Business essentials and core principles

Harvey MacKay's "Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten by Them"

How many people in business, especially sales, have trouble looking at themselves in the mirror because they are becoming the individuals they most dislike? This is especially true in this increasingly competitive "flat" world where companies have to do just about anything to keep their head above the water. In Swim with the Sharks without being Eaten Alive," Harvey MacKay shows how someone can stay competitive in this cutthroat world of business, or to "swim with the sharks" without sacrificing one's personal integrity or doing it at the expense of other people. or, the old way of saying it: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

The way that MacKay does this is not rocket science. It is doing what should always be done when getting a new customer -- learn all about that person. As he says, "It's critical to know about your customer. We've seen the folly of not having that knowledge...armed with the right knowledge, we can outsell, outmanage, outmotivate, and out negotiate our competitors" (43)

For this reason, he has designed the so-called "MacKay 66," which is a 66-question customer profile that can be filled out by talking with the customer as well as with suppliers, banks, trade publications, secretaries, etc. This "MacKay 66" is not just for salespeople but anyone who is dealing with that person. Naturally, this list has to be regularly updated and make sure it is kept confidential. The questions run the gambit from educational background to favorite foods and restaurants to business goals. This will pay off time after time, he says. The purpose of using this information is practical and ethical. It gives the salesperson the opportunity to treat the customer as he or she would like to be and to store all the information that is important and now is at the salesperson's fingertips.

In Swim with the Sharks Mackay gives several different examples of success stories that are achieved with his "66." He has a customer, for example, who loves the Chicago Cubs baseball team. "That's usually good for at least half a dozen condolence messages a year," and company sales. Another tough sell turned out to be a wrestling fan. "Overnight, I became a wrestling fan," says MacKay. "I popped into her office, told her I had great contacts for ringside tickets to...Gorgeous George...It was a real struggle for her to accept. She wasn't na ve; she knew I was trying to capture her business." She accepted, but paid for the tickets and finally several years later he got the order and it was worth the wait (56).

It is just as important to use this approach with employees, says MacKay, whose business is always growing. It is not necessary to be a tyrant to get people to work. Rather, it is necessary "to create the kind of environment that makes their people the most productive...you must understand them well enough to give them not what you want, but also what they need to make a maximum contribution" (130).