<H1 BIG>CONFRONTATION</H1>

By Hank Trisler

Dr. Gilbert Amelio, the man who spearheaded the turnaround at National Semiconductor and, more recently, got the rubber key at Apple, wrote a book a while back, My 500 Days at Apple. It was reviewed in our local rag and it appeared to be the standard whine about what a duplicitous weenie Steve Jobs is and how everyone treated him badly and prevented his success. I consigned it to my "Don't Read" list.

There was, however, one extremely telling quote. When asked what his single biggest mistake was at Apple, Dr. Amelio said: "I let the board hammer me into a commitment as to when I would have the company profitable. That was the beginning of the end."

One of the great enemies of people, whether or not they are in selling, is allowing other people to make us commit to things that are not within our complete control. This includes most things, as control is merely an illusion.

I know, your business is different. You have to make commitments. Your customers demand it. No commitment, no order. BULL! If you make commitments you can't fulfill, you're only building trouble for yourself down the road. Unless you're prepared to go into the factory and make and deliver them, you'd better not guarantee delivery. You might even tell your customer, "The only way I can firmly commit that delivery date to you is if I were to go and make them myself, with my pink little hands and, believe me, you don't want that."

If you're going to blow a sale and irritate a customer, you might as well do it at the outset by confronting reality, rather than investing time and emotion in a sale that was doomed from the start.