By Hank TrislerI was watching Billy Mays on his program, The Pitchmen, on the Discovery channel last night and found myself thinking, What an egotistical jerk. How can he possibly sell anything?
The obvious answer is, "Quite well, thank you." He displays all the empathy and caring of an Uzi, yet he's made millions just irritating the hell out of me and thousands of others.
A couple of fellows named Herbert Greenberg and Ronald Bern wrote a seminal volume called "The Successful Salesman, Man and His Manager" a lot of years ago. They set forth the concept that high levels of Ego Drive (the desire to win) and Empathy (understanding how another person feels) were essential to sales success. The Ego Drive, the fuel that powers the rocket and Empathy, the mechanism that steers the rocket to the target. They even developed an assement tool (read: test) to determine an applicant's level of Empathy and Ego Drive. It was a forerunner of many subsequent assessment tools.
I loved ideas that promised me a new and better way to do things, so I bought right into this deal with both feet. The General Sales Manager at Courtesy Chevrolet, in Seattle was Al Lizotte, a good friend to this day. He pooh-poohed the whole idea saying, "You can pack all that Empathy where the sun don't shine. Give me a guy with massive ego drive and he'll sell rings around all those bleeding hearts." It has been a source of nearly endless argument and enjoyment for us to this day.
Of late I've become less sure of my position, which is true in myriad instances. I see more and more salespeople with the empathy of a cod rolling over obstacles and market conditions and succeeding in spite of my belief system.
Is it remotely possible that I have been misinformed? Have I spent the past fifty years laboring under the delusion that Empathy is essential for sales success? I welcome your thoughts to either relieve me of my childlike belief, or reinforce it, whichever the case may be. Lay on.
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