Human Nature 101

February 28, 2012
Sedona, Arizona

I wasn’t a very street smart guy growing up.

That’s because I had this bad habit of believing what people told me.

I remember one particular day, during my few months as a car salesman in the 4000 degree Arizona heat, my naivete cost me $300. At the time, that was a sizeable amount of money for me.

On a side note: I seemed to get more than my fair share of car buyers who were coming to look at the Corvettes.

I have no idea why this happened, but I had no problems taking a buyer out on a test drive in one.

One day, near the end of a month, my manager came to me and explained that another salesman needed some help getting up to a certain number of sold cars for the month.

I don’t know if he wanted to qualify for some bonus or if the manager thought he’d lose his job if the team didn’t produce.

The details are fuzzy but the point is the same nevertheless. He was asking me to “give” my sold car to the other guy to increase his count.

I was told that the other salesman would pay me my commission on the vehicle directly.

So I did the deal. What a nice guy I was.

Here we are, about 10 years later, and I’m still waiting for the payment.

People will always (ultimately) do what is in their best interest. Don’t expect otherwise, ever.

At the very least, use that knowledge to temper your expectations when working with prospects and clients.

Better yet, think of ways to use that universal law for your benefit.

Because that law is not changing any time soon.

See you next time,

Jason Leister
Editor, The Client Letter
Creating Success for Independent Professionals
ClientsSuck.net