Lessons in Sales from John McCain

As far as I know, John McCain has never sold for a living. Though you could argue that insofar as he's a politician, he's never done anything else.

Whether or not you believe all politicians are salespeople, some do it differently than others. McCain "sells" in a particular way.

It's an approach to selling that most salespeople instinctively avoid, but that many of the best salespeople have learned to seek. It's an approach Hillary Clinton is belatedly coming to recognize.

It's simple: be transparent.

As Howard Kurtz writes in "Accessibility Opens Doors to McCain" in the Washington Post,

Reporters rarely quote his aides because the man himself is available to react to just about everything. And that "infinite" access, says Boston Globe correspondent Sasha Issenberg, helps the Arizona senator.

"He's pretty good road-trip company," Issenberg says. "The guy stays up on sports, movies and what's in the news. I've had the ability to have extensive conversations with him -- often Socratic dialogues -- about the issues. He's a richer candidate in stories written about him than other candidates are in stories written about them."

How candidates treat reporters shouldn't matter in the coverage, but it does.

William Kristol, writing an op-ed for the NY Times called "Thoroughly Unmodern McCain", makes a similar point:

John McCain is a not-so-modern type. One might call him a neo-Victorian -- rigid, self-righteous and moralizing, but (or rather and) manly, courageous and principled. Maybe a dose of this type of neo-Victorianism is what the 21st century needs. A fair number of Republican and independent voters seem to think so, if one can infer as much from their support of McCain at the polls. But, amazingly, a neo-Victorian straightforwardness might also turn out to be strategically smart.

McCain has been the only Republican candidate who hasn't tried to out-think the process. Perhaps out of sheer necessity, after his campaign imploded last summer, he simply picked himself up and made his case to the voters in the various states.

Meanwhile, the other G.O.P. candidates are creatures of our modern age of analysis and meta-analysis, and their campaigns have sometimes been too clever by half.

There's a reason transparency works: and a lesson for those who would fake it.

The reason transparency works is it reveals motives. Unlike appeals to qualifications, credentials, experience, testimonials, track records and competence--transparency speaks to intent.

If we see someone as being transparent, then nagging questions about motive disappear. We no longer speculate about what's in it for him, what's the hidden meaning, why'd he say that, is he lying, and so on. We accept the person at face value for what they say, even if--sometimes, particularly if--what they say reflects imperfection. That works in sales, and in politics.

And here's the lesson for those would would fake transparency: you had better be really, really good at it, because, if you are caught faking transparency--all bets are off. There's virtually no recovery from being found out intentionally lying about being truthful.

The best way to be transparent about your motives? To be sure your motives are clean in the first place. We don't like someone who's being transparent in order to gain something (like the Presidency). We want transparency as an end in itself--a principle, a value, not a means to end.

Here's how it's done, from Kristol again:

There was a serious moment when BBC correspondent Justin Webb asked why McCain kept bringing up global warming -- not a popular cause with many Republicans, particularly in Michigan, where resistance to fuel-efficiency standards is strong.

"You've got to do what you know is right," McCain replied.

"You could lose as a result," Webb said.

"There's a lot worse things than losing in life," the former POW said.

Transparency sells. The "trick" to using it is to live your life in a way you don't mind being exposed.

Then just be who you are.

Follow Charles H. Green on Twitter: www.twitter.com/charleshgreen

Comments

[cgreen23]

One who claims transparency puts himself at risk of being uncovered. This enables someone like crescentdave, who clearly follows politics, to freely call out McCain when he contradicts himself. That's not a knock against transparency, it's a plus. It's a knock against McCain for not living up to his claim.

If you think I'm writing an "advertisement" for McCain, check my blog. It's hardly ever about politics, it's about trust; and the only other time I mentioned McCain was to point out the same doubletalk on ethanol that you note.

The whole discussion does point out, however, the difficulty of finding any examples of the dynamics of trust by searching in the political realm. Most of us, like crescentdave (me too) are quite ready to jump to the cynical when it comes to politicians.

[Bagger]

He's definatley got my vote if Barack loses.

McCain/Rice/Obama '08

[crescentdave]

Nice try Mr. Green. You're either transparently uninformed or transparently dishonest. I vote for option "B." On this thing called the internet, public records can not only be stored, they can be accessed. Real reporters can then peruse those records before "writing" their advertisements, uh ..., articles.

* McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but has since decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks. (Indeed, McCain has now hired Falwell’s debate coach.)
* McCain used to oppose Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February.
* McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June, he abandoned his own legislation.
* McCain used to think that Grover Norquist was a crook and a corrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist.
* McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands.
* McCain gave up on his signature policy issue, campaign-finance reform, and won’t back the same provision he sponsored just a couple of years ago.
* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.
* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.
* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
* McCain is both for and against overturning Roe v. Wade, depending upon the speech he gives.

It is sad to see a candidate like McCain give up his most personally held beliefs (anti-torture!) in order to cull support from the rabidly fundamentalist right wing.

But it is even more aggravating to see a supposed professional like Green peddle this claptrap PR whitewashing. No wonder he dipped into the murk of Kristol's never-ending apologetics. No one else could draw the conclusions this beltway bottom feeder does. "Straight talk?" This whole article is "too clever by half."

[StillAmused]

Transparency can be a real liability for an unrepentant warmonger who acquired his national security chops at bombing altitude over Vietnam and is comfy with, say, another century of the U.S. mired in Iraq.

In McCain's case, a good cover story might work much better.

[benjaminblue]

With his all-too-frequent use of the overly familiar phrase "my friend," Senator McCain sounds like a snake oil salesman trying to take in the gullible.

So next time he addresses you as a friend, ask him if you can borrow five dollars, and you'll see just how much of a pal he is.

Don't be fooled by his insincere flattery; Senator McCain wants to sell you things you don't want or need.

[CaveatMagnusFrater]

Sniely Whiplash was transparent too.

Too bad McCain thinks we need to satay in Iraq. 'Also, it's a shame he'd defend corporate rights over human rights or the Bil of Rights. So big deal, we don't have to guess how he'd damage America and Americans. Yeah for transparency.