Selling The Cow: The Five Pillars of Disruptive Thinking

By D.W. Small

• Language: English
• Publisher: SpringSociety Publishing
• Release date: May 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781734941111

D.W. Small

D.W. Small is the co-founder of ClaritPark, and has been a technology consultant to fortune 500 companies for over 20 years. He is an avid supporter of developer lead organizations, and spends his time traveling to various cities for speaking engagements.

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Copyright © 2020 by SpringSociety Publishing

All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical or photocopy, recording, or some crappy BitTorrent site without the permission of the publisher.

Published by SpringSociety Publishing Co.,

New York, New York

Original Design © 2020 SpringSociety Publishing Co.

ISBN 978-1-7349411-1-1

Printed in The United States of America

09 10 11 01 004 RRD 7

Table of Contents

Title Page

Introduction

Chapter 1: One Bad Mother

Disruptive Thought in Great Leadership

Chapter 2: Life Outside the Box

Disruptive Thought and Utilization of Unorthodox Methods

Chapter 3: Risk Takers Wanted

Disruptive Thought and The Principle of Risk

Chapter 4: Who Climbed the Beanstalk?

Disruptive Thought in The HR Process

Chapter 5: The Golden Hen

Disruptive Thought in The Product Evaluation Method

Introduction

To the average individual who has never ventured into the realm of sales, the typical image of a sales person is simply that of a charlatan. The caricature is evident: A fast-talking, overly aggressive individual only interested in pushing the puritanical views of their vainglorious soap. They are all too eager to find the next victim who they manipulate with magician-like tactics.

And while this stereotypical view of the sales person may have gained footing through overnight telemarketing firms, or the overly aggressive used-car sales manager. It is this view of the sales person as a swindler that may be one of the greatest deterrents for individuals from ever pursuing a career option within the realm of sales.

However, for those individuals who can see beyond the negative stereotypes, there exists an understanding that selling goes beyond having a simple personality type or using psychological tactics. They perceive the ability to sell as an art form consisting of great intelligence and cognitive planning that, when executed well, is able to bring its practitioner great results. In fact, these results are for the most part unattainable by others because of their unwillingness or inability to venture into that arena.

The purpose of this writing is not to convince those who view sales as a charlatan’s game that it is not, but rather to appeal to those who already possess a view of the sales person as a deep cognitive thinker who dwells in the art of stratagem and expound upon those ideals by introducing the principles of disruptive thinking.

In addition, while this writing may present a general appeal to those who sell, it is especially geared towards individuals who sell technology. I personally believe that the changes in our technology are changing how we as a society make buying decisions and in turn the way in which we sell that technology.

In the pre-Internet social media generation, the experience of purchasing goods by the average individual in North America was very simplified. Consumers went to the local store, found the products they wanted and purchased the goods. Perhaps if they were frugal, they also did a little comparison-shopping by visiting the store down the road.

This gave the sales person at the counter the ultimate authority and advantage. No one stood in the middle of a sales pitch and attempted to google the product reviews to check the facts. The sales person was both judge and jury. In a large department store, it was quite common to hear a loud audible voice yelling for a sales person to make their way over to the electronics department. The individual who wanted to make the purchase was dependent upon the sales staff for their great knowledge. But that experience would soon change.

With the arrival of the Internet and mobile technology, the way consumers gathered product information would shape their purchasing decisions. Individuals scoured online forums for gadget reviews and were able to get knowledge not only about current products, but also rumored future products as well. This changed the sales person from being the central point of knowledge to being more of an inventory clerk.

This online knowledge put more info in the hands of the consumer and helped them make their buying decisions before even entering the store. This would change not only the amount of staff required to sell, but also the type of staff.

Not only did it change how consumers would purchase their goods, it also put the consumer in a position to be the seller.

In the pre-Internet social media era, the thought of selling something that you bought, was mainly done through having a garage sale in which you sat outside on a hot Saturday in July and haggled with neighbors over the pricing of your aunt’s ballroom lamp. This too, would soon change.

With the adoption of online technology, the way individuals sold their used products quickly evolved. Today, most individuals have had the experiencing of selling their goods online through