Page 37 - GS171101

Education

Take an aerial view of Scenario 1

your decision process You just completed a presentation to a prospective
merchant who has value both in terms of revenue and
prestige. This account would bring others to the table.
By Jeff Fortney After the presentation, the merchant says:
Clearent LLC I like everything you presented and think it fits
our needs well. However, I know we bring you
arly in my career I attended meetings each fall value because of who we are, so I know you can do
called "10,000 foot" meetings. Normally, these better on your pricing. How much are you willing
meetings lasted several days and were broken to cut your price to get my business?
E into three parts: 1. Review of year-over-year
sales numbers; 2. Goal-setting for the following year; and You have three choices:
3. Analysis of existing efforts from 10,000 feet above.
1. Say that you may have some room to reduce
The first two topics are common in companies where sales your pricing and offer to re-crunch the numbers
is central to success. Indeed, as we approach the end of the and ultimately lower the price.
year, many merchant level salespeople (MLSs) go through 2. Explain that you crunched your numbers, and
review and goal-setting exercises. this is the best you can do.
3. Acknowledge the merchant's value, but ac-
Meetings on the third topic lasted longer than the others, knowledge your value as well.
and the premise was simple. Because our immediate
circumstances can – and do – impact our actions, we tend You can only choose one answer. Explain the reason
to operate at ground level. However, by looking down behind your choice and why you didn't choose the other
from 10,000 feet, we can see many things not readily two options.
visible from ground level. This can enable us to address
actions that could negatively impact our future success.

At the end of each meeting, participants were encouraged
to ask ourselves when tempted to do something that
seemed even remotely counterintuitive to the overall plan:
If I do this, how will it look at 10,000 feet?

These meetings continue to influence much of what I do
today. Due to the positive results, each year I hold my own
10,000-foot meeting. The template remains the same from
that first meeting many years ago. First, identify what the
meeting is not:
• It is not about your goals for the coming year.
• It is not about your successes, lost sales or even
mistakes made over the past year.

From 10,000 feet, it's easy to see where you've been. It's
also easy to see the roads you could have taken that
would have put you where you are today, only faster and
easier. But this practice is not about hindsight. The goal
for any 10,000-foot meeting is to ultimately gain a form of
foresight.

In meetings I attended, we examined various scenarios,
two of which I have reworded to fit the payments world.
The purpose is to explain each choice, why you would
or wouldn't choose that option, and what would be the
likely consequence of that choice. Each option could be
the right choice. However, at 10,000 feet, there may be a
consequence to a particular choice that could lead you in a
direction you don't want to go.

37