Libraries as Hubs of Non-Sales Selling (pt.2)

In pt.1 of this series of posts on libraries as hubs of non-sales selling, I explored the idea of how libraries rely almost exclusively on the success of non-sales selling. In pt.2 of this series I want to continue on that train of thought but I want to apply the non-sales selling model to myself as a librarian and my day-to-day work.

Originally, I was tempted to analyze different departments within the libraries I work using the non-sales selling model but I figured I would rather leave that to the readers. I hope you take some time to think for yourselves about how you try to convince others to pay you in time, effort, attention, money, etc. in exchange for whatever it is you do. Please post your thoughts in the comments!

Here we go.

I'm a trainer, formerly known as a staff development coordinator, less formerly known as a champion of learning (Joe, if you're reading this, I would like to request that my job title be changed to Champion of Learning). Titles are actually quite silly because even though I have a title it really doesn't begin to describe most of what I do. Yes, I train and develop staff and champion learning but it all sounds so nebulous. However, given the nature of the topic at hand, I would not want to have the title of Non-Sales Salesman.

Sales sounds dirty. As Dan Pink shared with us in his webcast last week, he found out in his survey of approximately 7000 people, most everyone thinks sales sounds dirty. In fact, they thought sales sounded like this:

I don't know about you, but I certainly do not want to be associated with any of those connotations except for necessary, fun, cheesy, and essential.

But I have come to recognize my non-sales selling nature.

Hello. My name is Julie and I'm a non-sales salesman.

But don't take my word for it. Well, ok, maybe you do have to take my word for it but let's look at my non-sales salesmanship a little more closely. Do you remember the question Dan asked to explore non-sales selling? He roughly asked the question, "What percentage of your time do you spend convincing or persuading others to give up something they value for something you can offer?"

Those somethings of value could be time, effort attention, or money, or even something else not yet listed. In my last post I crudely broke down libraries as a whole into these four groups. Now I'm going to break down myself, or rather my staff development role, into these four groups in order to recognize the non-sales selling that exists.

 

Time: I spend a lot of time trying to convince my colleagues to spend their time (which is already in high demand); in meetings with me (i.e. Wave eNewsletter planning meetings); in trainings with me (i.e. TED & Skills Tuesdays); in workshops with outside presenters that I facilitate (i.e. Sound Advice with Charlie 'Noiseguy' Williams); helping me with outside projects (i.e. Leadership Washington County); talking with me about projects or problems (i.e. how to decide which magazines the Database Committee should buy for our Zinio subscription); and taking online surveys that I create (i.e. the Training Needs Assessment). As far as non-sales selling performance goes, I think I'm doing pretty well in this arena.

Effort: I spend a lot of time trying to convince my colleagues to put effort into their learning by asking them to post learning reflections to the Blog - if you look at the posts on the blog you might be able to tell that I need a lot of work in this department. I also try to convince them to put effort into their learning by asking them to participate in planning teams like the Summit 2013 #makeithappen Team. By asking them to spend their effort on me by participating in these activities, I'm actually creating more effort on the other end by causing them to have to make up their regular duties at another time. For example, when my WMRL colleague, Susie, spends time working on the Summit Team, she is not spending time on her tech processing responsibilities. This means that when she is done working on her summit activities she potentially has a larger tech processing to-do list than when she first started.

Attention: Sometimes when I'm giving a presentation or leading a workshop and I need to bring the attention back to the whole group I will joking plead, "look at me!" It's silly but effective and it's probably not the type of attention we really care about in this context. The attention that I most often seek from my colleagues is via email. I want them to read my emails and respond. I want them to pay attention to me in meetings or in workshops, which essentially is asking them to find value in the activity in which I'm asking them to partake. I think this is the most valuable form of non-sales selling 'currency' because if someone gives a damn about X then the other currencies (time, effort, and possibly even money) seem to come more easily. That said, I think getting someone to pay attention and to care is also the most difficult dough to get them to cough up, and therefore probably an area in which I need more practice. Perhaps, this is why the art of storytelling is so important...

Money: I enjoy being paid for my work as the Regional's staff development coordinator. In fact, I am even be open to getting paid more for my work if that's an option. Aside from negotiating my salary when I was initially hired, I only have to convince colleagues (mainly Joe, my boss) to give me money a few times a year and those times are only when I want to go to a conference or a workshop and I need to convince Joe to let me use some of my training budget to pay for my registration fees, lodging, travel, etc. Plus, I could argue that the time off I need to attend these events equates to money since I'm still getting paid while I'm in attendance.

If this exercise has proven anything, it proves that I try to sell a lot to my colleagues but I don't feel dirty. And I like to believe my colleagues receive a lot in return. Measuring ROI on non-sales selling seems a tricky endeavor and it's something that I want to think about as a possible topic for pt.3 in this series of posts. There's so much more to write about but I think I'll end this post here and I'll eagerly await your thoughts.