Mind games

Understanding how other people think is a great business asset. Chris Ingram takes a look at how a better insight into the minds of your competitors and partners can boost business success

It doesn’t matter how smart you are, how good your offer, how talented your team, or even how hard you all work, you have to spend time understanding other people.

This includes your staff, management team, clients, suppliers, advisers, shareholders and the media, plus institutions and analysts if you’re a public company.

To influence and convince people, you have to know what makes them tick. This will be a mixture of tangible and intangible things, and the business context in which they operate.

Most bosses think they’re too busy for this approach. It’s true that you can get along reasonably well without delving into the psychology of those people who are associated with your business. Besides, many people will give you the benefit of the doubt just because you’re the boss and others will be happy to do what you ask just for a quiet life.

But in momentum management, that is useless! You shouldn’t want acquiescent staff and you ought to be looking for your team to do the exceptional for you. These are not people who knock off at 5.30pm.

Team building
If you want the best deal, a flattering profile in the media, great insights into your customers, a favourable analyst’s report or your team to run through walls for you, the solution is always the same: spend time understanding them. So what does this really mean?

Well, sometimes you must stop selling and listen instead. No, don’t just pretend to listen, really listen so that you understand them. Ensure that you have the right questions ready: the more they talk, the more of themselves they reveal.

Even if you’re the best presenter in your company, ensure you leave a big chunk of space for your team. That’s essential to grow them anyway but also, it enables you to sit to one side and watch.

Body language often tells you a lot about the folk on the receiving end of your pitch. You can tell when your team has to change pace or when to shut up the young salesman who won’t take ‘yes’ for an answer. You need to know what motivates people and despite what many cynical bosses believe, it isn’t always money. Apart from cash, it can be ambition, power, status and recognition (hugely important to successful people who seem to ‘have it all’). Sometimes it’s fear: fear of screwing up because of the climate in their company.

Even if the motivation is money, it can show itself in different ways – is it their bonus they’re obsessed with or is it a deal? That’s hugely important if your company is selling to them and pretty important if you’re their employer. If you are selling, then you need to know when bonuses are paid or if that’s not so easy, at least know their company’s year-end.

Many big companies are like the local council: by the time it gets to March, they either want to tarmac every road and pavement in the area or they won’t spend anything and it’s absolutely pointless trying to persuade them.

If I know someone is deal obsessed, I tend to ramp up the price at the outset in order to discount more off it. Yes, it’s simple stuff and it shouldn’t be necessary, but it works more often than not.

You also need to know what stage people are at in their lives. If they’re close to retirement, then they are unlikely to want to change suppliers or professional advisers – they won’t want to rock the boat.

If you want to be really good at this, you have to practice. If you are an intuitive, collegiate sort of person then this will come more easily to you than if you are a driven, results-orientated one.

I shouldn’t say it, but dealing with your kids – and grandkids in my case – is often excellent training for dealing with staff. But that’s not much preparation for dealing with those with whom you have less frequent interaction, such as new prospects, advisers and the media.

Do your research
You will be much more effective if, in advance, you know how the target company makes its money. I know a group of smart young men, fresh out of business school, who looked at the advertising business and decided it was archaic and was a natural candidate for electronic trading systems. Well, yes, in theory it was but, as a by-product, their model produced total transparency between clients and their agencies.

They didn’t realise that all the profit was being made from hidden commissions and invoicing errors. They couldn’t understand why everyone was so polite, but never took any decisions. Meantime, their company ran out of funding.

Getting inside people’s heads can be difficult, particularly for entrepreneurs who tend to be obsessed with their own company and who can very easily come across as ‘selfish and inconsiderate’ because of their huge focus on their work.

If you recognise this failing, but are not able to change and still want to build an outstanding business, ensure you have others who ‘get it’ and fully empower them, so that it becomes part of your company’s culture.