Are You Likeable???

It was just about a year ago today that I wrote a blog entry about the upcoming Presidential election titled, “The Power of Likeability.” Here’s a brief excerpt:

      

Nationally syndicated columnist Paul C. Campos recently wrote a very interesting editorial on the same subject titled, “Idea that Presidential Candidates need to be ‘Likeable’ a Dangerous Cultural Idiocy.”

    

Tongue-in-cheek Campos wrote, “Getting elected President is much like winning a high school popularity contest, except that in high school the cool kids generally aren’t given access to thermonuclear weapons.” He went on to compare Barak Obama’s likeability (“articulate, and clean, and bright, and nice-looking”) to that of Hillary Clinton (“cootie vibes”).

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What can salespeople learn from all of this? Well, given the fact that your product is probably very similar to your main competitor’s and both companies are roughly equivalent, likeability becomes a key factor in customer decision-making. Sometime today, take a moment and honestly ask yourself, “What makes me more likeable in the eyes of my customers than my arch-enemy?”  Whether choosing a president, electing a homecoming king, or selecting between two salespeople, likeability is one of the most important differentiators.

            

Last November, an AP-Yahoo poll was conducted to rate each candidate on single-word-characteristics considered critical to becoming President. Here’s the result of that poll. Based upon how the campaign is turning out, it’s obvious they left off perhaps one of the most important words… LIKEABILITY.