In my experience the world divides into two camps: the nay-sayers and the yea-sayers . Which one are you in?
You know a lot of nay-sayers. You may be one, or be married to one, you will certainly work with one somewhere in your life, you’ll immediately know what I mean.
The nay-sayer automatically answers “nay”.
“Let’s go out tonight!”
“No.”
“Do you like my new product idea?”
“No.”
“Give us a kiss.”
“Not tonight.”
With a nay-sayer you have to learn strategy. Never rush them for an answer, never thrust an idea at them, let them come round to it.
“Would you like a chocolate?”
“No.” Then later: “Well maybe just one.”
You learn to telegraph ideas in advance, preferably let them think it was their idea in the first place. Which works fine, but can be very cramping to spontaneity. They don’t get swept off their feet, their hooves are firmly dug into the soil.
On the other side is the yea-sayer, you’ll know many of these too.
“Fancy a movie?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go out to dinner tonight.”
“Ok.”
“What do you think of this product?”
“Let’s put it on the shelf and see if it sells.”
“No-one seems interested in that house.”
“So put in a bid and see if we can get it cheap.”
The yea-sayer will instinctively jump into things feet first. But it also means they can land in hot water or worse, it doesn’t always pay to leap before you look.
I’ve been on the yea side all my life and it has cost me a lot of money. Great ideas that seemed so certain and ended when I ran out of money before the idea actually made any. If you’re in business you’ll have experienced that at some stage. It comes with the territory.
But on the other hand there have been opportunities and successes that would never have happened had I waited and held back till I was sure they were safe. Someone else would have jumped in before I made up my mind.
The smart, successful yea-sayers combine careful attention and judgement with a fearless reaction speed, so when a good idea comes along they can recognise it and grab it fast. Of course it also helps to have a bit of luck.
The nay-sayer is conservative, protective, adverse to risk. In business this is a fine, reliable position to take. But once changes start to happen in the market - the constant change in the public’s likes and dislikes, even whole generational changes - trouble hits.
Look at the loss of our beautiful bookshops. The shops didn’t change, the public did.
Mobile communications, e-books, internet, eBay, iTunes - the whole market changed but Borders would still have been familiar to Mr Pickwick.
Now our retailers are finding that their competition is not just across the street but coming from California or Milan or Bangalore. They can’t sit back and say nay, they have to find new strategies and be willing to try products or sales methods that will severely rumple their comfort zones.
Sometimes the yea-sayer can have wonderful results come out of their willingness to risk.
“I’ve got tickets to a show but I’ve got nobody to go with.”
“Let me fix you up with a blind date.”
Pause. Yea or nay? Risk an evening with someone you won’t like, or take the chance?
“Ok, set it up if you can.”
The last time I made that decision I ended up being married for 20 years, so be warned - the consequences can be very long term.
ray@ebeatty.com
Blog: themarketeer-raybeatty.blogspot.com
