Marco Germani is our guest blogger for this month’s “Influencers from Around the World” post. Marco lives in Italy, just outside of Rome. He’s not only been a guest blogger in the past, he wrote a book on influence in Italian. Marco is married and has two young boys. He gets real world influence application in his various business pursuits. Readers have always enjoyed Marco’s perspective on influence and I’m sure that will be the case this month.
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.Italians and the Principle of LikingI recently read about a survey conducted by Citibank, a corporation with employees across the globe. The object was to identify how the different persuasion principles would apply to different cultures around the world. The question asked of employees was: If someone within your organization came to ask you for help on a project, and this project would take you away from your own duties, under what circumstances you would be mostly obligated to help?The results displayed that in the U.S., the principle mostly taken into account to answer this question was reciprocity. What has this person done for me? Do I feel obliged to render him a favor? That would determine whether the help is granted or not.In Hong Kong, the most important principle was authority: is this person connected to my small group and in particular, is he a senior member of this group? In Germany, authority was considered but under a different light: according to the rules and regulations, am I supposed to say yes? In this case, I am obliged. Finally, in Italy, yet another persuasion principle was mainly taken into account: the one of liking. Is this person connected to my friends? I am loyal to my friends so, therefore, I must help him or her.Being an Italian I can confirm this is true most of the time. I then started to think about the reason this principle is so important for Italians and I came up with my own theory. It goes back to my country’s history. Contrary to what happened in other European countries, like France and Germany, Italy started to exist as a single centralized unit only quite recently (250 years ago, which for Europe is a really short time). For thousands of years, the regions eventually forming Italy existed as isolated kingdoms (Kingdom of Naples, Kingdom of the two Sicilies, etc.) and often fought bitterly against each other.When Italy became a nation it was hard, for a central government, back then based in Piedmont in northern Italy, to maintain control while being politically and physically present in the whole country. This was especially true in southern regions like Calabria or Sicilia. The formation of small clans of people, which eventually led to the creation of the most (unfortunately) famous criminal organization in the world, the Mafia, became a necessity of survival. Where the hand of the government couldn’t reach, there you had a small group of “friends” ready to kill for each other in order to keep order and peace and fight against the “bad guys.” If you wanted protection, you must become their friend too. If not, bad things could happen to you. Assuming this theory has some part of truth, it must be eradicated in our DNA a sense of loyalty to our group of friends, not anymore for survival, but to have some kind of advantage in our daily lives, according also to the principle of reciprocity.This can be observed also when two or more Italians meet abroad. We tend to establish as soon as possible a sort of connection, because we know that we could, as a small team (or clan) be more effective in overcoming problems and finding solutions. Of course this happens without any criminal or illegal intention nowadays. On the other hand, in a business setting, this is a universal rule, which transcends cultures: always try to build a relationship with your customer or business partner before talking shop. With us Italians, it is even more important and it is an aspect which should never be underestimated by any serious negotiator or influencer.
Marco
Influencers from Around the World – Three Lessons from Arnold
This month our “Influencers from Around the World” post comes from Marco Germani. Marco is a native of Italy, originally hailing from Rome. He’s been a fan of influence for decades and wrote a book on the subject in Italian. The father of two youngsters, he now gets to apply his influence skills outside of his business pursuits. I’m sure you’ll enjoy his post on lessons he’s learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.Three Lessons from Arnold
I have recently given a second go at the spectacular Arnold Schwarzenegger’s biography, Total Recall – The Truly Unbelievable Story of My Life, which didn’t fail to impress and inspire me, as it already did last year when I first read it. You may or may not like the man, but it is undeniable that what Arnold has accomplished in his life thus far is nothing short of incredible. Arnold was a legendary bodybuilding champion, a record-breaking Hollywood action movie actor, and an accomplished real-estate investor who made his first million from this business. If all that wasn’t enough, he was also the “Governator” of California.I thought Arnold’s story would fit well in this blog because in order to accomplish all that he has, Arnold had to develop the capacity to influence millions of people.I’ll try to extrapolate a short, actionable lesson from each phase of his career, which enabled him to accomplish such extraordinary things and maybe each of us will become a better influencer because of it.Lesson 1: Focus on your strengthSince he was a teen, Arnold had a clear vision in his mind: Go to the USA and become famous. He had no idea how to accomplish this, not even the field of endeavor. He then started his quest, his search for his unique talent, which would bring him fame and fortune. As he realized that nature had gifted him with a body built to grow and become incredibly muscular, he put all of his heart and soul into a single project; becoming the most muscular man on earth and winning all the existing body building competitions around the world. It didn’t matter if it meant endless hours in the gym lifting huge weights, it didn’t even matter if sometimes it meant fainting or vomiting in the gym out of exhaustion. All that counted was getting to the top. And he made it! Not only that; he set new standards for his sport and made bodybuilding famous to around the world, becoming the international ambassador for the sport. He worked on the mental aspect of competition (the “Pumping Iron” documentary is a great testimonial of this), he even went to ballet classes to perfect his posing; in other words, he did whatever it took to become outstanding and make his dream come true. Thanks to bodybuilding, Arnold finally got to the USA. He was penniless, with no other skills under his belt, but ready to pursue his second lifetime goal: to make it big in Hollywood.Lesson 2: Persistence in spite of obstaclesWhen Arnold, already a celebrity in the bodybuilding circuit and on his way to financial independence thanks to real estate investments in Santa Monica, started to pursue his acting career he had all the odds against him. He spoke English with a thick Austrian accent, he had below average acting skills, no particular artistic talent and he was even told his name was too long to fit on movie posters! Thanks to his body, he managed to get a part in a B-movie called “Hercules” in New York where he first had to be dubbed due to poor English pronunciation. The movie itself was never released due to production financial issues but is now a cult movie because of Arnold’s fame. In spite of this, he did not get discouraged, he kept the vision clear, he simply ignored everybody else around him advising him to open a gym and to let go this impossible dream to become a world-famous actor. He patiently waited several years, turning down dozens of parts, even as a leading actor, in movies which would have not benefited his career in the long run. His big movie break was “Conan the Barbarian.” Arnold knew this movie would be a game-changer and, once again, he put his heart and soul in preparation for this part, taking care of every single detail. In the first scene of the movie, he was actually bitten by a real wolf and had to have a dozen stiches on his leg, but this didn’t discourage him a bit to give his best and make this movie into a cult classic, which he did. The rest is history. Conan brought Arnold into the firmament and just a few years later, with movies like “The Terminator,” “Total Recall” and “True Lies,” he was paid as much as $25 million per movie, becoming the highest paid action movie star in Hollywood…as he originally planned.Lesson 3: Expand your expertiseAfter becoming a Hollywood superstar Arnold was ready for a new challenge and decide to enter politics. Though married to a Kennedy family member, Maria Shriver, he was never afraid to express his liking for the Republican Party. He got close to the Bush family and openly supported them. When he saw the opportunity to run for governor of California, he understood he had to massively expand his knowledge and expertise in order to become credible and have a serious chance to win. Almost anyone who spent his life in body building and acting probably would have be intimidated by the massive amount of information, in many different subjects an aspirant governor must assimilate. That was not the case for Arnold. He established the “Arnold University” instead. He gathered notable experts in each of the fields he needed to learn such as economic, public health, the environment, etc. He worked long hours taking notes and learning everything he needed to learn. When it was time to debate on national television with seasoned and shrewd politicians, ready to attack his weak points with no mercy, he used humor as his best defense, having a set of punch lines written by professional comedy authors and memorized in endless preparation sessions. His motto was, “It is just reps, reps, reps,” in bodybuilding and in life. That is what made a farm boy from a small village in Austria the Governor of the richest state of America.Of course Arnold had his lows as well – like his divorce from Maria due to a secret child he had with an housekeeper 20 years ago or admitting using steroids in his competition days – but he was not afraid to expose these in either of his books. However, his life remains a shining example of what a human being is capable of, when ready to pay the price. Arnold was able to touch many lives and influence many people along the way, for which he deserves, in my opinion, the highest recognition as a master influencer! And who knows what he will accomplish more in the next 20 years…
Marco
Influencers from Around the World: The Importance of Preparation Before the Sale
This month our Influencers from Around the World post comes from Marco Germani by way of Italy. Marco has been a guest writer for Influence PEOPLE from the start. He combines great knowledge (he wrote a book about persuasion in Italian) with real world experience (he travels the world selling wine). This month’s post is excellent because I can attest to the need for preparation in sales, or any endeavor in life, if you want to succeed. Read Marco’s words of wisdom and enjoy!
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence OfficerinfluencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.The Importance of Preparation Before the SaleA professional athlete would never dream of starting a major competition without any warm-up. This would increase the risk of getting injured and, in the best scenario, drastically reduce the possibility of delivering a great performance. Similarly, a professional salesperson should never approach an important sales call, without the proper “warm-up.” What you do in the 10-15 minutes prior to a face-to-face or telephone conversation with a potential customer may determine the outcome of your presentation. It is therefore surprising how most salespeople completely ignore this principle and too often enter a meeting with a client having no strategic preparation of any kind. Far too many people just listen to the car radio on the way to the appointment filling their brain with commercials, low quality music and what I like to call “chewing gum for the ears.”Let us instead summarize, in three points, what a professional salesperson should do in the minutes leading up to a sales appointment.The first – and Golden Rule – when we are in front of a customer is not to ask any question where the answer can be easily found somewhere else. For example, if I ask my customer information about his company, which I could have found on his company’s website, I am just showing him I didn’t care to do my homework before the meeting. This is a very bad start for any salesperson. If, on the other hand, I say to the customer, “I understand your company has manufacturing facilities in three countries, sells about 80% of its production outside the U.S. and is one of the top three players in the market,” I’m showing my potential customer I’m a professional, serious and committed person who cared enough to learn as much as possible about his business. In addition to showing concern it also prevents wasting the prospect’s time. This is a very good start, which builds trust and opens the door to the possibility of starting a partnership. In the minutes immediately prior to the meeting, it is also a good rule to briefly review your marketing material (presentations, any samples to show, etc.) to make sure everything is in order. Mentally summarize the objectives of the meeting, recall any previous contact with the customer and how you initially met. This is necessary in case you need to refer to past details and it gives you a clear, ideal picture of how you wish your perfect meeting would unfold.Shortly before the meeting put yourself in an upbeat mood and be sure to establish a positive winning attitude. Picture in your mind’s eye the best possible scenario, in which everything goes as planned, and the sale ends in the best possible way, with great benefit to all parties involved. This positive attitude will be perceived by the customer, who will understand he is dealing with a sales professional, who is prepared, confident and ready to help him make the decisions that are in his best interests. These three simple steps, if carried out diligently before a sales appointment, can greatly influence the final result. Often I hear salespeople complain about how hard it is to “bring home” a sale, or how customers are difficult and never seem ready to make a buying decision. If they do not do the preparation I’ve described, or preparation of any kind, then they’re the ones to blame, not the customers! Preparation is 80% of success; let us never forget about it!
Marco