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The Importance of Follow-Up - Part 3

And this brings us to the real fundamental of getting acceptance for your new idea, no matter how good it might be: it may take more imagination, more resourcefulness, and more outright creativeness to "sell your idea than it did to get it in the first place.

There are not, of course, any 100 per cent sure methods of selling anybody anything. But any experienced salesman can tell you that the first principle of selling is to know the interests of the person to whom you are selling. And this is just as true in attempting to sell an idea as it is in attempting to sell a more tangible item.

To cite just two extremes: if you have an idea for a new product for your company and present it to your management, you can be almost certain they will look at it from the standpoint of how much it will cost to go into manufacture on it, and they will then compare and evaluate that cost against the cost of other projects they may be considering. If the product is produced, and it is time to sell it to the public, you can be very certain that any prospective purchaser will look at your idea in a different light. He will want to know "What will I get out of it?" before he buys.

Of course the key person in your company that you will probably have to sell your idea to is your own immediate boss or the person who heads up the department or function that your idea pertains to. Once you can get a responsible executive to back you, then the job of selling the idea further up the line becomes much easier. And this holds true even for the president of a company. He may find he has to get at least one of the directors "on his side" in order to sell the board as a whole on a new idea or policy.

So let's look at the man on the "next level up" to whom you will be presenting your idea. Even if he is a person who has actively demonstrated a progressive attitude, the only safe way to start out is by assuming that he will not like your idea when it is first presented to him—unless you know that that is not true. Remember that you are proposing a change, and it is human nature to resist change. Furthermore, if he has not demonstrated a receptiveness to new ideas, it is possible that this man may be lacking the positive attitude that such receptiveness requires. He may even be what is loosely termed "unimaginative." Or he may be a "weak" executive in the sense that he has never been made to realize that it is a part of his job to encourage you, and others like you, to produce new ideas and new thinking for the company. He may have all these faults in varying degrees, but he is the man to whom you have to present your fragile brainchild, so you will have to accept his faults.

The important thing for you is that you don't waste your time, energy, and mental resources fretting about the trouble you are apt to have with this man, because such anguish won't help. The approach you should take is that of actively helping that other person understand your idea and the benefits it can bring to the company. Be particularly careful to put your own thinking in order before you go in to see that man. Be prepared to teach him everything he needs to know about the problem your idea was devised to solve, if necessary; and be ready to give him all the answers, alternative solutions, data, facts, and reasoning processes you yourself went through in arriving at the particular problem solution you are now presenting. And, in preparing all this material to educate your boss with, try to put yourself in his shoes all the way through: try to imagine how you would react to this idea if your positions were reversed, and you had to think of all the things your boss will have to think of; and consider all the changes that will have to be made if he accepts your idea. If you give consideration to his problems, then you will do a better job of interpreting your idea in terms he will be willing to listen to.

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