Jonathan graduated with High Honors from Harvard College with a Double Major in History of Science and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
Jonathan’s company, H. Crimson, publishes the Diabetes Digest Family of Magazines which were the first condition-specific, retailer specific publication in US pharmacies. H. Crimson publishes the nation's largest diabetes magazine, Walgreens Diabetes & You, for the nation's largest drugstore chain, Walgreens which has a circulation of over 8 million magazines each year. H. Crimson also publishes health magazines for top retailers, such as Costco, focusing on diabetes and other health topics.
Back in Russia, in the days of wagons and wagon drivers, there lived an old wagon driver who served the people of the small village he lived in. One day a young wagon driver named showed up and started offering rides to the villagers. At first, the old driver didn't mind sharing the responsibilities but eventually, he saw that there just wasn't enough business for both of them.
So the old driver approached the young driver and said, “I'm an old wagon driver and I can't get up and move to a new village at this point in my life.” “Sorry old man. I'm not leaving.”
“Well then,” said the old wagon driver, “If you think you're a good enough wagon driver to take over for me in this village, then let me give you the "wagon driver test." It’s the same test I had to take when I took over the job from the last wagon driver in town. If you pass the test, you stay and I go. But if you fail, then I stay and you go.”
“No problem. Bring it on.”
So the old driver asked the first question. “You have passengers in your wagon and their suitcases in back and you are in the middle of a big storm. Your horses veer off to the side of the road, and get stuck in the mud. What do you do now?”
“Easy. You get out of the wagon and ask the passengers if they mind if you remove their luggage while you pull the wagon out of the mud. Then you pull on the harnesses to get the horses to pull the carriage out of the mud.”
“Very good. Next question. Same situation. You have passengers in your wagon and their suitcases in back and your horses get stuck in the mud. But even after you ask the passengers to get out of the wagon, and you prod the horses you're still stuck.”
“You just take out the luggage from the back so that the wagon is even lighter, and then you prod the horses, and they will get you out.” “Great. But what if that doesn't work?”
“I would take a lever and put it under the rear axle and lift the wagon out.”
“Great. But what if the lever sinks into the mud as well?” “Then I would take a beam and put it under the lever.”
“Very good. So here is the last question. What if the beam sinks into the mud and you are still stuck?”
Finally, he was stumped. “I don't know,” he said.
“Is that your final answer?” “Well there is no answer. It's not fair.”
“We agreed on this quiz. If you come up with the correct answer, you stay. If not, you go. What's your answer?”
“I don't have an answer.”
“OK then. Good luck in the new town.”
“Fine, I'm prepared to leave. But can you at least give me the answer to your question?”
“The answer,” said the old wagon driver, “is this: A good wagon driver never gets stuck in the mud.”
Focus = WAGON DRIVER PRINCIPLES: Or how to NOT get stuck in the mud.
Plan for the road ahead
Come up with realistic strategy for following it
Follow it 100%
You can't cram planting. You must plan in advance in life, says Covey.
Dieters who take a nibble of sweets, that's the beginning of the end of their diet. The only people who can stop smoking or drinking or overeating are those who realize it's 100 percent, or its over. You must plan to succeed. It won’t just happen.
BEGIN WITH END IN MIND
Look at Mel Blanc. How do you want to be remembered. Whats first,
Rothschild story great illustration of this whole concept of planning and focusing on end.
You cannot violate the laws of magnetism that govern a compass. These laws are built into the universe. The earth is a magnet. You either deal with it, or you don’t. Just like you can’t move a lighthouse. You either move, or you will crash into it. You can get upset that the laws are the way they are. But it won’t change anything.
You can't change north. Or east. There are laws that govern nature. With a compass, or without an accurate well tuned internal one, if you’re only off one degree and try to circumnavigate the world, you’ll end up on another continent like Columbus discovering America.
Sometimes you have to be shaken up to to recalibrate inner compass like the iphone. Like the true North. Compass will point to it in all circumstances. Without true North you don’t know where you’re going and you can get stuck.
A compass is something we must follow, without compromise, like the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath Kosher for Jews.
Clayton Christansen, keeping his Sabbath on Sunday, Not a basketball championship or a big meeting for BCG, his first job. What happened to Jeff Skilling of Enron, his HBS classmate, who was a nice person when he knew him. People like him said, "Just this once, I can do it. I’ll get back on the path. But life is
AN UNENDING STREAM OF EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES
100-percent person and maintain your character 100 percent of the time. Be 100% responsible for everything. Don’t blame any one else. Don’t blame the horses. You need to guide them properly.
Golf. Doesn't matter if you are objectively better. Like me vs Danny. If G-d wants it to succeed then your bad shot might actually be closer to the hole in life. Golf ball miss mussar. I didn’t hit well and it was closer as Danny. Even if you make the worst presentation ever—if Hashem wants you to get the business, you will get it. Says Chovos Halevavos and Rabbi Feuer: Once you firmly believe that everything you do is determined by the Creator and that His choices for you are the best possible ones, you should occupy yourself with things that will benefit you most and make the best decision you can and God will do what He decreed must be done. In other words, even if objectively you do everything right, if God doesn’t want you to get the deal, you won’t, and vice versa. R Kotler every day.
Please light my vinegar. Tell story of Chanina. Sales vinegar and Sales oil. I messed up so please save me.
Spigot and parnassa. You can make one hole or 10. The same amount will come out. Make any choice and hashem will make it right. If it could be better, it would be better.
Covey: It's hard to remember all Seven Habits—even I struggle to. Covey simplified it: Teach and obey your conscience, which means study wisdom literature and follow it.
I interviewed Covey in 2007 for my mag (I’ve done many interviews with celebrities) and showed him the 7 Habits of the wise, and showed overlap with Pirkei Avos, as well will see in next slide. Covey wrote an intro to Lets Get Real or Lets Not Play how his 7 Habits apply to sales and business relationships. See how they overlap with FAST:
FOCUSED “ You need the necessary paradigm, processes, and skills to focus on principles of enduring sales success”
ATTUNED “Talk less and listen more.”
SYNERGISTIC “Focus on clients to help them succeed.”
TRUSTWORTHY “Act with authenticity, trust, and integrity to reach win-win”
Jewish Wisdom Literature: Rabbi Hillel summarized it as: "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn it.
A good summary is EOF, and Chapter 5, 7 of the wise man embodies FAST.
“A wise man does not speak before one who is greater than him in wisdom or age. He does not interrupt his fellow's words. He does not rush to answer. His questions are on the subject and his answers to the point. He responds to first things first and to latter things later. Concerning what he did not hear, he says "I did not hear." He concedes to the truth. “
* FOCUS: The wise man plans things out, End in mind. First things first in conversation
* ATTUNED Does not rush to answer. Deliberates before reply Does not interrupt his fellow's words.
* SYNERGISTIC Shows consideration for others. Is humble.
* TRUSTWORTHTY Says "I did not hear.” Concedes to the truth.
1995, there were only a couple of million people with diabetes and retailers had very little interest in my magazine concept. Tough sell for niche health magazine. I thought it would be a nice niche publication for a while. But diabetes has grown to 30 mil, and now my circ is over 9 million. Competition was Medizine and Diabetes Focus, cookie cutter magazines. Because I had to customize each magazine, because I was selling retailers one by one, used a weakness as a competitive advantage and I played it up to everyone this was the key to landing Walgreens, Walmart and Costco as well as many other accounts who only wanted a customized magazine. I got the premium, they got the others.
After Noah was diagnosed. I couldn’t function. In 1996, I thought my life was over, let alone my business. I had to focus on the end, and what was I going to do? How was I going to make life work?
The only way for me to justify going back to work was to help people with my magazine and the gratifying letters from people that I saved their lives helped me. Intimidating. I was only 27, had no connections in the industry, no money, I was married, with children, and unfortunately a sad situation with one of my children Noah, A”H who had Tay Sachs and only lived for four years. Its been over 13 years since his passing, but I can remember vividly the incredible care that my wife Judi gave him in our home. And somehow, I mustered the inner strength to build my magazine so that we could take care of him in the best way possible. Lots of meds. No idea how I got it together.
I had to overcome a lot early. I put my family first. So I can't grow my bus to huge corp. Need a local bus with no commute to reach my life goals. Robert would say why don't you try to grow bigger. Too much sacrifice. He retired and can now spend time with family. Not all can do that. Nsp has always been for Noah and for the foundation and while he was alive it was. I would say I couldn't take just some job, but what I was going was helping people so I could justify going to work. It was never just a business.
Want to be a people person? First be a person, then develop people skills. From excellent book called Go Giver. Be focused on developing your character FIRST.
By incorporating the values we have been taught, we can greatly improve our business relationships. When you improve yourself inside, you will be more successful on the outside through JWL and the principles that match.
You cant fake authenticity. So first, work, or rework on your character. No new skills to learn. Just bringing out what’s inside you, putting your years of training in JWL to work.
(DERECH ERETZ KADMA LE SALES). Sales, or any business relationship.
BE ATTUNED: SEE THINGS FROM THE OTHER PERSON’S PERSPECTIVE.
LEARN FROM OUR SPOUSES/WIVES
Our spouses are our greatest sales trainers. What's the most important lesson from marriage? Be quiet and listen. It’s also the key to success in business relationships. Great sales trainer: G*d gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. My wife tells me that when I hear her and understand her it means everything.
Learn from personal relationships how to act with customers:
Be a person. Treat clients like they are relatives. Step out of your roles of buyer and seller, and just talk like two people. Look to build a relationship, not to make a sale.
Be considerate: of people’s time. Ask if it's a good time to speak when you call. Ask permission to ask questions. It shows this is a partnership and isn't just about you and when it’s convenient for you to talk.
Be open: Don't hide anything.
Be authentic: Don't say have a great weekend or put an exclamation point unless you mean it. Don’t tell them they've asked a great question unless you mean it.
Our philosophy has always been simple: We are agents for our Customers –Sam Walton
Be Attuned to customers: When I started my company, I focused on selling to people I understood well, trade sales people for pharma companies. I was able to truly empathize with them. They felt they were working for the man. And they understood I was truly understanding them. Talk about Kevin Corona and how I overcame his edict through strong relationships. Being attuned to those initial people and building relationships help me build my company and withstand the initial strong storms.
In the old days of sales, there were two types: Listeners and Tellers.
Listeners were salespeople who were genuinely interested in helping you out, and providing you with products that would improve your quality of life. They listened well, and weren't pushy. Like survival of the fittest, this way is still around.
But the tellers, the old “used car salesmen” tellers and sellers were extroverts who didn’t listen to you but who were “natural salesman” But that idea is a fallacy according to professor Adam Grant who says Ambiverts are best. Rambams Aristotles middle ground, mean between extremes, so you learn this from JWL. Follow the middle path and you will become a wise man. That’s an ambivert. Extroverts too busy talking, not listening so they will go extinct. Like my first sales trainer who looked at you as a dollar sign. But one good story that I learned back then. It only worked once, but it was just a matter of listening. Well, there was this one real estate broker I tried to sell an ad to. He told me he wasn’t 100 percent convinced about advertising with us, I said to him, well, how convinced are you in percentage terms. About 70…He bought the ad.
Harry Bullis former chairman of General Mills: “Forget about the sales you hope to make and concentrate on service”
Who was the world greatest salesperson? Abraham.
He had Hashem, the perfect product and couldn’t believe in it any more than he did. Had passion to help and he knew his product would help people.
Abraham prayed for Avimelech to have children even though he was barren and he was answered too. He didn’t do it for his own sake, but having children was the result. Gds way of telling us if you care about others it will benefit you.
Robert Oringer created the category of private label diabetes products. When I called him two decades ago trying to sell him in ad in my fledgling diabetes magazine which started in distribution with a mail order company he ended up bartering with me to get my magazine into into my first drug store account Pathmark, which started my career. We both gave to and helped each other. He helped others, too, and was great mentor. Eventually, I introduced Robert to friends of mine who helped him get his products into Walmart, which grew his business considerably. Then his company eventually helped me get my magazines into Walmart.
Adam Grant of Wharton wrote Give and Take, made it to Mishpacha and NYT. Give and it will benefit you, because everyone likes a giver. Takers at top because everyone wants to work with them. Think about it. Who do you want to work with? Giver taker or matcher. Everyone wants to work with a giver. Serve Gd but not to get reward = giver. But start as matcher, betoch she lo.
Win-win like Roger Fisher is already well known. Got an A in his class. Synergy of Covey. First do what you need to in order to build a real relationship. Then worry about the rest.
WOMEN DON’T LIKE SALES PRESSURE.
•Judi runs away from store salespeople because of sales pressure. If you buy, it's on your terms. You go to them when you need them.
•Even with her relative who sells make up, and even though she loves her and loves make up, if her relative is pushing it on her she doesn't want it.
Sales pressure reminds people of old school salesmen. Like Pink says, sales was to be white collar equivalent of cleaning toilets, necessary but unpleasant. But now, sales no longer the redheaded stepchild of marketing
My first job helped me to get a great job my freshman summer of 1987 at Harvard Lets Go with both I and Grant started at 18. I had a good product, and that’s more important than anything. Improve your product. If its not good enough to sell with confidence make it better.
Lilly find a way to connect with everyone. Dr kernisan. Klebanov. Lev. Sales Swiss Army knife.
Old school, or high pressure there was no trust. Myth of acceptable noodge, like Kramer. Annoyed Jerry, but got what he wanted and stayed friends. That’s what my manager Bob Zazlav said to be.
But don’t go to other extreme, per the Rambam. Don't want to be pushy, but you can't let the account fade away. Walmart example. I kept following up until they said stay away, then new people came in and they forgot me. “And a new king came that didn’t know Joseph”. Also, don’t hide behind emails and voicemails. Get there in person or by phone.
My own history:
I first heard about category captains when working with the former Eckerd chain. They had such confidence in the expertise of someone named Mary Moffett her commitment to Eckerd’s success, that the fact that she was a vendor made no difference to them. They trusted her as much as if she were their own employee. Trust is at the center of my long-term business relationships. I have published my diabetes magazines for Costco, Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson, and many others over 15 years, Walgreens for more than 10, and most business relationships have been five years or more.
Being a category captain is my paradigm.
Examples with a couple of companies:
Trust first character trait, and Listening most important skill. People want to buy products they are excited about from people they like and trust
Trust also breeds loyalty. A case in point: This is from an actual note from the vice president of pharmacy at a chain I work with to a competitor trying to replace me by slandering me:
"No, I am not willing to meet with you, and I resent your implications. Don’t contact me again"
Notes like this from your long-term partners are as satisfying personally as they are professionally. And they verify the efforts you make in maintaining your character and business practices.
