Expert Witnessing, Expert
Credibility
By
Barry
Maher
The
CTO of the information technology company was more than a little irritated.
"In our high tech business," she said, "when people buy our products, they're
really buying into our conception of the future. Some of us of us have an
innovative vision for where our company can fit into that future. Unfortunately,
right now the company simply reacts to the marketplace and the competition. The
CEO's favorite saying is It might be the early bird that gets the worm, but
look what happens to the early worm. And it's the second mouse that gets the
cheese. Unfortunately we're never even the second mouse—or the third. By
the time we get there, the cheese is long gone. But every time any of us try to
push through our point of view, the CEO turns the discussion into an argument.
Which of course, we eventually have to let him win.
"We're
losing out to birds, worms, mice, and cheese," another senior executive added.
"Underneath it all, I think [the CEO] sees the logic behind what we're saying,
but he's not comfortable acting on it. Which always leaves us on the verge of
civil war."
Motivating
by Expert
Witnessing
What these two non-sales executives were confronted with was a basic
sales problem. If a salesperson pushes, his prospect usually pushes back, and
the salesperson loses. If the prospect pushes and the sales person pushes back,
the salesperson loses. Every sales rep knows you can never win an argument with
a prospect.
I've
done a bit of expert witnessing. When you appear in court as an expert witness,
you have your expert point of view and you express it. You sit on your little
throne at the front of the room and, like Moses from Mt. Sinai, you deliver the
Word of God down to the mere mortals who sit at your feet. They not only hang on
your every word, the write it all down.
The
attorney on your side, like some attending angel, tosses you soft-ball questions
which you proceed to knock out of the park. (I know it's a mixed metaphor but
you get the idea.)
Then
comes the cross-examination. That's when the opposing attorney (also known as
Satan) gets his chance.
During
the cross-examination, you quickly see what the opposing attorney is trying to
get you to say, and the tendency as an expert is to contest every one of the
points he's trying to make. After all, you're the expert, you've staked out your
position, you’ve delivered the Word of God and he's attacking it. So by
extension, he's attacking you. Maybe even attacking God.
But the first thing the attorneys on your side will tell you is that
if you do that, if you contest every one of his points, you lose all credibility
as an impartial expert. Now on this matter of impartiality, everyone in the
courtroom knows you're being paid big bucks by the side on. And if they don't
know it, the opposing attorney—Satan—will
point it out the first chance he gets.
Still, the more you appear to be
acting as an instrument of objective
truth, granting the other side their legitimate points, the more believable the
points you make for your own side become.
As a salesperson—and
at times each of us is a salesperson—you
should always present yourself as an expert witness. First, you make your best
possible case. If you are an advocate, you don't have to pretend not to be. When
I was selling, I’d go so far as to say, "Hey, I don't want you to forget I work
on commission. The more you spend the more I make. Now let me tell you why you
need to be spending more and making me more money."
"Hey, I know it's in my self interest to support the restructuring,"
you might imply or even say. "But that doesn't mean, this isn't the best
possible option for the corporation. And here's why."
Tip:
The more firmly that best possible case is rooted in reality, the more
convincing it is likely to be, the easier it will be to remember, and the better
it will stand up to cross-examination.
You make your case, then you grant the opposition—the
doubting Thomas within the mind of each potential buyer—grant
that doubting Thomas
his legitimate points. His legitimate points. Once
again, even as an advocate, the more you appear to be acting as an instrument of
objective truth, the more effective your points—the
points you need to make to make your case—will
be.
Tip:
When
you're not an advocate, as matter of common courtesy, effective people-skills
and simply helping the other person get what he or she wants, this expert
witnessing technique works equally well.
