The Selling Strategy: Using Both Approaches

Just as United States' Presidents gave and give the late-night show hosts lots of material, Scott Adams (Dilbert) has provided us with comic perspectives on the reality of work.

The iWAM and LAB Profile are tools for measuring motivational and attitudinal patterns (or metaprograms).

There are companion patterns in the iWAM entitled "Goal Orientation" and "Problem Solving" (Toward and Away From in the LAB Profile). Here is a Dilbert post from March 21, 2020:

Frame 1 is based seems to be based on the Problem Solving or Away From (LAB) pattern. By Frame 3, Dogbert shifts the strategy from Problem to Goal Orientation. It's subtle, but doesn't escape the perceptive pointy-haired boss.

Dan Seidman, our friend and sales guru, says that determining the goal or problem orientation of your client or prospective customer provides the basis for positioning your influence strategy around achieving a goal, avoiding a problem, or, in some cases, both.

For more information about the connection between motivational and attitudinal patterns and sales/influence strategies, see Dan's classic work, The Secret Language of Influence.

For a look at your motivational and attitudinal patterns, check out the Inventory for Work Attitude and Motivation (iWAM).