Viewing Primaries as a Sale

It’s an interesting primary season in the USA. There’s nothing unique about it if you have a decent education in our history, or world history. But people want their own lives to be momentous and unique, and they will cling to that illusion in the face of a mountain of evidence to the contrary. That’s the problem with logic. It doesn’t provide as much adrenaline as emotion does. Trade, the process of buying and selling, is what emotionally engages most people.

I’m an odd duck, by my nature, training, and experience. When I complete an exam and end up with superior diagnostic views of a difficult patient, the doctor and I trade “high fives”. I get the same rush as if my home team won the Super Bowl. But before and during the actual exam, I’m in a logical headspace, calculating radiation dosage, distance, part thickness, tissue composition and photographic factors needed to produce the best images. Because I’m hyper-focused on the math and science, things like a wounded patient’s cries, or the wiggliness of a five year old with pneumonia don’t distract me. I do the job. It’s a kind of meditation exercise.

I tend to employ similar methods when I vote. I do research, read and watch interviews, carefully go over candidate web sites, trying to extract facts from the sales pitches. I’m not immune to appeals to my emotions, but they had better be smart, backed by facts, and honest. When candidates employ half-truths, I hold the behavior against them, like a grudge. I don’t like feeling like I got “sold” a candidate. I want it to be my unfettered choice to support or oppose them. But I think I’m atypical. I believe most people enjoy it when candidates give them attention. And it affects their vote choices.

Political campaigns are not run like scientific professions. They try to employ some science, internal polling, demographic strategies and such, but most of the money and effort go into persuasion, marketing, branding and affirmations of allegiance – all ways to appeal to emotion. In sales, this is the IQPC Model: Intro, Qualify, Pitch and Close. These are “Four Steps to a Sale” practiced by millions each day. There are other versions of this concept, but this is the one I learned working in retail sales many years ago:

1.) INTRO – You manage and control the first impression, greet the customer (voter) warmly with a word or two about yourself, establishing your desire to be helpful while inviting them to engage further.

2.) QUALIFY – Through questions, you (the seller) gain a quick understanding of the customer’s (voter’s) desires, needs and their budget. This allows the seller to separate those most likely to buy from “looky-loos” (uncommitted browsers).

3.) PITCH – The seller presents the product in a way that most closely matches the goals of the prospective buyer (determined by the qualifying questions).

4.) CLOSE – The seller asks the prospective customer to commit to the sale. Closing is the most important step, and there are different styles and methods for closes.

There are lots of ways to derail a successful sale. The seller may offer a poor INTRO, after which all efforts will be more difficult. The QUALIFY may be mismanaged by asking questions that do not provide enough information about what the customer needs, wants, and if they are willing and able to buy. The PITCH will not be persuasive if it ignores the customer’s goals, or can’t fulfill them. More sellers fail when CLOSING than at any other point in the process, because asking for the sale is harder than chatting and getting to know each other.

There are lots of ways to analyze political candidates. You can view them through the IQPC lens too, since voting is a type of transaction, a sale. Here are my short performance reviews of some recent and current presidential candidates, according to the Four Steps model:

Carly Fiorina, businessperson, former candidate for Senate

INTRO = 50/50. Good backstory that was partly deceptive.

QUALIFY = Poor. Failure to judge customer needs.

PITCH = Poor. Misjudged voters interests based on poor Q.

CLOSE = Could not close after two previous missteps

 

Ben Carson, retired Neurosurgeon

INTRO = 70/30 Excellent backstory marred by probable deception.

QUALIFY = Poor estimation of customer goals and desires

PITCH = Worst of entire field of candidates

CLOSE = Unable to close due to previous mistakes

 

Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey

I = Poor. Entered transaction with reputation as a bully/RINO

Q = 50/50 Misjudgment of customer interest in aggressive policy approach

P = 50/50 Adept in debates but off-putting behavior soured the sale

C = Passed customer off to another salesperson

 

Ted Cruz, Senator from Texas

I = 70/30 Good resume impacted by co-worker dislike

Q = 70/30 Good rapport, but over-focus on select clientele

P = 70/30 Good pitch for target clients, bad for general custom

C = Making the sale is possible, but not probable

Donald Trump, Real Estate tycoon, TV performer

I = 50/50 A mix of obvious virtues and obvious flaws

Q = 70/30 Good customer evaluation, mistreatment of browsers

P = 50/50 Oversimplification, only convincing to some

C = Best closer of any GOP candidate. Sale (nomination) likely.

Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont

I = Good intro. Consistent

Q = Good qualifying questions

P = 70/30 Overly narrow focus on some customer needs, not all

C = Possible sale, if able to broaden appeal of product.

 

Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State, former Senator

I = 50/50 Lots of positives and negatives (see Trump).

Q = Encyclopedic understanding of customer needs and desires

P = 80/20 Tendency to oversell, diminishing effectiveness of message

C = Probable sale, definite if able to refine pitch

These are my perceptions, but my readers are “above average”. I know you don’t see everything exactly as I do, and I celebrate those differences. Nothing would please me more than if you offer your own opinions of how these or other candidates have done, according to the Four Steps model. (That was a quick pitch and close.)

 

Depression, suicide, and hope

This person found a way of viewing today’s sad news through the hopeful eyes of the character and show Doctor WHO.

Part-Time Einstein

You’ve probably noticed there’s more than one way to think. When I train dogs or encounter wildlife, I try to think like the other animal. It improves communication. When I’m taking X-rays at the Urgent Care sometimes I am thinking like a psychotherapist, sometimes like a nurse, and to improve empathy I try to think like the patient and focus on their difficulties.

I Am 60 Today

In the 1950s:

We had a 19” Black & White TV.  I watched this and laughed.

Deflection and Projection

In this article, “Wyrd Smythe” explains some key aspects of how we achieve our points of view. I admire his ability to simplify these concepts, and present them in an entertaining fashion.

Logos con carne

In his 1982 book, Megatrends, John Naisbitt famously wrote, “We are drowning in information, but we are starved for knowledge.” What was true 30 years ago is true today at a level that is both jaw-dropping and mind-numbing. The interweb highway speeds past at a breath-taking pace; yesterday vanishes rapidly behind while tomorrow constantly barrels down on us. The sheer volume of traffic (meaning both ‘lots of’ and ‘very loud’) can be overwhelming.

I’d like to take the topics from last Thursday and Friday to a new level and talk about how we find knowledge and truth amid all that information. In a world filled with opinion and conflicting assertions, how do we tell fair from foul? When facts and expertise compete with ideology and status quo, how do we pick among them?

This is about ways to separate the wheat from the chaff.

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Cleaning, Feeding, Preparation

Forget about the wars, revolutions and the gubmint listening in on your cell phone calls!  You’ve found a peaceful spot where you can sit and listen to birds sing, where gentle waters flow as you read.

I am fixing some problems I have procrastinated about, and feeling dumb because I didn’t address them before.  We didn’t cook much until I began dieting.  We didn’t know how to clean the oven.  We are now entering our third day in the process of cleaning the oven

Welcoming Change

How would you like having to nurse your twins in a stranger’s yard?

People love habit.  Having the feeling of knowing what comes next is comforting.  But you can’t fix problems or grow from a place of complete safety.  You have to take risks, spend resources, embrace the insecurity of undetermined outcomes, and dream of better things that might be.

Are We Better Off?

So I guess it’s supposed to be the election of 1980 all over again, and the relevant question assumes that I and everyone else must base “better” solely on whether we have more money.

The Best of Mikey (so far)

Since I’m nearing 300 posts, it’s time for another retrospective.  These articles were among those most viewed, but more importantly, I thought they were good even when re-read.

Everybody’s Wrong!

Many bats, like this leaf-nosed one, see quite well.

We had a particularly stimulating FULL CONTACT TRIVIA contest at the bar last weekend.

This One Starts Out Boring

Firing the big gun (1915)

My recent inability to access the most interactive features here on WP.com are producing interesting results.

Dream Engines

I’ve been away from the computer, recharging my imagination.  The weather has been unwilling to decide which season it is.  It rains, the sun breaks out, it rains again, and so on.  The constant changes have invigorated my unconscious.  I’m waking up with memories of my dreams

Quality Vs. Favoritism

I have a tendency to sort the world in two simultaneous ways.  There are things I term “good” merely because I enjoy them, and things that I identify as “good” because they achieve their intent in an undeniably superior way.  It’s very important to me to be able to tell the difference between these two.  I’m obsessed with being aware of the difference.

Full Steam Ahead

Steam-powered zero carbon water taxi

Having always been an odd boy, at different ages I sought identity among the punk enclaves where I lived.

Weeds, Bigwhigs, and Know-Nothings

I’ve read a number of opinions lately that American politics has become crazier and less civil than ever before, and that things have never been so bad in general.  It’s the justification for the need to “take back America”.  But if you look at our history, it’s easy to see that much of what we are experiencing now is just a re-run.

Living Longer & Being Taller

A World Map of Life Expectancy

I’ve been reading some fascinating discussions in the Forums that reflect common misconceptions many people hold about height and longevity, and what determines them.

Hot Button Home Run

The last (and only previous) time I referred to TIME, the magazine, was in a review of their article on the possible non-existence of hell, which they teased on the cover and then didn’t really address.  This time I think TIME hit one out of the park.  They chose a concept as “Person of the Year” – The PROTESTER.

This Is Possible

It’s time for a re-statement of why I write here.  It isn’t just for me.  I have this strange vision of a place where almost everyone is welcome.  I’m committed to RADICAL INCLUSIVITY.

What Will You Die From?

I’ve written about death and dying before by sharing personal stories about helping people in my care die with less discomfort.  I’ve also written about relating to death as a normal part of life.  What I haven’t done is lay out simplified models to help you predict what you are likely to die from.

Head Full of Strange

… and happy to share.

 I saw King Kong (1933) as a young child – on TV

Thanks to a couple of comments on the last post, I’ve been thinking about some of the truly bizarre television shows that knock around in my memory.