I grabbed my car phone on the second ring as I pulled out of the parking space in the furniture store lot.  The cord wrapped around the shift lever and, in a loud voice, I told the caller to hold on a second as I unwound it. 

"I hope one day these stupid things are more convenient than this," I thought as the cord came free and its full extension allowed me to both speak into it and hear out of it at the same time.

"Hello"

"Timmy, it's Dick."

Dick Harlow was the General Manager of the radio station for which I worked in the early 90's and he had a way of teaching that made it fun to learn and very memorable.  I wasn't sure why he was calling me in the middle of the morning but it was always good to hear from him.

"Hi, Dick, what's up?"

"Can you meet me for lunch at the Cracked Crab?" Dick wondered.

"Sure, I can be there around noon."

"Great, I'll see you there," Dick said ending the conversation.

I snapped the phone back into its holder and pondered why Dick wanted to have lunch at the Cracked Crab. 

"Oh, well," I thought "wherever he wants to have lunch is fine with me because it's always an adventure."

Dick was already seated at a table in the back of the restaurant when I arrived.  In front of him was a crab dip appetizer and pita chips.  I sat down across from him and grabbed a pita chip as the waitress appeared.  Dick was already drinking water, no ice, so she looked at me expectedly.

"Diet Coke, please.  And a slice of lemon if you have it."

The waitress spun and headed for the kitchen and I turned to face Dick.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" I smiled.

Dick smiled back and pointed to a contraption hanging from the ceiling.

"Have you ever seen one of those, Timmy?"

"Sure, that's a lobster trap.  You know, I grew up on Eastern Long Island so I'm familiar with lots of ways to fish but I have to admit that I've never really spent much time figuring out how a lobster trap works."

Dick got up from the table and motioned me to join him.  As we approached the lobster trap it was easy to see the simplicity of the design.

"Many people think that the weight of the lobster forces a platform down and when the lobster falls over the edge of the platform, it snaps back preventing the lobster from escaping.  But, you can see that isn't the case," Dick explained.

I looked at the trap carefully and could see that he was right.  The entrance was simply a square into which a net was sewn and then attached to a ring that was suspended about a foot inside the trap.  There were two entrances directly opposite each other.  The result was a funnel shaped entrance on both sides of the trap. 

Dick pointed to the area just inside the funnel.  "That first room is where the lobsterman puts the bait and it's called the kitchen.  Lobsters are attracted to the bait - usually fishheads - and they just walk down the funnel and through the ring.  When they've eaten enough they look for a way out and instead of turning around, they head down the next funnel and through another ring into that area to the right.  That's called the parlor."

"What is that small rectangular exit at the bottom of the parlor," I asked.

"That is a way out for smaller lobsters but the big lobsters - the keepers - can't get out through the exit."

We both stood there looking at the trap as it occurred to me that there was absolutely nothing to prevent a lobster from swimming out of the trap through the same rings through which he had entered.

"Why don't they get out?" I wondered aloud.

"Simple," said Dick "they get confused and can't figure their way out."

The waitress had returned with my Diet Coke and we went back to the table to order.  In celebration of my new found knowledge about lobsters, I ordered a lobster po' boy.  Dick decided on boiled shrimp.

After the waitress had refreshed our drinks, I decided to take the bait myself and ask Dick why he shown me the lobster trap.

"When we trained you, did we emphasize the need to ask questions that would uncover needs and wants and desires?" Dick asked.

"Sure.  All of our training is centered on a consultative approach as opposed to a product oriented approach."

"Right," Dick agreed "the consultative approach allows us to customize solutions as opposed to offering 'off the shelf' packages or plans.  Let me ask you this:  do you ever find yourself asking questions whose answers don't help you at all?"

I thought about it a minute and then said, "Yes.  I often ask people about their budget and I rarely get an answer that works in my favor."

"How do you mean?" Dick prodded.

"Well, almost no one owns up to having a budget that is really going to allow us to propose a plan with some substance and one that we feel confident will provide the desired result."

"Right!" Dick exclaimed excitedly.  "We ask about the budget so that we can customize a solution that will solve their marketing problems but they give us a number that prevents us from doing that.  Then, we come back to the station and try to figure out how to lower our rates or give them assets at no charge in order to make sure they aren't disappointed.  Wouldn't it be better to tell them their budget is too low?"

"That wouldn't be better because they will just call another radio station and that seller will take their money," I offered.

"Right again!" Dick nearly shouted.  "We can't tell them their budget is too low because it sounds self-serving and they will become guarded and less engaged.  So, asking about the budget puts us in an awkward situation.  We get the same effect when we ask about expectations."

"Oh, I see what you're saying," I said.  "If we ask them what they expect to happen they are very likely to tell us something that will almost positively not happen.  We can't really tell them their campaign won't succeed as they want it to so we go back to the station and try to come up with a brilliant idea that will somehow meet their too-high expectations."

I fell back in my seat glumly.  This was very bad.  I always asked about budgets and expectations.

Dick smiled.  "These questions take us straight into the lobster trap, don't they?  We feel good about asking them but they take us to a bad place and we can't escape."

"Yes, I see that now," I said.  "What's the solution?"

Our lunch had arrived and Dick surveyed the table to make sure we had everything we needed.

"Simple," he said optimistically.  "We ask questions about the marketing problems our prospects are trying to solve and we provide leadership regarding the cost and the expected results."

"Oh, I see what you are saying," I chimed in.  "A client says they are having a grand opening of a new store and would like to open it with a bang.  We say that they can expect a big crowd if they advertise with us and invest about $5,000 during the grand opening week."

"You've got it now," Dick agreed.  "You've established both the expectations and the budget. . ."

". . .and avoided the lobster trap," I finished with a laugh.

Dick laughed and we bumped fists over the table before diving into the lobster and shrimp.  As always, lunch was great and made all the better by yet another sales lesson from Dick Harlow.