subject: Telemarketing Speaker Asks: Have Your Salespeople Stopped Listening to YOU? [print this page] A few years ago, a delegation of senior managers came to me to help them to reverse flagging sales.
They made this overture:
"We would like you to come in and teach our salespeople what we've already taught them. We think they may be more inclined to use the information if it comes from an outside expert."
At that time, I thought this was like a trick question. How could I know what they've already taught? I know MY methods, and I can teach those.
Plus, I have devised ORIGINAL techniques that really cannot be found elsewhere, except from time to time in my books and articles. Did I understand correctly that the client wasn't interested in ANYTHING NEW?
It seemed as if my typical mandate was being reversed. Instead of the challenge, "Tell us something we don't already know," it was "Tell us ONLY what we already know!"
Weird, right?
Maybe, not.
The great management sage and my professor, Peter F. Drucker, repeated this in many of our classes together:
"There's no such thing as irrational customers. From their point of view, what they want and need are utterly reasonable and rational."
What is wrong with reinforcing what salespeople already supposedly KNOW, but DON'T USE? Arguably, doing so is providing a greater service for a consulting client than trying to deliver entirely novel techniques.
At least, it should be an option even if it seems to an outside expert like the kid's burger on a gourmet restaurant's menu.
It takes maturity for business brass, including sales managers, to appreciate the fact that after a certain point your salespeople, like adolescents in your household, will start tuning you out.
When that happens, it may be time to hire an expert to tell them what they've already heard from you a hundred times.
Invite a "consultant" in to address the troops at your next sales meeting, conference, or convention, an expert that one pundit defined as "An ordinary person, more than a hundred miles from home."
Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a top speaker, sales, service, and negotiation consultant, attorney, TV and radio commentator and the best-selling author of 12 books. He conducts seminars and speaks at convention programs around the world. His new audio program is Nightingale-Conant's "Crystal Clear Communication: How to Explain Anything Clearly in Speech & Writing." He can be contacted about professional consulting and speaking engagements atgary@customersatisfaction.com.
Telemarketing Speaker Asks: Have Your Salespeople Stopped Listening to YOU?
