Elite Sales Strategies

6The Advantage of Your Vantage Point

A single vantage point is an absurdly narrow vantage point from which to view the world.

—Aleister Crowley

As i warned you at the start of this book, the main threats to being One-Up are hubris and arrogance. Consider, for example, the tone in this paragraph:

Were I to decide which one of us should determine what steps to take to improve your results, I would humbly insist that I should lead the process, given that I am One-Up and you are One-Down. You might believe that you should be able to have a say in this process, since you desire better results, a position I fully appreciate and support. Any conflict around the process would result from your attempt to circumvent some important conversation or commitment, in which case, I should decide for you, and you should defer to my judgment.

Now, I hope you never use this specific language when talking to your clients. Despite its thin veneer of humility, bordering on servile obsequiousness, every word in the paragraph is about making your audience feel One-Down, so they never forget your superior abilities and certainly never see you as a partner. That's why one rule for being One-Up is never make the other person feel One-Down. But as cringy as the paragraph is, you must believe every word of it and allow every idea to drive your actions.

You must lead your client through the conversations they need to reach the outcomes they want, and you can't stop leading just because there's conflict ...