Setting the Stage for Results

Jim is an artist. As an artist his booth at a show has to create a feeling that draws people in, matches his art work, and creates the right ambiance for buying. When it came time to create just the right booth, Jim headed to Home Depot to get assistance on some carpeting for the booth. He explained that he had a booth, it would have lots of traffic and that he needed carpet to fit the booth.

Of course the sales person approached it, trying to help him find the best looking, most durable carpet that would stand up to lots of traffic and packing. Jim and Lois became more frustrated as they looked at ugly and uglier swatches of carpet. Finally, Lois stepped back and shared, not ony the vision of the booth, but also who the clients were that buy Jim's paintings, what feeling they wanted to create and what uniqueness they were after.

She watched the Home Depot guy's eyes light up. He told them to wait right here while he went in the back and dug around. Viola! Out he came with the perfect carpet!

So what possessed him to go in the back room and dig up carpet that wasn't even on the floor? What changed in the fifteen minutes they stood talking with him?

In the first scenario, Jim explained to the sales guy what he needed the carpet for in functional terms. This caused the sales guy to focus on the features of the carpet such as durability, functionality, and ease of packing.

Lois described to the sales guy the emotional side of the carpet- what mood it had to set, how it had to match Jim's creativity, how it had to align with the buying experience. All of this led the sales guy to think in bigger terms. As soon as he got the big picture, he was able to offer a solution that didn't even exist for today as the carpet wasn't even available on the selling floor!

Ask yourself, do you describe things to people in functional terms? Or do you give them the entire big picture so they can see the vision and play in that vision?

People can do extraordinary things when their thinking is stretched to its full capacity. Stretch your thinking today!

Anne Warfield, www.impressionmanagement.com