Communication mistakes can close door on sales

A salesman said his competitor ripped me off; a Realtor claims she has been speaking with my deceased father; the rep that stood me up claims it wasn't his fault and a financial planner I barely know recalls a lunch that never took place. When it comes to sales, communication is king.

Listening keeps the door open

A persistent salesman finally got me to set an appointment with his Web development company to talk about creating a new Web site.

When I arrived, the salesman had gone to lunch and had forgotten about our ap-pointment.

I asked the assistant when she expected the salesman to return, to which she replied, "I don't know."

When I expressed my disappointment and anger, she responded by saying: "I can't be accountable for him being de-pendable."

I walked out questioning the competence of the company. The potential business was lost before the salesman got an opportunity to apologize. Good listening could have saved the sale.

It might have gone something like this:

Customer: "What time do you expect him to return?"

Assistant: "I'm not sure. I didn't know he was going to be out of the office."

Customer: "That really makes me angry."

Assistant: "I can see why you're upset. I'm sure there is some explanation. Let me get the boss and see what we can do to make it up to you."

Good listening often includes problem-solving.

Blame is not a closing technique

The explanation and the apology never arrived. Imagine my surprise when I saw the salesman at a meeting a few months later.

I approached him, ready to forgive and waiting for him to recognize his mistake and absentmindedness. He acted as though we had never met.

"Well, I guess we missed each other on our appointment," I prodded, almost begging him to admit his error.

"Yes I hate it that that happened," he said.

"Then why didn't you call me to apologize?" I asked.

"It was the secretary's fault," he replied.

I got a message from him on my voice mail a few days later:

"Hey, let's get that Web site off and rolling." (Since when did blame become a closing technique?)

Blame might have closed the door, but it was the assumption that locked it.

Questions eliminate assumptions

At a networking luncheon, an acquaintance approached me after discovering I had gone to his competitor to purchase some business promotional items. This was his response: "You just got screwed on price."

"Oh really?" I replied, holding my thoughts in check.

How does he know what I paid? How does he know that I didn't get it wholesale or that it isn't my relative that I'm doing business with?

One or two questions might have saved him from looking unsophisticated. His assumption put an undue burden on his back: to prove himself right without knowing all of the facts.

Know the facts

A business acquaintance called to discuss my financial situation and offered to become my financial planner. It was awkward explaining that I already had a financial planner.

She didn't take time to do the necessary fact-finding. One question would have saved some embarrassment: "Do you have a financial planner that you work with?"

Several months later, she called again saying, "I know we got together for lunch, but I thought that we should get together once again to discuss how I might help you with your finances."

Since we never did go to lunch, I bit my tongue so that I wouldn't respond off the cuff: "Well, first let me help you learn how to take better notes and improve your memory."

Another interesting occurrence happened when I received a letter that should have gone to my dad, since his house was for sale. It was from a Realtor who started the letter by saying, "I enjoyed talking with you on the phone" in bold and italicized letters. The letter was dated January 1999.

The interesting part is that my dad had been deceased for six months. I toyed with the idea of calling the Realtor to see if the conversation took place with the Ouija board.

The best sales professionals are great communicators. They listen, ask questions, search for facts, and apologize when they stand you up.

(Marlene Chism is president of ICARE Presentations in Springfield.)