Paying attention…

There's so much going on around us these days; so many distractions.  What do you think?  Are people paying more attention to others and to their surroundings, or less?  Here's a representation reflecting the opinion of a professional trying to help us all pay attention:

I think I do a pretty good job of paying attention.  Of course, what worries me is if we were to conduct a survey I wouldn’t be alone:

      In his seminal research David Dunning in conjunction with Justin Kruger uncovered a powerful phenomena, that most of us over-estimate our abilities… Dunning puts it like this; the dumb get confident, while the intelligent get doubtful. 

                   Jim Keenan 

I don’t think the research suggests that just because we don’t pay attention that alone makes us dumb; but it sure feels like dumbness when someone isn’t paying attention, true?  Thus, we compensate for "those people": 

You'll notice that the airport buildings are in the distance.  We don't land at the terminal because it scares the heck out of the people inside. 

                   Mark Sanborn 

The real issue is why don’t we pay closer attention?  As a retired sales professional my profession is known as a profession of talkers vs, listeners: 

… the person doing the talking is always interested in what is said.  It isn’t the lecturer who falls asleep.

                    Phillip S. Wexler 

My former Manager believed (and I agreed with him) that "Discovery" is the most important aspect to a B2B sales process; yet it is an area that most salespeople do poorly.  “Discovery”; “Analysis”; “Requirements Definition”; it goes by many names.  Whatever you call it; it is best completed by paying close attention to what the prospect says; who says it; how they say it; and what they mean. 

Doing an effective Discovery certainly is not easy.  Getting the prospect to tell you what their needs are; tell you about their current shortcomings; sharing their goals; permitting you to meet with their full staff; complete interviews with their executives; etc., requires the utmost of skill and discretion.  

All challenges - yet most often a bad Discovery is due to poor skills on the part of the salesperson.  We’re too anxious to sell; too high pressured in our questioning; in too much of a hurry.  We like to speak – not listen; we want to dwell on “us”, not focus on “them”.  And, we can over-think things instead of simply paying attention.  It's happened before.  Just ask our Unknown Sage: 

            The Lone Ranger and Tonto went camping in the desert.  After their tent was set up, they fell sound asleep.  One hour later, Tonto wakes the Lone Ranger and says, “Kemo-Sabe, look towards the sky.  What do you see?”  The Lone Ranger replies, “I see millions of stars.”  “What that tell you?” asks Tonto. 

     The Lone Ranger ponders for a minute and then says, “Astronomically speaking, it tells me there are millions of galaxies and potentially millions of planets.  Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo.  Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three in the morning.  Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant.  Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.  What's it tell you, Tonto?” 

     Tonto is silent for a moment, then says, “Kemo-Sabe, you dumb a$$! Someone stole tent." 

Imagine what we could notice (and how many tents we could save) if we all simply paid attention. 

                                                            GAP                                                                                                                                              

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.