7 causes of Trigger Happy Social Selling #TENDb4uSEND selling lessons from Operation Bookend

Barely a day goes by when someone presses the ENTER button on their keyboard too hastily and regrets it. You and I succumb to this trigger happy instinct as much as the famous.

Such social media rashness can have all sorts of unintended consequences.

 I guess we should  have expected and possibly reassured  that the Bank of England was working hard at contingency planning for the possibility of a Brexit .

The miss-sent email copied to the Guardian newspaper has been a diplomatic embarrassment for Old lady of Threadneedle Street. The slip revealed Project Bookend.

The Financial Times reported a statement from the Bank on Sunday evening 24^th May

 “It is not sensible to talk about this work publicly in advance,” it said. “But as with work done before the Scottish referendum, we will disclose the details of such work at the appropriate time."

  7 of the commonest causes of sending-too-soon in our social media communications

Since social selling communication is a two way process, pressures to react, respond, transmit and tell in social media effects both seller and buyer.

1. Our concentration can be distracted by noise, visual distractions of screens, movement whilst texting.

2. Sometimes we are just not in the mood for calm read/receive. In our mind  we may think“ I don’t want read all that” “I am not listening to all that” and skip to hasty respond mode.

3. There are  language barriers , foreign language, technical language, jargon and even emojis to interpret. All are fine so long as both parties understand them as wells  the audience of the wider social community. Predictive text, unchecked, can also cause problems.

4.. Our will to listen/receive can also be affected by  our circadian rhythms whether we are early morning larks, afternoon folk or night owls. Tiredness similarly affects  social media communication in our 24 hour business village.

 At the end of a working day in the UK, part of the USA have just woken up and their thumbs and fingers are full of enthusiastic vim and vigour whilst on other part of the world it digit fatigue is more apparent. 

5. Speed of  delivery and response pressure   has led to poor typing and the tweeting equivalent to  mumbling this can confuse or switch off your listener/ receiver. On the receiver/ reader end careless speed reading. So the consequences of live twitter contributions to conferencing on a global scale has challenges. 

6. Misunderstandings can arise from assumptions.  ASS/U/ME 

7. People’s eyes are straining and squinting at screens of notebooks, tablets and smart phone screens more than ever before - as a consequence misreading is likely to increase. 

Most of the time we give little conscious attention to these complexities and breakdowns in communication, we just text instinctively. There can lie a danger.

More channels has not necessarily meant better communication.

In our age of social media ,not only must we 'look before we leap' but tend (in the sense of  watch over)   before we send.


Tend before you send ! #TENDb4uSEND

Related Links

Monitoring, Texting and Integrating social into your mix

3 social selling tips from the Vikings

Building Confidence in Social selling

Should scorn ever be part of social selling ?

2015 Queen's Speech photos from 2012 state opening

The Queen’s Speech 27^th May 2015

(The Queen's Speech takes around five or six minutes to deliver, however, it is written by the Government, not the Queen herself.) The photos are from 2012

"My Lords and members of the House of Commons.

My government will legislate in the interests of everyone in our country. It will adopt a one nation approach, helping working people get on, supporting aspiration, giving new opportunities to the most disadvantaged and bringing different parts of our country together.

My government will continue with its long-term plan to provide economic stability and security at every stage of life. They will continue the work of bringing the public finances under control and reducing the deficit, so Britain lives within its means. Measures will be introduced to raise the productive potential of the economy and increase living standards.

From the 2012 ceremony

Legislation will be brought forward to help achieve full employment and provide more people with the security of a job. New duties will require my ministers to report annually on job creation and apprenticeships.

 Measures will also be introduced to reduce regulation on small businesses so they can create jobs.

Legislation will be brought forward to ensure people working 30 hours a week on the National Minimum Wage do not pay income tax, and to ensure there are no rises in Income Tax rates, Value Added Tax or National Insurance for the next 5 years.

Measures will be brought forward to help working people by greatly increasing the provision of free childcare.

The coach enters the Palace at Westminster
 via the Sovereign's Gate 2012

Legislation will be introduced to support home ownership and give housing association tenants the chance to own their own home.

Measures will be introduced to increase energy security and to control immigration. My government will bring forward legislation to reform trade unions and to protect essential public services against strikes.

To give new opportunities to the most disadvantaged, my government will expand the Troubled Families programme and continue to reform welfare, with legislation encouraging employment by capping benefits and requiring young people to earn or learn.

Legislation will be brought forward to improve schools and give every child the best start in life, with new powers to take over failing and coasting schools and create more academies.

In England, my government will secure the future of the National Health Service by implementing the National Health Service’s own 5 year plan, by increasing the health budget, integrating healthcare and social care, and ensuring the National Health Service works on a 7 day basis. Measures will be introduced to improve access to general practitioners and to mental healthcare.

Measures will also be brought forward to secure the real value of the basic State Pension, so that more people live in dignity and security in retirement. Measures will be brought forward to increase the rights of victims of crime.

To bring different parts of our country together, my government will work to bring about a balanced economic recovery. Legislation will be introduced to provide for the devolution of powers to cities with elected metro mayors, helping to build a northern powerhouse.

My government will continue to legislate for high-speed rail links between the different parts of the country.

My government will also bring forward legislation to secure a strong and lasting constitutional settlement, devolving wide-ranging powers to Scotland and Wales. Legislation will be taken forward giving effect to the Stormont House Agreement in Northern Ireland.

My government will continue to work in cooperation with the devolved administrations on the basis of mutual respect.

My government will bring forward changes to the standing orders of the House of Commons. These changes will create fairer procedures to ensure that decisions affecting England, or England and Wales, can be taken only with the consent of the majority of Members of Parliament representing constituencies in those parts of our United Kingdom.

My government will renegotiate the United Kingdom’s relationship with the European Union and pursue reform of the European Union for the benefit of all member states.

Alongside this, early legislation will be introduced to provide for an in-out referendum on membership of the European Union before the end of 2017.

Measures will also be brought forward to promote social cohesion and protect people by tackling extremism. New legislation will modernise the law on communications data, improve the law on policing and criminal justice, and ban the new generation of psychoactive drugs.

My government will bring forward proposals for a British Bill of Rights.

Members of the House of Commons.

Estimates for the public services will be laid before you.

My Lords and members of the House of Commons

My government will continue to play a leading role in global affairs, using its presence all over the world to re-engage with and tackle the major international security, economic and humanitarian challenges.

My ministers will remain at the forefront of the NATO alliance and of international efforts to degrade and ultimately defeat terrorism in the Middle East.

The United Kingdom will continue to seek a political settlement in Syria, and will offer further support to the Iraqi government’s programme for political reform and national reconciliation.

My government will maintain pressure on Russia to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and will insist on the full implementation of the Minsk agreements.

My government looks forward to an enhanced partnership with India and China.

Prince Philip and I look forward to our state visit to Germany next month and to our state visit to Malta in November, alongside the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. We also look forward to welcoming His Excellency the President of The People’s Republic of China and Madame Peng on a state visit in October.

My government will seek effective global collaboration to sustain economic recovery and to combat climate change, including at the climate change conference in Paris later this year.

My government will undertake a full strategic defence and security review, and do whatever is necessary to ensure that our courageous armed forces can keep Britain safe.

My government will work to reduce the threat from nuclear weapons, cyber attacks and terrorism.

Other measures will be laid before you.

My Lords and members of the House of Commons

I pray that the blessing of almighty God may rest upon your counsels.

3 key Selling levers of your business Social media #YouTube,#LinkedIn #Facebook and #email

Hannah and Jason from "Team Snappy" preparing their
 flip chart for feedback on
 'effective use of social media in selling'

 Scrabbling along  social media platforms. 

 I facilitated some sessions recently examining  how social media channels like You Tube, LinkedIn /Facebook , Twitter and email can be best integrated with the more conventional communication channels that professional selling uses.

Here are some of the conclusions of the syndicates' views who worked on these issues.

1. Depending on the experience and resources available it was thought worthwhile to adopt a GCHQ listening station style monitoring approach was a good starting point on a number of the social media platforms.

Such  listening and tracking of  client, trade group and competitors' Linked In and Facebook group discussions was worth undertaking. 

Subtle and relevant comments on You Tube clips were deemed another good entry protocol with the occasional link address. However it was thought best not to over do this type of piggy-backing. 

It was agreed that in 'speech platforms' such as in Twitter and written communication of Facebook and email are constantly changing. 

Most felt tracking client company tweets profitable but were not convinced of the merits engaging in extended discussions on twitter. Such activity was best avoided.

2. "Clucking the news" Proactive announcements and links to a corporate website as an integral part of overall sales and marketing campaigns was worthwhile.

3. Integrating Social in your sales process. Social media can contribute to most parts of a sales process the challenge is to identify which parts it is best suited and what time should be invested in such activity.

In tandem with that ,  both written and spoken English is constantly changing and it is worth paying attention to this expansion in the business communication arena.

Even in English word games like SCRABBLE new words are constantly joining the lexicon

Helen Newstead, head of language content at Collins Dictionaries, says:

 "Dictionaries have always included formal and informal English, but it used to be hard to find printed evidence of the use of slang words.

Now people use slang in social media posts, tweets, blogs, comments, text messages - you name it - so there's a host of evidence for informal varieties of English that simply didn't exist before.”


Of all the new words now accepted by Collins for Scrabble I have noticed that "facetime" is already seeping into the vernacular of selling conversations.

Facetime selling  could be the next reincarnation of selling.

In essence, communication in a business context, Selling is a two way process of transmission and reception with rapport.

A conversational tone kept in a business like conversation is in most circumstances the most powerful.

Good communication will always be at the heart of all Good Selling.  Research from the Buyer’s Views of salespeople  over the last twenty years still puts LISTENING at the top of all communication skills which buyers wish of salespeople.

We can all trot of the adage of two ears and one mouth – use them in that proportion yet the practise of such an axiom is hard work !

By the way Quinzhee on a triple word score  would earn  a respectable 84 points 

  For those who need to know some of the latest accepted words to scrabble, I have set them in a short poem.

Augh, blech, eew, grr, waah and yeesh 

Set our language off the leash 

Twerking devo  podium cakeages 

Some think cause our language breakages 

Shootie lolz  onsie  and Quinzhee 

Make our native tongue so chintzy

Obvs it’s ridic, schvitz and dench

Give our English a little wrench 

Yet facetime, hashtag, tweep, and sexting. 

Help our Scrabble play and texting 

Good Selling Good Facetime

Ale for sale Fundraising and Whitsun 2015

St Andrew's Church Farnham England.
Farnham was once famous for its hops

Even on a Bank Holiday Selling goes on, and ever has. 


This month we have had two, May Day and Spring Bank holiday.

Bells peeling on Whit Sunday - Pentecost 2015

The old name for the late Spring bank holiday was Whitsun and to some of Us still is.

The origin of Whit of Whitsun festival may refer to the wearing of white robes in Church over this festival period of Pentecost  but I like an alternative suggestion from one John Mirk (c.1382 – 1414) an Augustinian canon, of Lilleshall Abbey, Shropshire.

Goode men and woymen, as ʒe knowen wele all, þys day ys called Whitsonday, for bycause þat þe Holy Gost as þys day broʒt wyt and wysdome ynto all Cristes dyscyples

Mirk thought the root of the word was "wit" ( "wyt" or "wytte") and Pentecost was so-called to signify the outpouring of the wisdom of the Holy Ghost on Christ's disciples.

The first holiday of the summer , Whitsun was one of the favourite  time for a week-long celebration.

This took the form of fêtes, fairs, pageants and parades with Whitsun ales and Morris dancing in the south of England and "Whit walks" and wakes in the north.

The Parish ale was a festival in an English parish at which ale made and donated for the event was the chief drink.

The word "ale" was generally used as part of a compound term.  E.g.

Photo Thanks to Tanya Ritchie:
 Watchet'. Leet Ale taster
and Town Cryer at Whitsun festivities 2015.
 The Town had a wheelbarrow race

• the leet-ale (held on "leet", the manorial court day)
• the lamb-ale (held at lamb-shearing)
• the Whitsun-ale (held at Whitsun)
• the clerk-ale, the church-ale etc.

Apparently the adjective "bridal" as in a hotel’s bridal suite, or a wedding’s bridal party, originally derives from bride-ale, the wedding feast organised to raise money for the couple. 
Some of today’s cash strapped brides’ parents might wish to re-instate the money raising tradition.

 The bid-ale, once very common throughout England, was a benefit feast to which a general invitation was given, and all those attending were expected to make some contribution to help the object of the benefit, usually a poor person or family or some other charitable cause.

 These parish festivals were of much ecclesiastical and social importance in medieval England.

 The chief purpose of the church-ale (which was originally instituted to honour a church's saint) and the clerk-ale, was to facilitate the collection of parish dues and to make a profit for the church from the sale of ale by the church wardens.

Here are some reports of Whitsun Ales  doing their selling working in England over the last 600 years.

Such profits kept the parish church in repair, or were distributed as alms to the poor.

The churches must owe, as we all do know,

For when they be drooping and ready to fall,

By a Whitsun or Church-ale up again they shall go

And owe their repairing to a pot of good ale

"Exaltation of Ale", by Francis Beaumont

In the gallery of the tower arch of St Agnes, Cawston in Norfolk is inscribed:

God speed the plough

And give us good ale enow ...

Be merry and glade,

With good ale was this work made.

On the beam of a screen in the church of Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex, is the following inscription in raised blackletter on a scroll held by two angels: 

"This cost is the bachelers made by ales thesn be ther med." 

The date is about 1480.

The feast was usually held in a barn near the church or in the churchyard.

 In Tudor times church-ales were held on Sundays; gradually the parish-ales were limited to the Whitsun season, and these still have local survivals.

 The colleges of the universities used to brew their own ales and hold festivals known as college-ales; some of these ales are still brewed and famous, like "chancellor" at Queen's College, and "archdeacon" at Merton College, Oxford, and "audit ale" at Trinity, Cambridge.

A short piece printed in the Manchester Times in 1870 quoted from Jefferson's Book about the Clergy:

Of the Church-ale, often called the Whitsun-ale, from being generally held at Whitsuntide, it is necessary to speak at greater length, for it is a far more important institution than the bid-ale or clerk-ale. 

The ordinary official givers of the church-ale were two wardens who, after collecting subscriptions in money or kind from every one of their fairly well-to-do parishioners, provided a revel that not infrequently passed the wake in costliness and diversity of amusements. 

The board, at which everyone received a welcome who could pay for his entertainment, was loaded with good cheer; and after the feasters had eaten and drunk to contentment, if not to excess, they took part in sport on the turf of the churchyard, or on the sward of the village green. 

The athletes of the parish distinguished themselves in wrestling, boxing, quoit throwing; the children cheered the mummers and the morris dancers; and round a maypole decorated with ribbons, the lads and lasses plied their nimble feet to the music of the fifes, bagpipes, drums and fiddles. 

When they had wearied themselves by exercise, the revellers returned to the replenished board; and not seldom the feast, designed to begin and end in a day, was protracted into a demoralising debauch of a week's or even a month's duration. The Manchester Time

 A poster advertising the Whitsun festivities at Sunbury, Middlesex in 1778 listed the following attractions:

On Whit Monday, in the morning, will be a punting match...The first boat that comes in to receive a guinea...In the afternoon a gold-laced hat, worth 30s. to be cudgell'd for...On Whit Tuesday, in the morning, a fine Holland smock and ribbons, to be run for by girls and young women. And in the afternoon six pairs of buckskin gloves to be wrestled for.

Whit Monday was officially recognised as a bank holiday in the UK in 1871 but lost this status in 1971 when the Spring Bank Holiday was created but selling in the form of fundraising continues to this day

Good Selling Good Fundraising

Related Links

May Bank Holiday 2015 

Posts on Good causes on this blog site

Beer sales in Pubs versus shop sales

The Red Bully Saga Trademark protection

Ottoman Selling and Negotiation Etiquette Calling to prayer - calling to business 2015

The fading echoes of Bargaining, Ottoman Style

Gateway entrance/exit from the Topkapi
 Palace with the Blue Mosque
in the distance

The intricate etiquette of the Ottoman Empire lingers in many day-to-day rituals still observed in its greatest creation Istanbul.

I have just returned from Istanbul after conducting a couple of Sales Skills courses for Grads from across the world.

View from a Topkapi Palace balcony
of the Bosporus and Asia !

There was some free time to tourist and I joined the group in a visit to the Topkapi Palace. Spring sunlight and the fresh green leaves of the trees made a lovely time of year to visit this, the busiest of modern cities.

Visiting the souvenir shops you can still pick up the courteous approach of selling Turkish style. 

They honour a guest visiting their country. They make you feel at home, accommodate and help you and show off their famous hospitality.

If you keep the following etiquette and customs rules in mind, you will not only show a token of appreciation, Turks will respect you even more.

Until recently, the art of bargaining was one of these but the days the non-negotiable price-tag reigns supreme in most of the city’s retail outlets.

Here as in many stops along the Silk route, the days of camel caravans have long gone, supplanted by multinational retailers, lean ( LEAN) supply-chain management and in an increasingly homogeneous shopping experience. 

Much  changed in the foundation of Modern Turkey with Mustafa Kemal Attaturk, first President of Turkey whose birthday I discover, I share today!

Certain aspects of  the enclosed life of the Sultans is preserved in the museum of Topkapi with its spectacular Treasury of jewels - well worth a visit- an age away and lovely buildings. Yet you are aware you in a special place. None more obviously than when you hear the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer- a little of which I was able to record in the video above.

The calls from the Blue Mosque are then picked up minaret to minaret across the city. 

Perhaps the last echoes of Ottoman style bargaining can be found in the city’s carpet shops particularly those in the Grand Bazaar calling prospects to try before you buy.
 Many of these still take pride in their ancient art of bargaining.

Aleksandr Meerkat keeps watch over
 Mr. Hugh's Turkish black tea
in its traditional tulip shaped glass

Some tips from a tourist guide suggests:-

•          The official prices here have always been artificially inflated to allow for a bargaining margin 20% -30% is the rule of thumb.    

Shopping here involve many aspects of Ottoman etiquette – you will drink tea, exchange polite greetings and sign up how trustworthy the shop keeper is. He in turn will drink tea and exchange polite greetings and size up how gullible you are.

•          Never feel pressurised to buy something. Tea and polite conversation are gratis- if you accept them- you don’t need to buy anything in exchange.( Western social economic rules of reciprocity are not overtly expected) It is important to do your research. Always shop around compare quality or pricing.

•          Before starting to haggle, decide how much you like a carpet or rug and how much you are prepared to pay for it It i important you stick to this ! – the shopkeepers here are professional bargainers and have loads of practise in talking customers into purchases against their better judgement.

•          Your first offer should be around 60% of the initial asking price. The shopkeeper may laugh, feign offence or profess to be puzzled.- this is all part of the ritual.

•          He will then make a counter offer 80-90% - You should look disappointed, explain your have done your research and say you are not prepared to pay that amount. Then you should offer around 70%.

•          By this stage you and the shopkeeper should have eyed each other up. He will cite the price at which he is prepared to sell- if it corresponds with what you were initially happy to pay- you can agree the deal.

 If not you smile shake hands and walk away. 

Let me sign off with the great mystic and poet Rumi ( who died in Konya, Turkey)  on generating the fruits of success

“Water the fruit trees and don’t water the thorns.” 

Related Links

Courting Clients Business Etiquette Handshakes Business Cards

Sales Space Invaders #PersonalSpace

When meeting any customer or business contact, it is critical to let them set a comfortable personal space.

If the buyer 's tendency is to move in close or stay removed physically and  doesn't correspond to your own personal space preference, recognise the fact that you’re not going to be operating in your comfort zone.

You can become more accustomed to different comfort zones by practising :

Ben walks towards Ben N, Katey observes

Delegates can learn about this if paired up  and stand about 6 feet away from each other.

Pair them up getting one partner  to stand still whilst the other starts walking toward the one standing still.  It is useful to lay out a measuring tape on the floor

When the one standing still feels their slow walking pair colleague is getting uncomfortably close, they ask him or her to stop / raise their hand in front of them. An observer can see the slight flits that the eyes do in the fight or fight response

By making a note of the the approximate distance between their feet they can identify  the still stander’s  comfort zone.

Pav and Janie identifying when they encroach
 on their personal space preferences

Then they can continue slowly  forward, encroaching on the still stander’s personal space.

It is worth noting how uncomfortable this feels,  and recognise that when you invade someone else's personal space,  (s)he feels the same discomfort.  It teaches you to develop a sensitivity to not encroach on a client’s personal space.

Invading a customer’s personal space almost guarantees they won’t feel at ease with you.

 Standing too far away is less  problematic, but it still won’t put them in the mood to buy.

 Pay attention to your customer's cues for face-to-face interaction.

This is worth being  aware of in situations such as face to face meetings, networking events, corporate hospitality gatherings  and working an exhibition stand.

Richard and Ngatia prepare to find
 out their personal space preferences
Tape on the floor

Proxemics  Personal Space

Intimate;  46 cm

Personal  46cm -1.2 m

Social   1.2m – 2.4 m

Public   2.4m +


Training Tip :-

For many active and pragmatic learners  the above data is rather abstract.

 A fun way to help delegates engage with the subject is to observe 'fight or flight' eye shifts.

I usually divide a course into trios and give each group a measuring tape. 

They lay the tape on the floor. 

One delegate stands still. 

Another walks to word their colleague very slowly ( half slow march speed) whilst the third member of the group observers the eye shift. 

They then record the distance of the personal proxemics .

Amy looks for Marc's fight or flight response as Shane walks
 slowly through March Personal Space zones

Marc walks towards Amy - whilst Paul looks on

Some extra facts and figures

Six universal visual signals

Happy, Sad, Surprise, Disgust, Anger, Fear

What information do people remember?

10%                20%                80%   

Oral                 Visual             Oral and Visual

How do we take in the world around us ?

82%                11%                7%

Eyes               Ears                Other senses

Humans can produce

Over 700,000 signs

Over 250,000 facial expressions

Over 1000 postures

Over 5,000 distinct hand gestures

It takes 7 seconds to make a judgement about a person when first meeting them

Related Links


Body language in a business related context



Antigone King Creon Non verbal communication master class


Lessons on Words Music and Dance from the Circus Ronaldo

Why do Salespeople overstate, inflate, embroider embellish, blown up their claims and are expected to be larger than life ? Ethics and morals in Selling.

Today in the UK we have our General Election where we vote for our local member of Parliament.

We have to exercise some discernment on all the claims and counter claims that the parties have communicated on the doorsteps, the  Press ,TV and Radio and social media.

We love to have a good old moan at and criticise our political representatives . The opinion polls say the result is too close to call and that another coalition is on the horizon. 

There have been some exaggerations stated from pressurised politicians during the electioneering period but before we finger point the political candidates perhaps we should look at ourselves today as well.

Interval Curtain at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden's
 production of Donnizette's L’elisir d’amore 
The Elixir of Life where  the travelling medicine salesman is one,
Dr Dulcamara played by the  Bryn Terfel

Are we prone to exaggeration?

 Have you ever exaggerated a product’s strengths? 

Have you ever underplayed a product’s weakness?

Is everything in your CV or LinkedIn profile  totally true?

 Was that trip adviser critique you wrote in anger just a little overstated? 

 Was the track record of the new product you are selling a little embroidered? 

Was your sales forecast just a bit overstated or understated? 

Were the reasons you gave for losing the sales just a little more blown up ( cheaper competition, delivery etc) than was really justified ?

Of course  we salespeople are not alone in all this.

The distinguished former civil servant  Lord Thomas Armstrong was ‘economic with the truth’ in the 1987 Spycatcher trial. Politicians are economic with the ‘realité ‘ as Alan Clark one said. I dear say some premier football managers did seen the foul committed by one of their players but when after the match asked deny seeing the incident and dear I say,

buyers can be liars as a negotiation ploy.

It is perhaps useful for us to consider why this may be.

Earlier this year ,the American  journalist/ anchor   Brian Williams was suspended for six months without pay from the Nightly News for "misrepresent[ing] events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003.

I came across an article in Portico magazine by journalist Jack Shafer on the Brian Williams story. It stopped me in my tracks and I would like to share it with you

“Williams’ insistence on playing for laughs—and his talent at garnering them—points to the compulsive desire to please often seen in the behaviours of salesmen, teachers, confidence men and political candidates.

 As long as the comedian has the crowd chuckling, he can sell them something, teach them something, pick their pocket or otherwise bamboozle them.

 The comic arts should not be banned from journalism—God forbid that should happen!

 But journalists who work overtime on entertaining you or making you laugh deserve your suspicion. In journalism, the story is supposed to be king. That doesn’t mean the cleverness or emotive writing has no place, only that the narrow bandwidth comedy offers can carry only so much journalistic information”

In sales I also think we should be wary where our cleverness and emotive descriptions which can take us beyond our bandwidth of trust with clients. Wise buyers know that we are prone to such exaggerations.

In this era of the industrial Internet of things IIoT, more is recorded of our claims as salespeople in social media, videoed presentations, recorded conference calls, emails and their attachments etc.

We  in the future IIoT era,may well  be exposed to the equivalent video clips of Mr Williams’ reports from 2005 that have now gone viral.

 Of course like journalism, selling should not be just be all ‘worthy’ vegetables. Buyers want meat in our presentations to them also.

However if our entertaining embellishment values outbalance our trust values  with clients business suffers.

Of course customers have their part to play in  making “reasonable demands”

An analogy  in this current UK election ( and many past elections).

Claims and counter claims of the main political parties in solving the country’s deficit through Harnack ( austerity) or  their opposite post- Keynsian economic principles cannot be reasonably be achieved in a short electoral period of five years.

 We as voters ( the consumers in this case) perhaps need to have  reasonable rather than overstated demands on politicians .

Come what may, salespeople up and down the country will play their part in the success of the country  following this election,whether acknowledged by politicians , electorate or not.

But maybe we should keep the embellishments under control a bit more.

Good Selling