I can’t answer the first part of that question, but I can answer the second with a very firm ‘yes’.
If you are in business, particularly sales, then you need to know about this.
By explanatory style we mean how you explain the events that you experience.
For example, say you’ve just left your laptop on the train. The train departs the station and then you realise.
Maybe you’ll swear a little (or a lot) and you’ll probably try to explain or give a reason to yourself why it happened. Think about it for a moment, if it happened to you, what might be a likely reason for it happening? (It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a laptop, or don’t use trains, just imagine the scene).
What reason would you give?
- ‘It was that stupid kid’s fault, tripping over me and distracting me’,
- ‘I’ve just bought the thing, I’m not used to remembering to pick it up’,
- ‘Not again, I’m so forgetful’,
- ‘I’m just so pathetic’.
Can you see how these reasons differ? Or how some of them are similar in some respects? Admittedly, this is rather an extreme example to illustrate the point; typically the answers can be a little more subtle.
Explanatory style is said to have 3 attributes:
Personal
Permanent
Pervasive
Returning to our list of excuses The first reason wasn’t personal; we’d blamed that kid. It wasn’t permanent either; it was an isolated incident. It wasn’t pervasive; it was a very specific event.
The second reason is similar except that it is rather more personal, it was clearly our fault but we can see that it’s not going to be a permanent situation and won’t necessarily affect other parts of our life.
The third reason is certainly personal, and we are also implying that we are normally like that so it is permanent. But, pervasive? Not really we are only saying that we are forgetful.
Finally, ‘I’m so pathetic’, is personal, permanent, and pretty much pervasive too. If you think like this then really, you should try and do something about it.
So why does it matter how you explain things to yourself?
Not surprisingly, research has discovered a connection with our explanatory style to depression. If we tend to explain bad events in a personal, permanent and pervasive way then we are pessimistic.
The reverse is true when considering good events. If we’ve just won a race and we are an optimist, then we’d likely say that we’re better than the others. A pessimist might say that the others had an off-day or that we had a lucky break, or the favourite was injured.
What has this got to do with business?
In almost all cases it is far better to have an optimistic rather than pessimistic explanatory style. Some jobs call for a more cautionary outlook. If you are involved in assessing risks, or in the security or fire industry for instance. By and large though, being optimistic will serve you much better than not. Some jobs: telesales, insurance sales, and countless others, demand an optimistic outlook. It is what produces the required persistence that leads to success. In fact, a very well researched study involving one of the largest US insurance companies documents how they massively improved their sales staff’s performance by introducing selection tests based on explanatory style.
Can I improve my explanatory style?
Yes, you can.
Of course this short piece can only scratch at the surface of this fascinating subject. If you want to learn more (including the insurance company research) and also learn how to improve your explanatory style and hence optimism, then get hold of a copy of the excellent book Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman.
If you’d like more direct help on how to improve your performance, then get in touch.
How to tell a good business opportunity from bad
Anyone who is interested in working from home has probably made some searches online. They will have found countless opportunities available including a huge amount of junk offers or scams.
In the past few years the internet has allowed the simple ‘get rich quick’ industry to mushroom and splinter beyond prediction. The internet allows for quick testing, quick production and quick deployment of all sorts of new ideas. Many of these ideas become shady opportunities or scams waiting to catch the unwary. Indeed, a whole new ‘doughnut’ industry has been born. Why doughnut? Because, despite the massive quantity of high tech, sophisticated marketing, there remains nothing in the middle of most of these businesses. It seems the whole concept of such business opportunities revolves around the art of finding, persuading, and selling these ideas to anyone who is remotely interested in starting their own business. And what of the purchaser of such business opportunities? Well, they pay for knowledge on how to sell the same doughnut to somebody else.
Of course this is just a variation on the old idea of selling someone the idea of making money by selling the idea of making money by selling the idea, etc.
It would seem easy to spot such scams. But they come in all shapes and sizes and some of them are very cleverly sold. If you have a few minutes, check out the amusing web page called click here you idiot. It’s funny, but it’s deadly serious, this type of web page can separate not just the fool from his money. Their proliferation on the web is testament to their powerful effect.
The familiar adage ‘if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is’, is always worth remembering.
Aside from this there are some very useful things to look for when thinking about buying an idea or a course, or any sort of education or knowledge about starting your own home business.
Look for the contact
If a seller is genuinely offering you something of value, they will be proud to be associated with it. They will not hide behind shielded contact details. Look for a postal address and a phone number. If you cannot find one — move on.
Look for more information
If the seller is selling on the web, look at their site, not just the sales page. What other information can you obtain from it? What kind of image does it portray, hopefully one of professionalism. If they are supposed to be an expert in their field, is their evidence of this? Of course, if all you can find is a sales page then, again — move on.
Beware the ‘testimonial’
Sellers think that if they write a few words of praise about their product and stick someone else’s name under it, people will be reassured and will buy. The sad fact is that they are often right. The problem is that the would-be buyer has got so excited by the sales copy, they really want to believe that the testimonial or recommendation is real. Just keep in mind how easy it is to write, ‘I made $10,000 in 3 hours with this system’ Joe Bloggs.
Records of accounts or sales
Again, our poor buyer really wants to believe that the table of figures and dates they see is a copy of a real bank statement. They’ll often ignore the fact that the seller has probably knocked it up on their pc in 20 minutes.
There are even scams that will deprive you of money so that they can tell you how to avoid internet scams; I think that’s called feeding a hungry market.
In summary, just take a step back and use some of common sense. Many of these scams promise huge amounts of money in return for very little work. In fact, that is usually their biggest and strongest selling point; dangling temptation in front of people who want something for nothing. Of course, that includes most of us. However, most of us also believe, deep down, that what we get out of life is largely dependent on what we put in. Running a small or home business is usually hard work.
Nevertheless, there are some very good, sound and honourable ideas for starting and running your own business. And with a bit of dedication and work, working for ourselves can set us on a road that we’ll never want to leave.