Seth Godin Called me a Liar! | September 11, 2009

Oh the nerve of some “gurus”! This Seth Godin guy has some moxie calling people names.  I have been called a lot of things but a liar!  Wow that is pretty harsh, coming form someone I never even met.  Truth be told we all are liars.  I was once told by a sales manager that there were two types of people who come into a car dealership, buyers and liars.  He also told me that in every transaction someone gets sold.  The seller will either get you to sign on the line or he/she will will buy you reason for not making the purchase.

I just finished Seth ‘s book, “All Marketers are Liars”. and I would encourage anyone, if you are in business or not to pick a up a copy.  That being said, think about your business for a moment.  What lies do you tell to your clients.  I mean the whoppers we put out there every day.  “The suppliers messed up.”, aka we didn’t order enough, or “He/she is new.” aka we tossed a warm body at the project,  or my favorite when going to a restaurant, “We had several people call off.” aka I am not properly staffed.  We as the customer buy this line many times.  We chose to take the story that pulls on our empathy and swallow the hook bait and all.

How about the flip side, what lies to we tell ourselves about our business?   How about, “We aren’t big enough to compete with that big firm uptown” aka we’re afraid, or “We can handle all of this work on our own.” aka we are greedy, and then I have even seen this on used, “The client will understand, they are in business too.” aka we goofed.  We tell ourselves this is the rational for whatever reason and pretty much shoot ourselves in the foot and act like it doesn’t hurt.

We all make up stories and that is not bad.  Don’t you like stories, I know I do.  The trouble comes about when we get caught up in the story and forget what we were attempting to accomplish in the first place.  We start making grand embellishments that cause us to damage our own credibility.  My friend Benny used to say, ” Be careful not to allow our alligator mouths to over hang our hummingbird rear ends.”

In actuality we do all lie and we do all buy.  At the end of day we base most of our opinion on the views of those around us and the things that we chose to believe in.  Perspective is always a matter of where you are stand, is something I tell my children.  From where I stand I see and believe things to be a certain way, and changing my perspective means moving me past my current position to where you are or desire me to be.

Consumers are all driven by emotion not logic when purchasing anything.  We buy the dust cover of the book based on color, graphics, and clever banter.  We buy the motivational story that makes us feel we can achieve it all.  In the mid 1980′s Air Force fighter pilot recruitment increased dramatically with the release of the film “Top Gun”.  All of us not already in the service all want to be Naval aviators.  We loved the story and bought into the after buring sensation of   traveling at Mach 2 with our hair on fire.

Apologies to Seth Godin for pinning the “Calling me a Liar” rap on him, but a big thanks to him as well for pointing out that in the world of business it is important to tell good stories, and that hands down the best story always wins.  We will buy, believe, and even support the things that move us by the stories we are told.  Just remember to be honest with your lies, fibs are ok, and a little slight of hand entertains millions.

Michael Mock

Online Business Ninja

---