To kick off the New Year, our Influencers from Around the World series starts with Sean Patrick. Sean is originally from Dublin, Ireland, but now resides in London where he works in sales and sales management. You can connect with Sean on LinkedIn or Twitter. Sean also owns a sales training and coaching company, SPT (Sean Patrick Training), Ltd. Always thought provoking, I know you’ll enjoy Sean’s point of view on “authorities” and their content.
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.Beware of the Bogus AuthorityI’ve just finished a well-written book by Georgia attorney Loren Collins called Bullspotting. It was a nice segue from another brilliantly written piece by Massimo Pigliucci called Nonsense on Stilts. As you can probably tell, the book attacks the nonsensical logic behind some of today’s content that craftily bypasses the critical filters of its followers, making absurd claims believable. Ironically, the author himself was a proponent and follower of such people who disseminated misinformation. This got me thinking about how dangerous it is when we open up to pseudo-authority. This isn’t just a phenomenon that exists on the fringes; it is everywhere.In business, we have the same problem but not quite to the same extreme. Misinformation is like a mind virus that quickly infects those who really need information to back up their status quo. We’re living in a time where content is everywhere; it’s like drinking from a fire hose. What kind of misinformation am I referring to? Half-truths mainly, or tactics that worked for the author on one very lucky occasion but are now claimed as a breakthrough. There’s also the other kind, the kind where we think we know about a subject because we read one article or in some cases, the first couple of paragraphs. Our ability to contaminate information further has to be taken in context. Our ability to recall accurately goes through a process of bending, shaping, remodeling until we think our warped view is exactly how we saw it. And bogus authority figures really know this sharing of half-truths is immensely powerful, so we can dot the lines ourselves as part of the journey to finally agree with the author’s claims.In business a client base is like a portfolio of investments and treating them as such will create long term of value and recurring revenue. Our job as salespeople is to go deep and create ongoing change and help clients solve their next problem, and the next and so on. We strive to drive results with practical solutions and provide serious impact continually on the relationship. Great sales people earn higher fees via commissions because of their ability to create huge impact and provide value. One of the key areas in providing value is overcoming the hurdle of misinformation that clients buy into. As I noted above, most people who consume so much information on a daily basis fail to employ quality control. Over the years as a coach, one of the misdemeanors that some of my clients were guilty of was dining out on so-called authoritative content on sales topics and stuff that overlapped into self-development. What the information consisted of mainly was of brain candy quality. The kind of content I’m referring to is the stuff that isn’t earth shattering (but is marketed as so) and if you sat and thought long enough you’d probably have come to those conclusions without any help from the author…and you would have dismissed them!As people who sell, own a business, or provide professional services, it’s up to us to engage the client in a way in which we become the authority and the go-to-favorite of the client. We can achieve this by proving concept, demonstrating value, helping a client take ownership of a problem by providing deep insightful information that is contextually relevant to their most pressing problems.Focusing on conversations that move things forward are essential in setting boundaries and prove to the client that we have a proprietary approach in getting grounded and having more clarity in aligning themselves with their key priorities.In this age of content creation and re-creation, we are deluged by pure nonsense most of the time or at the very least someone’s biased, one-sided view on matters. This is dangerous if we fail to act objectively. Thanks to the internet, everyone is now an “expert” and we sit there in a glassy eyed daze agreeing with what’s being presented to us, largely because it passes through our filters — but only if we let it. 
Sean Patrick
Influencers from Around the World – Alex Ferguson’s Persuasion Secrets of Managing Manchester United
If you’ve followed Influence PEOPLE for any length of time then you’re familiar with Sean Patrick. You know Sean hails from Dublin, Ireland but what you may not realize is he’s moved to London. You can connect with Sean on LinkedIn or Twitter. Sean owns his own sales training and coaching company SPT (Sean Patrick Training), Ltd. I’m confident you’ll enjoy what Sean has to share this month.
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.Alex Ferguson: Persuasion Secrets of Managing Manchester United
In May 2013, Sir Alex Ferguson or SAF as he’s otherwise known as, stepped down as manager of Manchester United. He had just won his 13th Premiership title, the most successful and highly decorated manager in English football. This ended his 26th season in charge of one of the biggest sporting franchises in the world.During his time at Old Trafford he won 38 titles including two UEFA champions league trophies. Ferguson took control of the club at a time when player status was more important than winning titles, over the course of four seasons and under severe pressure to deliver, he transformed the club from the inside out. He employed countless talent scouts to find the best youth players at grassroots level and developed an academy that produced one of the most successful teams in English football history. Every season a major development was installed inside the club that cemented United’s ability to find and retain the best playing staff. Ferguson was well known for having his finger on the pulse in every area of the club. Only Matt Busby, a legendary former United manager had any such influence across the entire club. So how did he do it? Ferguson was well known for his ability to psychologically influence the players around him and rival managers. Ferguson believed that the key to success was to make sure that every player put in 100% during training. He never allowed a bad training session as this proved a player would find mediocrity acceptable, he knew bad habits form quickly. He ensured that every player who under-performed at half time became aware of their poor performances thus the legendary motivational skills reared itself in the dressing room.Former rival manager Jose Mourinho claimed Ferguson was the master of the ‘second game’, sing the media to motivate his team and to begin, as he put it, ‘to play the next game before it starts’.The club and everyone around him knew he was the authority figure. If a player tried to take over the dressing room or put in a poor performance he was either swiftly removed from the club or was given a severe face-to-face screaming which had become known as the hairdryer treatment. His authority was without question embedded into the organization. Over the course of his 26 season reign he made difficult choices and this came in the form of releasing established world class players such as Roy Keane, Jaap Stam and David Beckham to make room for untested younger players such as Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo who became medal winners at United.There was another side to Ferguson, he was liked and respected. He was treated respectfully by senior management and back-room support staff and reciprocated respect by demonstrating fairness and his ability to empathize. These skills were tested during the season of 1995-96 when maverick player Eric Cantona attacked an opposition supporter Kung-Fu style and consequently given a heavy suspension lasting several months. Over the course of this period, Ferguson mentally coached Cantona, firstly to retain his services and secondly to mentally motivate and prepare the player for his return. Subsequently, Cantona blossomed to become a model player and became club captain helping United secure more silverware.This method of psychologically preparing and motivating players culminated in United’s first UEFA Champions league title in 1999. They faced a tough fixture against Germany’s Bayern Munich. At half-time United were trailing, he reminded his players that if they lost the match they would not as much be allowed to touch the trophy, just amble past at a safe distance wearing their losers medal. One of the players later recalled that Ferguson’s inspirational speech turned fearful men into world-beaters. During that same season, United became the first side from a major league to win the treble of Champions league, English Premier league and League cup in a single season.Ferguson understood the importance being consistent. One of his key skills in improving the preparedness of his players was his use of story telling and being to talk to each player individually. He liked to change the themes of his team talks with regularity. “I once heard a coach start with ‘this must be the 1000th team talk I’ve had with you’ and saw a player quickly respond with ‘and I’ve slept through half of them!’ If a player was to sit out a game, he gave a personal and very frank conversation that conveyed empathy and instilled confidence in the player.Ferguson emphasized on the use of instilling confidence on the training pitch. “There is no room for criticism on the training field’. ‘There is nothing better than hearing ‘well-done.” 
SeanCialdini “Influence” Series! Would you like to learn more about influence from the experts? Check out the Cialdini “Influence” Series featuring Cialdini Method Certified Trainers from around the world.