Taking his hydraulic fracturing presentation on the road, state Sen. Greg Ball reiterated his call for tougher regulations with a talk at the Mount Kisco Public Library.

During his Thursday talk, Ball (R-Patterson) slammed the natural gas industry and politicians in both parties who he says are beholden to their interests.

“The problem with fracking is the problem with politics in the United States of America," said Ball.

Ball, who has given the presentation in multiple parts of his district, described regulations in Pennsylvania as an example of how not to regulate the fracturing, also referred to as fracking. In his talk, Ball showed data from a 2009-10 study conducted by the Pennsylvania Fishing & Boating Commission, which showed 30 percent of well areas (with a sample of more than 100) looked at had contamination issues.

Concerns that Ball raised about the process are whether or not the used fracking fluids can be properly processed, whether land owners have sufficient protections in the land contracts they sign, and sediment and erosion controls to deal with runoff coming from the sites.

“These permits are being granted in the most pristine ecosystems and high-value watersheds," he said, showing maps with the overlap.

Additionally, Ball raised concern about fluids being properly disposed of, whether through discharge of treated water into streams or by burying material. He also worries about the amount of water being used on each well, which he expained is in the millions of gallons range in Pennsylvania.

“This is a huge amount of water," he said.

Ball recounted his visit to an area in Pennsylvania where the drilling has been taking place and described anecdotes from his trip. He came away with a negative impression, based on his descriptions.

During the talk, Ball mentioned his proposed legislation that he calls a "Property Owner’s Bill of Rights." The bill, which has an equivalent version in the state assembly, calls for: mandating disclosure of the chemicals in fracking fluids, compensation to land owners that is 150 percent of the property's pre-drilling market value, full compension to land owners for clean up, a more extensive environmental review, and lifetime free medical monitoring for property owners. Click here for more details on his proposal.

The audience, which was close to two dozen, was largely supportive of having a tougher stance with the gas companies.

Chappaqua resident Kevin Shaw described the situation as "one of economics and externalities," citing broader consequences from fracking that he worries could be given to the public to deal with, such as potential medical costs.

Harry McCartney, a Mount Kisco resident who does history talks on the village's history that include its relationship with nature, took a holistic look at the situation. He asked Ball about how fracking could impact areas such as municipal infrastructure and the ability to get mortgages for property that has already been fracked.

There are two distinct categories involving buying decisions: the behind-the-scenes issues buyers must manage internally to get stakeholder buy-in for change and for going outside their status quo for a solution and the solution-choice issues.

We are all very familiar with the latter: that’s what sales handles so well. But sales does not handle the former at all:

• we are not there when buyers choose the Buying Decision Team, or the machinations of how they will work together;
• we are not there when the powers that be decide it might actually be time to resolve a problem that has been working well-enough;
• we are not there when internal politics get into gear and people jocky for position in re a new initiative or resolving an historic problem;
• we are not there when the decision is made to either use a familiar provider, or go outside to seek a new one, or do nothing.

To give you some understanding of the order of the steps buyers go through to make the above decisions, think about a time when you decide to purchase a new car, or a new house (or a new something). The very first thing you did was NOT seek out a solution or a vendor. Let’s walk you through the process.

1. consider that maybe, just maybe, your current situation isn’t good enough. Just a thought.
2. take a look around at the ramifications of the existing situation vs what a different solution would do to your status quo.
3. talk with your spouse, kids, friends – your Buying Decision Team. Is the status quo ok for a while longer? What would be important to consider in the decision: money? the time involved in figuring out a new solution? What do you do with the existing solution – keep it? get rid of it? how will you choose – do you need to do some research on the costs of having 2 solutions? And, what will go on with your daily lives when you decide to make a change? Is it a time issue? a money issue? a space issue? What is involved? And what criteria will be used to choose. What about the relationship issues involved? How does each member of the Buying Decision Team get weighted? involved? How do you know when you’ve got the right people in the team? How do you include those you’ve left out?
4. Figure out the costs (time, people, money, resource, political/relationship capital) in change. It’s easier to remain with the current situation – but is the status quo too costly? Is the cost too high to make a change? How do you and your decision team go about assessing your internal costs? And whose needs are weighted higher than others? How will you know when one of the Buying Decision Team members is resisting – and how do you all handle that?
5. Figure out all of the criteria that will have to be met to keep everyone happy. Everyone. Including your bank.
6. Once everyone has agreed to
   a. changing the status quo;
   b. the type of solution;
   c. the criteria that the change/solution must meet;
   d. the roles people will play in a purchase choice and adoption activities,

then it’s time to start researching solution choices and providers, get agreement for action from Buying Decision Team.

And this is where sales takes over. Not before.

OUR CURRENT STEPS MISS THE IMPORTANT DECISION FACTORS

Here is what is happening now — and you’ll see why it doesn’t work. Let’s again assume you’re buying a new car, and let’s assume a car sale is similar to other sales calls (a bit of poetic license, please):

1. car dealer contacts you to see if you need a new car. Invites you down to showroom to see the car, take you to lunch, sit down and chat with you, etc.
2. you have nothing better to do, and the showroom is near your work. You’re thinking of a zippy car for this time in your life. You visit during lunch. You get the whole schpiel – car details, price discussion, a few drinks.
3. you are excited – but you’re not sure if this car will be acceptable to your spouse. You sit down with your spouse to discuss your desire to get a new, zippy car.
4. spouse is not happy. Spouse wants to buy a vacation cottage with that money; you have an arguement. You decide to put it on the table for a few days and think about it.
5. lots of discussion. After three weeks of discussion and no agreement, you and your spouse haven’t gotten further. Your current car is ‘fine’ although with the kids gone you were hoping for something sportier. Your spouse reminds you of the grandkids that now live around the corner. Is there enough money to have two cars?
6. seller calls you. What’s up? Great price for the car if you want it. Want to come back in?

See the problem? We wouldn’t buy the way we sell – why do we think our prospects will? Why do we forget the basic facts about people? Why do we treat a problem/need as if it were an isolated event? Why haven’t we adopted new skills to help buyers manage their off-line, private, personal decisions, in the way we would need to for ourselves?

Why do we forget that just as we discuss decisions with family, our buyers discuss decisions with colleagues, and weigh several types of considerations (internal stability, balance of internal political/relationship/timing factors, maintainance of status quo) before they can even consider a new solution?

We forget that if they had found their situation terribly problematic they would have changed already. We forget that choosing our solution – like choosing the car to purchase – is the last thing that goes on in a buyer’s mind. We forget that sales doesn’t offer a different set of skills to help with the different set of decisions.

Think about it. How will you know when it’s time to add Buying Facilitation™ to your current skill set, and help buyers manage their behind-the-scenes decision issues before you sell? How will you know that learning an entirely new skill would sit comfortably with your current skill set and enhance your success?

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