Crossing The Chasm - Tumblr Posts

Building Your Following

GREAT Sales Reps never sell a product, they let their prospect sell themselves on how the product or service will benefit their client. The reason is, if the sale goes wrong the buyer can blame the Sales Rep for convincing them to buy this product. If the buyer convinces themselves, and it doesn't meet their needs, the buyer will consult the Sales Rep again concerning the new requirements that were found. This is why teachers make the best sales reps.

Based on the definition of Leadership, "Guiding Intent with Integrity" toward a goal, a Sales Person who is in complete integrity, is only there to help you figure out what is the best product or service you need.

At no point do GREAT Recruiters and Sales Reps change people's perspectives, they rely on finding people who have a specific business or personal problem and matching them up with a product or service (aka a solution). In this case, Recruiters and Sales Reps are acting as middle men consultants.

True leaders don't have a goal. If they happen upon a group, and the group has a goal, then the leader helps the group achieve their goal.  However, if the leader needs additional skill sets to achieve the goal, then they need to find people who might be interested in their cause. And, then explain, when asked, how this cause will benefit them, the local community, or humanity in general.

As in Tribal Leadership, while stage 4 company still considers the competition to be outside them, and a stage 5 company sees the business or personal problem as the competition, internally, these companies avoid conflict and internal competition by focusing their employees on solving the business or personal problem. This business or personal problem becomes each employees cause. In some small way they are helping to understand and resolve it.

Concerning finding individuals interested in this cause, requires a marketing background. Based on "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey A. Moore, there are 5 groups of people .. enthusiasts, visionaries, pragmatists, conservatives, and laggards. Each of these groups require their own unique way to connect and have their own reasons why they would join any cause.

Another tidbit that most people don't know, which is hidden in, "Rich Habits", by Thomas C. Corley, is that Rich People find / make excuses to talk to anyone and everyone. Why? Because, people have information, aspirations, dreams, hopes, fears, and alike. And by understanding what these are, Rich People use them to find qualified leads to people who want to join their cause.

And, finally, another secret about selling ... Sales Reps never tell you about any of their products or services until you ask. When you are curious about them is when they show you how their product or service will benefit you. Until then, you're just a good friend, who has other friends, who might need their product or service.

What do you see as the difference between leading leaders and leading followers?

There are four (4) groups surrounding leaders: Followers, Non-Followers, Outsiders, and Observers. Your question focuses on breaking down followers into five (5) categories: enthusiasts, visionaries, pragmatists, conservatives, and laggards. ("Crossing the Chasm", Geoffrey A. Moore) Based on the definition of leadership, "Guiding Intent with Integrity" there should be no difference in leading Leaders vs Followers. However, as described above, there are different types of followers, as well as three (3) additional groups, that require different types of handling.

The terms Scott mentioned: [accountability, empowerment, innovation, collaboration, trying and learning, straight communication, supporting intentions, [assessment], projection, and blame] concern integrity. And, he split them into two (2) groups based on proximity to the leader - closest and farthest.

Integrity's unwritten rule is called a, "Social Contract". The expectations that all parties have against each other. When unwritten it's "word of mouth" or an "Understanding". When written it's a contract.

Exceptions on outcomes, drives the group to accomplish something, or resolve a problem. The question now is, "How much have various individuals bought into this outcome?" The answer indicates their level of participation, motivation and excitement. Participation, motivation and excitement levels diminishes the farther from the leader.

In the five (5) groups of followers: enthusiasts, visionaries, pragmatists, conservatives, and laggards a pattern emerges around expectations and willingness to change. Enthusiasts and Visionaries look for new innovative ways to merge ideas and craft unique solutions to the "Human Condition" or Business Problem. Pragmatists want something that will give them a leg up. Conservatives don't care where the solution comes from, it's foot cream, any will do as long as it does the job. And, laggards, refuse to use new tools until it's so entrenched into society that they have no other choice.

Now we can measure the level of effort needed to interact with each group. Enthusiasts and Visionaries talk in broad terms, are excited and motivated about you're work, and in return excite and motivate you to continue researching bigger, better solutions. Pragmatists only believe what other pragmatists say, thus your conversation dynamic has to change. The amount of energy to convince someone to "Try the New" increases. Conservatives require your product to be main stream, mature and in full competition before they will look at it. This requires a tremendous amount of energy, which few entrepreneurs are capable of providing. And, there is no amount of energy that will move a laggard.

Each group assess change differently as well. This is based on their judgments triggered by beliefs "On how things should be". "Shared Visions" play an important rule in motivating followers. This is where followers migrate to non-followers and outsiders depending on whether or not they share your vision. Thus when employees can't see the vision, or understand how they are part of a larger whole, and are treated as a commodity (foot cream), they loose motivation, excitement, creativity, enthusiasm, and so on.

As such, when searching for the right people for the right roles, leaders are looking for excited people who can motivate others through a shared vision of a better world. Thus the mission of the organization is to achieve this vision, and it has to flow out from the Board down to every member in the organization.