There’s an expression which goes something to the effect that we were given two ears and one mouth because listening is more important than speaking. Or something like that. I’m a writer, not a researcher. Feel free to look this up yourself… I’m very busy.
Actually, I’m not, as I’m presently under house arrest on the charges of WWU. That’s “writing while unemployed.” With any luck, it’s not a life sentence. Or a run-on sentence, for that matter.
Not that you ever read my column seeking relevance, but in this case, there is some. I bring up my current status because of an episode from this past week. My phone rings, I answer it. It’s a vendor from a promotional industry service provider… someone with whom I’ve spoken in the past about using them for one thing or another (no, I’m not naming names).
In that he’s in sales mode, he starts with Small Talk 101: “How are you, how’s business?” You know the drill. I reply that all is fine, aside from being unemployed (and who says I can’t give a straight answer?). He continues with his routine: “Busy summer? What trade shows are you doing?”
Never known for suffering fools, I interrupt and tell him that I’m not doing any shows in the foreseeable future because, as I’d just mentioned, I’m unemployed. Read into that any way you’d like, young Padawan, but ultimately it means that I no longer work for the company for whom you think I work. Your sales pitch should have ended, I don’t know, maybe in that last paragraph!
Commence radio silence. Nothing from the other end of the call. I ask if he’s still there and he replies that he is. He just didn’t know what to say. A simple “wow… that sucks” would have sufficed, but I would have accepted a “sorry to hear that.” Nevertheless…
I have to admit that I didn’t appreciate his eventual follow-up, which was asking me if I knew who he should contact at my former company. Maybe I should have slammed him three paragraphs ago, but that’s really not my style. I just said “Sorry, no.”
We can address why I felt the need to apologize at a later time.
Again, I won’t mention the company for which he works, but I do question his and their training. I will say that it’s a professional organization in the promotional products industry, not just some telemarketing firm whose annoying people follow the script to the letter. This guy clearly wasn’t listening when I told him that I wasn’t working… he was just powering through his spiel.
Maybe it’s because (I claim that) I’m a writer. I also studied broadcasting and journalism back in college. “Communications”, as a whole, has always been very important to me, and that goes both ways. Know that when you’re communicating with me, I’m paying attention to every detail, be it written or spoken. When I’m communicating with you, you can rest assured that you know all the relevant details on my side of this discussion in order for you to formulate your reply. (Please Mister Editor… let’s make sure there are no typos when this goes to press!)
If you’ve heard this one before, stop me. I know I’ve told it before, but it goes along with the theme of this column.
Many years ago, back when I was a lowly territory sales rep, I was working under a sales manager who, to his credit, had his own style. In sales, I find that to be a laudable trait. Speak in your own voice – and don’t always follow the script. He may have taken that too literally.
We were exhibiting at some trade show, I can't recall where, and I was doing a presentation. Sales manager insinuates himself into the conversation (if you know me at all, you’d be surprised to learn that that was not the part that bothered me). I had my thing going on, but allowed him to add some finer details about this or that. At this point, he was in the zone. In this case that was not a good thing.
The customer to whom we were speaking (and by “we” at this point I mean “he”) tried to interrupt, asking something about whether the product in question came in blue, or if it was individually packaged, or some such thing (yes, I actually remember the specifics, but I’m protecting the party in question here. See… I’m an okay guy after all.).
Instead of listening to the customer, the sales manager just kept going, essentially saying that we’ll get to your silly questions at the end of my presentation – once I’m done expounding on the societal benefits of the item in question.
Being new and (brace yourself) insecure, I let him go on and on, even as I watched the customer lose interest. The customer finally extricated himself from the conversation and left our booth. I think it’s safe to say he didn’t order a sample.
See what happened there? The simple act of listening (or, in this case, not listening) most likely cost us a customer. In the case of the guy who called me last week, well, yeah, I do question as to whether or not I would want to work with him once I have the opportunity (you people don’t think you’re done with me yet, do you?).
Now what’s the likelihood that you might have recognized yourself in some of this? If you do, try to remember that in your next conversation or correspondence.
Who says I’ve never taught you anything?
Mike Schenker, MAS, is a promotional industry veteran and member of the Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York (SAAGNY) Hall of Fame. He can be reached at mike@mikeschenker.com.