Rub a dub dub

Remember the old Nursery rhyme that went like this? 

Rub a dub dub,

Three fools in a tub,

And who do you think they be?

The butcher, the baker,

The candlestick maker.

Turn them out, knaves all three

There are 3 other "fools" you might meet in channel sales.

Order takers, Account Managers, and Sales Managers. Now I'm not saying all salespeople are fools, but some fools are salespeople. Let's talk about the differences between them.

Order Takers

If you call your vendor and tell them what you need, you are talking to an order taker. Some of them can answer a question, or transfer you to someone who can, but they are purely reactive. They enable a sale, but they don't and can't help you grow your business.

Account Managers

If you receive a call from your vendor, you may be hearing from an account manager. Yes, they can take an order, but they can also help you and your sales team make an order by providing strategic information and incentives. You should be leveraging your vendors account managers by putting them to work for you. Have them analyze your customer base, look at your margins, create go to market plans with the vendors marketing team. All this will cost you nothing and the value can be huge. What can't an account manager do for you? Sell. Sell or help your new salespeople sell better.

Sales Manager

Thes sales managers are hunters. They can help you close new business. They can help teach your sales staff how to close new business. If you have a vendor that has field sales people, use them. Open your customer base and do joint sales calls with them. Have a lunch and learn (use the vendor's marketing budget). Have them present at a staff meeting. Great sales people are hard to find, let your vendors help you create some.

Don't dread a call from any of these, use them, leverage them, cash in on them, or you may be the only fool in the tub.

Your Role, Your Goal, and Your Soul

If someone asked me the factors in deciding how much sales engineering help a sales person needs, I would say it depends on three things. The role of the salesperson, the goal of the engagement, and the soul of the salesperson. Let me explain.

Your Role

Sales has so many different roles, but generally I can put someone into one of 3 buckets. Cold caller, hunter, or gatherer.

If you are a cold caller you are generally working from a script for your product and technical details and if anyone shows interest or has questions, you are only passing them on. There isn’t a lot of Sales Engineering help needed here, except in technical details of the script and learning new stuff. When you hear questions you don’t know, follow up and get answers.

As a Hunter you have to have some keen insight into your prospects. Sales Engineers can help you understand the prospects needs as well as show it in the best possible way. Combining the knowledge of prospect and product are key here. Information, demos and onboarding are all used here.

Gatherers are too often head down and reacting to the customer’s current need. If you are being asked for something that seems odd, run it by a Sales Engineer before you waste a lot of time. Customers only know how to ask for what they want, not what they need, trust your sales engineer to decipher this for you. Oh, make time to be proactive with your accounts.

As you can see each role has different needs, so do different goals.

Your Goals

Every sales engagement should have a goal, and that goal should move the sales process closer to a close. So what is your goal? To answer the question? To show the feature? To close the deal? I hope your answer was the last one I listed. As Alex Baldwin’s character said in Glengarry Glen Ross “Always Be Closing”. If you are answering questions or getting answers for questions you don’t understand how they will ever lead to a close, stop ask. There is only one reason to answer questions or to show things, they are needed to close. Leverage your Sales Engineer to get you to a close position.

Always Be Closing

Your Soul

You have heard the term old soul? That person who seems 85 years old when they turn 20? The same is true for Sales people. The sales maturity of a sales person is sometimes hard to gauge, but in general, the less mature they are, the more help they need. The help that these less mature reps can get from a Sales Engineer can be huge. The ability to learn information about the product they are selling is the first, but not the most important lesson. The most important thing they can learn is to see the danger signs in a deal. Sales people generally see the glass as overflowing and Sales Engineers see the glass as half full, maybe. Learn to be realistic and not get happy ears where everything you hear sounds like a close.

So role, goal, and soul can help you understand how much help from a Sales Engineer your Sales people will need.

Memorizing or Knowing

I was driving to work the other morning and heard a replay of the Opie and Anthony Show on SiriusXM. In the segment I heard, they were talking to Donald Sutherland, who was promoting the movie “The Hunger Games”. During the talk, Jimmy Norton asked Sutherland an acting question about how he learned his lines.

Donald Sutherland

The response was pure sales gold, and something every salesperson show hear. He said, I don’t memorize my lines, I know them word for word. I know them. If you memorize, your words come out by rote. If you know them, then they sound natural. When you study the words, understand them and the meaning behind them, you can carry on a conversation, not just talk at someone.

Think about your sales presentation. Do you really know it or can you only deliver it well? Maybe not even that. Know and understand what your solution does. Know and understand how your solution does what it does. Know and understand why your solution does what it does. Now reread the previous sentences, but replace the words Know and Understand with the word memorize. You are basically left with a marketing blurb.

Know your stuff

If you want to have more engaging conversations with your prospects and move the process forward faster, learn the meaning of the words you are saying.

Big Mini Data

We hear about big data all the time. How big data is changing everything. If you don’t know what big data is, follow this link and get up to speed. When we read reports on Big data, they are generally Really Big Data, like Facebook adding 500 Terabytes a day. Well even your SMB clients with far less data, growing at a far smaller rate, feel like they have big data, and they are right.

Big Data

So how are you helping your mini big data users? Have you upgraded their backup and recovery options? Have you looked at their storage requirements and is it sufficient? Have you looked at the software they use to report on their data? The database they use to store their data? This is your job you know… Knowing what they need so you can sell it to them.

You may have clients who started populating an MS Access database several years ago and they have never done any real maintenance on that database. Maybe you should migrate them to MS SQL or MySQL, something with a little better performance. Are they using built in reporting tools? Maybe you need to get them using a more powerful tool set for reporting.

To quote Wikipedia Big Data is a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes awkward to work with using on-hand database management tools. I think that is what I just pointed out above. So if your clients are using under powered tools to deal with larger databases, they have big data…for them.

Weak tools can break the system

Big data needs better tools and better planning. Planning for growth and performance. Better tools for working with and displaying the data. Don’t miss the big data boat with your clients, evaluate your clients data needs today.

Living Large, Lying, or Laughing

As many of you know I have taken a new position recently. Now I’m not going to use my blog here to tell you how amazing Axcient is from the top down, but I have never been so impressed with any group of people. Instead I’m going to share my thoughts and feelings of jumping into the shark tank.

Axcient has a fairly new partner that has just taken off doing a huge number of placements. They want to bring the entire sales and executive team up to speed to really drive these numbers. Guess who gets to present to them? That is right, yours truly.

Now this doesn’t present much of a problem for me for several different reasons.

1. 1.       I love to present, I can’t wait to get started.
2. 2.       I’m a geek, I have learned a lot about the product technically already.
3. 3.       I came from the VAR space, I know the needs for Backup, Business Continuity, and Disaster Recovery.

So to sum it up, if you have knowledge, know how to apply it, and like doing it, you can’t miss. Do you take this approach when you sell? I say sell, because even though I’m talking to a partner, I’m selling them on selling us. Everything is sales. Now I didn’t feel this when I was a wet behind the ears technician trying to get all my errands run between service calls…but I learned…I learned.

As I have said before, sales is about confidence. If you have confidence in whatever you are selling, you have just made your sales process much easier. Hardware, software, or yourself.  If you don’t have confidence, why? Which of the elements are you missing?

Repeat after me, I have the knowledge about my solution, I know how my prospect will use it to solve their issues, I believe I will do my best for the client and my employer. If you can say that line without either laughing or lying, you’re living large.

If you aren’t running to get in front of the next new group to talk to, maybe you need to think about a career change…

Reviewing Movies

My wife and I were watching a movie the other night. I did as I normally do, pick at the flaws in the movie. More accurately, pick at the flaws in the writing, story, and character development by the writers, actors, and directors. My wife then did as she normally does, she tells me to keep it to myself.  She asked me why I feel the need to critique the movies we watch, it made me think, so I’m writing why in my blog.

Reason 1. Everyone knows that you never split up when walking through a spooky house. Every scary movie does it, we all yell at the screen “DON’T DO IT!”, and someone, or everyone dies. See, we told you. I’m a sales engineer, I’m all about seeing potential issues and avoiding them. If you ever find yourself in a spooky sales call, don’t split up. Your chance of survival has just grown exponentially.

"This isn't right. We should split up." From 'The Cabin in the Woods'

Reason 2. Unless you are watching Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, inconsistent characters are just annoying. Sometimes bold, sometimes wimpy, sometimes intelligent, sometimes dumb, etc. I don’t mean a character having a personality that shows emotion. I mean really bad over acting, trying to wring everything out of every scene and forgetting that each of these scenes will be seen consecutively, you know, like a movie… Your sales process should also be like a movie. A series of scenes some more intense than others, but a cohesive movie. Those crazy eyed sounding calls late in the quarter can really stand out, and may cost you an Oscar.

The Oscar

Reason 3. It is about the story. If a movie has a great story I forgive a lot and forget a lot. I will forgive some poor sets or background actors, because I’m focused on the great story. I also forget a lot like if the movie is a western, animated, black and white or even sub-titled. Do you have a great story to tell in your sales process or demo? If you can’t keep their attention with the story, they will notice the boom microphones shadow.

So why do I critique movies? I love movies, and I want them to be the best they can be. Why do I critique sales demos and processes? Same reason. And flaws in your sales process should be as obvious as those flaws in the movies. Summer blockbuster or B movie, it is your choice.

Do you Sell like Football or Football?

I have been watching the European Football championships.  I like soccer, which is what we in America call what the rest of the world calls Football. Fun game, lots of setting up and them flashes of action when headed to the goal, trying to put the ball in the twine. 

I also like Football, by that I mean American Football which is a cross between rugby and rollerball. Football is a sport of plans and plays to drive the length of the field for a score with the pigskin. So when you sell, do you sell like Football, or Football?

Everyone has a sales style. Created or evolved, you have one. So is it more like Football (Soccer) or Football? Let me see if I can help you understand. Oh, I know these are not all inclusive and I’m taking a lot of license here… 

Soccer is a game that many Americans find boring, they miss the fluid strategy and on the fly decision making (often called being clever by announcers) that setup exciting scoring opportunities. One on one a goalie has little chance in stopping a striker from scoring. There are few times when the other 10 players on the pitch allow a one on one opportunity. In order to score, a player must use his teammates to move the ball into position, sometimes passing it backwards, giving up distance to get a better angle. All of this happens on the fly, no time to stop and make a plan. You have to really know your teammates to make it work.

Trying a Clever move...

Football is a game that gets an Americans blood pumping. Baseball may be America’s Pastime, Football is America’s Lust. In Football, Plans are made to move the ball forward. You know you have 4 attempts to move the ball at least 10 yards to get another set of 4 downs to keep moving the ball forward. It is less important to make decisions on the fly, if the right play was called against the defense. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to get done. Pound the ball up the middle, as Ohio State Football coach Woody Hayes said, 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Football is a team sport, if you don’t do your assigned task, the play fails and you might lose the game.

This is a tackle..

So is your sales process well defined and documented? Do you have a plan when you start? Know how you are going to leverage your team and what roles they need to play? Looking to move the process forward each time you have a prospect touch? Are you able to project sales from your pipeline? If so, your sales process is like American Football.

If your process didn’t match the one above, is it less defined? Is your process ad hoc? Does everyone do everything? Do your sales linger a long time? Do you shy away from “hard” questions? Do you have a hard time generating sales projections? If these match, you sell more like Soccer.

Now I’m not saying one is better than another, they are two different sports and two different sales processes. If you sell like Football, you will maximize your time with the prospects and allow you to handle more sales. If you sell like Soccer, you will win deals that the Football salesperson would have given up on or lost due to their style. 

The most important thing is to know your style and to make the most of it so you don’t end up in a Nil to Nil game.

Rude Dude

We have all heard horror stories of rude French waiters. When people found out my wife and I were planning a trip to Europe they all seemed to have a war story of rude that they, or someone they knew, had to endure. Armed with a blanket of protection made out of hearsay and fear, we proceeded. Guess what? Not a single rude encounter across 3 European cities including Paris.

As a student of human interaction, (a people watcher), I have discovered three things I think have led to the rude waiter syndrome.

I'm Rude

1.       Different customs were the first thing I noticed. In Paris, if a seat is open, you can sit there. You don’t need to ask or check, just sit. If you ask, the waiter may seem dismissive as they point towards the open seats, that isn’t rude, just annoyance because you didn’t understand the custom.

2.       Taking care of repeat customers. The hotel we stayed at was in a semi-residential neighborhood. There were a lot of regular customers in the restaurants who lived in the area. Did they get preferential service over the tourists? Of course, and rightly so. They are a recurring source of income for the business. Again, not rude, just smart business.

3.       Being left in peace. The number of times an American waitress at an Applebee’s will ask you if you need anything over the course of a 30 minute meal, 37. The number of times a waiter in Paris will ask if you need anything over a 2.5 hour meal, 3. If you need something, just get their attention and it will be taken care of, don’t expect them to chew your food for you.

As a student of sales, I connected the dots and wondered how many of us lose sales because we are not understanding our customers, or they are not understanding us. Do we think they are rude, do they think we are? Is that rudeness really just misunderstanding or priorities?

I'm Rude too...

How do we solve this? Set expectations. If you are selling, tell the client how your process normally goes. We have a meeting, a demo, I present a contract if it looks like there is a fit, we have another meeting to get the signed contract. If you state this to the client, they will not be looking for pricing right away, they may ask for it, but they won’t be expecting it. If buying, do the same. Set expectations. This is how we buy. We want a proposal, then a demo, then you can meet the stakeholders, then we will expect a hands on trial, then we buy. If the salesman doesn’t want to sell that way, he can pass, if he does want to sell, he will know not to call the CEO on day 3.

Oh, the food and beer, were awesome…

Mowing Sales

As those of you who read my blog regularly know, my blog ideas can come from anywhere. Today it came from mowing the grass. I’m an efficient, conservative, effective worker. Some, like my wife, might say lazy. So I mow my yard in the easiest way for me, which is having the longest straight lines possible. That is diagonal in the front and horizontal in the back.

While paying attention to cutting the grass, I realized I like to sell like I like to mow. NO, not lazy… And they call me a smart aleck… I was thinking efficient. Taking the longest path possible before I have to stop or turn. That makes the process efficient with less stops and starts.

While this is fairly easy with your yard and the mower, how can you see the “grass” you have to cut in your sales process? Ask. When you are doing your evaluation, needs analysis, checklist, whatever you call it, ask about their process. Don’t be surprised if they lie or omit some of the truth. Based on what you have discovered about the prospect, based on what you know about customers who use the product or service you are selling, and based on your experience, you should be able to have a good idea on the long path.

Sometimes it is top down, sometimes bottom up, sometimes it starts with a demo, and sometimes never showing the product. Whatever the longest path to the nearest obstruction is, take it.

Self-propelled, push, riding, reel, rotary, mulching or bagging, take the longest path you can to get done the quickest you can. Oh, and watch out for the gnome…

The Sport of Sales

Is Sales a game? Is it a sport? If so, does it have rules? All major sports have 3 distinctive things. Opposing sides, rules, and referees. Oh, and as I learned later in life, a sport has to allow the other team to be able to prevent you from winning, otherwise it is a competition. Hockey has a goaltender to stop the other team from scoring (it is a sport), Golf does not have holetenders (it is a competition). So I ask you again, is sales a sport?

My answer is Yes, it is a sport.

There are competitors. Often more than one team at a time, but there is definitely competition.   

There are rules. These rules are set by the prospect (also the referee), most of the time. In the absence of these rules the game is governed by “common law rules”. Common law rules include things like being ethical and honest, you know, like the golden rule. Sell like you would like to be sold to. There is obviously a lot of gray area here as you know. Never be surprised if the referee, posing as a prospect, throws a flag when you get into the gray area.

If you present right, you can even block an opponent’s shot. By placing your solution between the opposition and the goal, you have the ability to block their attempt. Positioning can be everything.

If you are playing sales like a sport while others are playing like a competition, you have a huge advantage. However, if you play overly aggressive, break, or bend the rules, you may be penalized. 

Words Mean Things

I must have said that phrase to the sales people working with me a thousand times. Words like “Synchronize”, “Cloud”, “Real-time”, and “Unlimited”. These words have a dictionary definition as well as common usage. It is important to define the techno babble words you use with your prospects and clients so they understand what you mean.

If you say to your clients, “you get unlimited data.” When you mean, you get a lot of data until you are in the top 5% of data users in your area, they may disagree with you. They may even feel you have violated your contract with them and they may even sue you. Just ask AT&T. Story here.

So the point of my blog today is not to slam AT&T. I am an AT&T customer and I’m generally happy with their service. My point is to show how words have meanings that can get you in trouble keeping a happy client. If you say you get unlimited data, but that isn’t “technically” what you mean, stop. Explain until they understand.

If your prospects can’t understand you, it is hard for them to buy from you, and even harder to not blame you if there is an issue.

Sales Engineer Hippocratic Oath

OK, I know Sales Engineering is not brain surgery, although I do feel I have earned a doctorate in it. I do have my version of the Hippocratic Oath for Sales Engineering. “First, lose no deal.” As a Sales Engineer, it is easy to cause a deal to go south. Too Much information, too little information, the wrong information, so many ways to break this oath.

I recently spoke to a group of sales people who all worked for the same company. I spoke to each of them one on one and was amazed with what I heard from each of them on their needs for a Sales Engineer. Everyone was different. Some wanted minimal help, some wanted maximum help, and some wanted a little help.

What did I learn? You can please everyone. As Sales Engineers our jobs are to support the sales team, the way they want to be supported. Some need a lot of help, some very little, and they are both right. It is the sales person’s deal. I am there to advise and support, AND do the demo the way they want, in a way that will not lose the deal. The advice needs to happen before you are in front of the customer, and if they refuse your advice, you have to deliver the demo their way.

There are only two things I will not do while supporting the salesperson, lie, or let them lie, even if it isn’t on purpose. Otherwise I am there to serve at their pleasure.

Give a little, or give a lot, it really doesn’t matter, so long as we are closing business.

Siri, File a Lawsuit

Have you heard a New Jersey man is filing a class action lawsuit against Apple based on his claim of false advertising? You can read the story here. He contends that Siri does not preform as advertised, and without Siri, the iPhone 4S is just a more expensive iPhone 4. So what is going on here?

First, I think he is wrong. There were many enhancements in the iPhone 4S, dual core processer, additional storage, redesigned antenna, as well as a dual transmit ability on AT&T that made the 3G phone nearly 4G fast. What did he focus on? What was sold to him. The advertisements were done something like this. Siri, remind me to get milk, and a reminder was set, not look at our cool new antenna.

So when you are doing a demo, do you show the antenna, or do you let Siri talk? My point is, do you make the cool stuff look cooler than it is? Sometimes cool is cool enough, and you don’t need to make it Buck Rogers. We have all heard under promises and over deliver, but does this work on a demo?

Well what I do know that works is real life workflows shown smoothly. You don’t have to stack the decks, you don’t have to bottom deal. You have to show what’s real, really good. You never want a new customer not to be able to use the product as shown, it will bite you and might even end up in court.

Spring has Sprung

I don’t know why I’m shocked every time it starts getting warm again. Sun shines a little longer, walking without a coat, enjoying the outside. We didn’t even have a bad winter, it was very mild, but I’m ready for warm outside weather. You know what else that triggers? New growth.

Every spring I plan a garden. Heirloom tomatoes, hot peppers, herbs, zucchini, cucumbers, and others. Starting them all from seed and watching them grow. Knowing it will take months to harvest the bounty they will deliver. Is it worth the effort? You bet, nothing better than eating  homegrown veggies.

Sales deals are the same. Nothing is more enjoyable than closing a homegrown deal. You research it, you plant the seeds, and you harvest the deal. Keep in mind the time it takes to have a deal grow to maturity when you start it from seed. Sales cycles vary based on many things, the start of the process is one of those.

But don’t confuse sales seeds with marketing. Sales is sales and marketing is marketing, but you are able to start the sales process very early, if you are willing to do a lot of weeding.

Late Snow

Here it is March Eve. Leap March Eve even, and now it snows. I know I live in Upstate NY. I know it can snow till 4^th of July, but still. Thanksgiving? No snow. Christmas? No snow. New Years? No snow. Valentine’s Day? No snow.  Leap Day? Yup.

Some will say better late than never. Some will say it could have skipped us this year. I say there is a sales lesson here, in fact a life lesson. Stuff doesn’t always happen when you expect it to, or need it to. Big shocker, but one we forget until it snows and ruins our Leap Day celebration. So Steve, what is the big lesson here? I can hear you saying it, you know I can.

Big lesson. Plan like there is no plan. Some say plan for the unexpected. If it is unexpected, how can I plan for it, but I can plan like I don’t have one. I expect to hear back from my contact about setting a meeting by X, and when I don’t I’m going to do Y. I expect to be named VOC next week, so when I haven’t heard from them on Thursday I’m going to do this.

Don’t expect stuff to work. Hope it does. Try and make sure it does, but don’t plan on it.

Primary Sales

Do you sell like a politician? How about someone running for the job? I have been watching the Republican Presidential candidates fight for the chance to run for the office and I wondered what would happen if you tried to sell that way?

If we were instructing the candidates to sell themselves, we would never allow them to do what they do while campaigning, and isn’t it the same? I prefer to sell using a consultative sales process. I don’t think there is any way you could call what they do, consultative.

They bluster, they exaggerate, they hide, they obscure, they misrepresent, they lie, then they start talking about their opponents. OK, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, and this is not a party politics thing either, all of them do it.

So there are obvious differences between a sale and an election, but there is a lot the same.

You need people to:

• Like you
• Agree with you
• Understand you
• Want you
• Believe you
• Trust you
• Vote for you

So you should be selling like you are campaigning, just without the mudslinging.

What Caused the Collapse of Mayan Civilization?

Subtitled, why your business should dig a well.

I just read an article about what caused the Mayan civilization to collapse. While there may have been many additional reasons, the main one discussed in this article was climate change and lack of water.  

Due to the lack of rivers in the Yucatan, the Mayan relied on the seasonal rainfall to refill their fresh water storage. While these reductions amounted to only 25 to 40 percent in annual rainfall, they were large enough for evaporation to become dominant over rainfall.

Let’s just replace the words water and rainfall with money and cash flow. Are you too dependent on cash flow from one particular segment of your business? Would that 25 to 40 percent cut cause your extinction?

The rain of money that comes from cloud bursts are great, however you have to have a drought proof source as well. Grandma might have said don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

How does this fit with your business philosophy? Do you approach your market in a narrow focused vertical, gaining deep penetration, or a broad based approach doing a little of everything? There are ways to create different revenue streams in both of these models. Find recurring revenue, one time sales, and services revenue across all your business divisions.

So while the rain is falling, you may want to dig a well.

The Best Known Have Died

That may seem like an odd title, but tell me quick, NO GOOGLING, who is the top scientist in the field of bacteria today? Me either, no idea, yet we all know Louis Pasteur. Who owns the art nouveau movement now? Right, same thing.

So do the best known, most memorable have to have died? Can your sales demo be the most memorable, even if you don’t die during it? I would hope so.

Like the old question, are you famous, or infamous? Do you care? I hope you do, because when doing a demo, you want to be famous and avoid infamy.


The first thing to keep you from being infamous is the truth. By telling the truth, or at lease what you think is true. See my blog on Distorting Reality for more on this. The truth will set you free, and keep you free of a bad name.

Second is be a person first, and a sales second. I know you are a salesperson, but think of yourself as a person-of-sales. Please never forget to be a person.

Third would be to ask for more than a reason to tell. My wife tells me I’m guilty of this one, I think she may be right. Leading questions. I’m sure you don’t need to report...”You do!?!” (said with shock and surprise), well let me tell you about our all new report 6000 module... Sometimes you should ask to actually hear their answer, not be answering their answer before they are done speaking.

And truth be told, we may argue over who the greatest LIVING baseball player is, but we know all of their names. Why do we know? Because they performed and produced. That is what it takes to be known before you die.

Three Simple Words

In the spirit of the day, please let me talk about romance and getting the special someone to respond to the three little words you want to say to them. Oh, it isn’t those three words...

The words you really want to say to the prospects you are romancing is, “Please Be Mine”. Getting them to respond with I Love you is great, but you want them to be yours.

A sales process is very much a romance. We meet, exchange pleasantries. If we discover we have something in common, we spend more time to get to know each other better. One party generally gives gifts or pays for diner. Then that magic moment arrives when we pop the question, and what we are asking is, pick me, be mine.

You can never feel a customer’s love, until they are a customer. So you need to close the deal, but without closing their heart, kind of like dating.

Distort Reality

Isn’t that what we do in a really good demo? Take reality and compress it, turn it, make it fit our solution in a logical way. I just read a news story (Here) about the FBI file on Steve Jobs. One of the things that was said about him is the following:

“Several individuals questioned Mr. Jobs’s honesty stating that Mr. Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals,” according to the FBI file.

I always felt there was a difference between out right lying and distorting or twisting the facts, especially in a demo where the “facts” are often weak at best. And aren’t we also trying to achieve our mutual goal with the prospect?

If you want to see how slippery truth is, just ask 3 different people the same question about something they all just watched. Truth is so easily warped in our own mind, it might get closer or further away from the “facts” we were just shown.

For me, using my ethics to stay true to the needs of the prospect, override the strict interpretation of the “truth”. This is because my job is to present a new more functional reality to the prospect by distorting their current less functional reality by showing how twisting my solution around their requirements works.

If I wanted to be in the fact business I would have been a librarian. I’m in the solution business.