
Spreading
out your body to full comfort. Taking up a lot of space with your body.

·        
Looking
at the other person with your eyes somewhat down (head tilted back a bit to
make this work), creating the feeling that you are a parent talking to a child.

·        
Talking
matter-of-factly about things that the other person finds displeasing or
offensive.

·        
Letting
your body be vulnerable, exposing your neck and torso to the other person.

·        
Moving
comfortably and gracefully.

·        
Keeping
your hands away from your face.

·        
Speaking
authoritatively, with certainty.

·        
Making
decisions for a group; taking responsibility.

·        
Giving
or withholding permission.

·        
Evaluating
other people's work.

·        
Speaking
cryptically, not adjusting your speech to be easily understood by the other
person (except that mumbling does not count).

·        
Being
surrounded by an entourage, especially of people who are physically smaller than
you.

·        
A
"high-status specialist" conveys in every word and gesture,
"Don't come near me, I bite."

Low-status behaviors

·        
When
walking, moving out of other people's path.

·        
Looking
away from the other person's eyes.

·        
Briefly
checking the other person's eyes to see if they reacted positively to what you
said.

·        
Speaking
in halting, incomplete sentences. Trailing off, editing your sentences as you
go.

·        
Sitting
or standing uncomfortably in order to adjust to the other person and give them
space. Pulling inward to give the other person more room. If you're tall, you
might need to scrunch down a bit to indicate that you're not going to use your
height against the other person.

·        
Looking
up toward the other person (head tilted forward a bit to make this work),
creating the feeling that you are a child talking to a parent.

·        
Dancing
around your words (beating around the bush) when talking about something that
will displease the other person.

·        
Shouting
as an attempt to intimidate the other person. This is low status because it suggests
that you expect resistance.

·        
Crouching
your body as if to ward off a blow; protecting your face, neck, and torso.

·        
Moving
awkwardly or jerkily, with unnecessary movements.

·        
Touching
your face or head.

·        
Avoiding
making decisions for the group; avoiding responsibility.

·        
Needing
permission before you can act.

·        
Adjusting
the way you say something to help the other person understand; meeting the
other person on their (cognitive) ground; explaining yourself.

·        
A
"low-status specialist" conveys in every word and gesture,
"Please don't bite me, I'm not worth the trouble."

Raising another person's
status

To raise another person's
status is to establish them as high in the pecking order in your group
(possibly just the two of you).

·        
Ask their permission to do something.

·        
Ask their opinion about something.

·        
Ask them for advice or help.

·        
Express gratitude for something they
did.

·        
Apologize to them for something you did.

·        
Agree that they are right and you were wrong.

·        
Defer to their judgement without requiring proof.

·        
Address them with a fancy title or honorific (even
"Mr." or "Sir" works very well).

·        
Downplay your own achievement or attribute in
comparison to theirs. "Your wedding cake is so much whiter than
mine."

·        
Do something incompetent in front of them and then
apologize for it or act sheepish about it.

·        
Mention a failure or shortcoming of your own.
"I was supposed to go to an audition today, but I was late. They said I
was wrong for the part anyway."

·        
Compliment them in a way that suggests
appreciation, not judgement. "Wow, what a beautiful cat you have!"

·        
Obey them unquestioningly.

·        
Back down in a conflict.

·        
Move out of their way, bow to them, lower yourself
before them.

·        
Tip your hat to them.

·        
Lose to them at something competitive, like a game
(or any comparison).

·        
Wait for them.

·        
Serve them; do manual labor for them.

Lowering another person's
status

To lower another person's
status is to attack or discredit their right to be high in the pecking order.
Another word for "lowering someone's status" is "humiliating
them."

·        
Criticize something they did.

·        
Contradict them. Tell them they are wrong. Prove it with facts and
logic.

·        
Correct them.

·        
Insult them.

·        
Give them unsolicited advice.

·        
Approve or disapprove of something they did or some
attribute of theirs. "Your cat has both nose and ear points. That is
acceptable." Anything that sets you up as the judge lowers their status,
even "Nice work on the Milligan account, Joe."

·        
Shout at them.

·        
Tell them what to do.

·        
Ignore what they said and talk about something
else, especially when they've said something that requires an answer. E.g.
"Have you seen my socks?" "The train leaves in five
minutes."

·        
One-up them. E.g. have a worse problem than the one
they described, have a greater past achievement than theirs, have met a more
famous celebrity, earn more money, do better than them at something they're
good at, etc.

·        
Win: beat them at something competitive, like a
game (or any comparison).

·        
Announce something good about yourself or something
you did. "I went to an audition today, and I got the part!"

·        
Disregard their opinion. E.g. "You'd better
not smoke while pumping gas, it's a fire hazard." Flick, light, puff,
puff, pump, pump.

·        
Talk sarcastically to them.

·        
Make them wait for you.

·        
When they've fallen behind you, don't wait for them
to catch up, just push on and get further out of sync.

·        
Disobey them.

·        
Violate their space.

·        
Beat them up. Beating them up in front of other
people, especially their wife, girlfriend, and/or children, is particularly
status-lowering.

·        
In a conflict, make them back down.

·        
Taunt them. Tease them.

The basic status-lowering
act

Laugh at them. (Not with
them.)

The basic status-raising
act

Be laughed at by them.

Second to that is laughing
with them at someone else.