Chapter 21
Rule #10: Phonies Like Oil Slicks, Inevitably Surface
I originally tagged this chapter for men only, but after giving it some thought, I think that women will benefit from knowing that most of them have an extraordinary skill that men can’t match.
Among the unique assets God bestowed on the female gender, which includes longer life spans and . . . well . . . let’s leave it at that . . . , was a built-in “Creep-o- meter.” Just as a dog can sense when a human is frightened, a woman can sense when a person has a serious character flaw. Women, can spot creeps across a room, down the block or at the “next exit” (a New Jersey phrase). These built-in creep-o-meters have advanced pentium chips. After over thirty years of study, I know this to be true.
Envision this scenario: Two women are on the 17th floor of an office building taking a coffee break. One goes over to the window to take in the view. Out in parking lot #3, a good 500 yards from their current vantage point, a salesman is gently nosing his car into an open parking space. He gets out of the car, opens the rear door, and retrieves his suit coat which was neatly hanging behind the driver’s seat. He puts the jacket on, buttons the top button of a newly pressed white dress shirt, slides his tie up snugly into position and reaches for his briefcase. He closes the doors and locks the car. Just as he turns to head toward the building, the woman says, “Hey Susan, come quick. See that guy? I think he’s a creep!”
How does she know? How can she tell? She can tell because women have a built in creep-o-meter. Woman can eyeball men within a few heartbeats, position them as good guys or slime balls and be right far more often than they are wrong. (The fact that some woman stay with losers for so long has nothing to do with them knowing or not knowing that these men are losers. These women pretend that their creep-o-meters are out of alignment or think that they can “fix” guys. This is perhaps a good topic for another book for another day . . . by another author. )
What does this have to do with selling? Simple. Regardless of how masterfully you may pretend you are somebody you are not, people (especially women) can spot a phony from 700 yards away. So always be real. Be you . . . for better and for worse. As soon as you arrive for a scheduled appointment, remember that people are watching you from behind the smoked glass window or from the other side of the Schefflera plant. The receptionist is watching. People in the elevator are watching. Cashiers are watching. People you pass in the hall are watching. Security guards are watching. They are all making judgments. No matter how great the temptation, don’t fake it. I’m not smiling. The creep-o-meter is not a figment of my imagination. It is alive, well, hooked up and residing in most every person walking the face of the earth. Believe it. And act accordingly. Consider yourself warned!