June 10th, 2009
Selling From My
Perspective
By Jeff Cowan
They are called “Cell” phones, not “Sell” phones!
When I was growing up there were many rules in our house,
some important rules that you never tested, let alone break, and then there
were those you could occasionally test with little or no repercussions. But
a rule that you never, ever, ever broke was the “Don’t call Mom or Dad at
work” rule unless it was an emergency! An emergency meaning one of us kids
were dying or had died. Calling to complain that my brother was hitting me
only lead to me being hit more once my parents got home. You never, ever,
ever called the parents at work – period. And you know what? We survived.
I was reminded of this seemingly forgotten rule recently as I
was boarding an airplane. The flight was running about 30 minutes behind
schedule. It was the end of a long day and everyone just wanted to get on
board and go. Things were progressing along fine until about half way
through the boarding process we were all stopped so the gate agent could
take personal cell phone call from her son. Apparently he was instructed to
contact his Mom once he had made it home from school. Needless to say, this
did not make anyone in line happy as many of us had connections to make at
our next stop and if we were held up much longer we risked missing those
connections that would get us home to our families. “Us” being the
airlines customers.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have kids and I understand the need
to make sure they are where they are supposed to be and to know that they
are safe. But if you are working, can’t arrangements be made for someone
else to take that call (i.e. neighbor, sibling, friend, etc.) and as my
parents used to assume, no call from them means there is no emergency at
home, no one was dying or dead and everything was fine. For that Gate Agent
to take that call was unnecessary, rude and highly unprofessional.
And it is not just that one episode either. This is
happening more and more in what seems to be in every aspect of life. It
happens when I am at restaurants, the theatre, at the convenience store, the
shopping mall, when talking to family members and on and on. It seems the
only time this doesn’t happen is when I am talking to my dogs. They seem to
be the only ones on the planet that can or want to give me there full
attention anymore, but that’s probably only because I’m the one who feeds
them now that I think about it.
Personal cell phone calls and texting while on the job has
gotten out of hand. Even taking business calls and texts are rude if you are
already talking to another person in a business situation.
As a minimum, let’s take a look at this situation from a
selling stand point. If you are working with a customer and during that
time you answer your cell phone, text or even look at your cell phone here
is the least your customer will think:
1.
This sales person is rude.
2.
This sales person is not interested in me.
3.
This sales person does not care about my concerns.
4.
This person is too busy for my business.
5.
This sales person is not organized.
6.
This sales person/business is understaffed.
7.
If I do not have their full attention when they are
trying to sell me their product, how much of their attention will
I have after they do.
8.
I am in the wrong place.
9.
If you want my business I want your attention.
Even worse, whenever you are working with a customer and you
take your attention away from them you are now allowing the customer to take
control of the sell. If you are not giving them your full attention than
they will continue to examine your product and make decisions based on
information they do not have because you were not there to give it to them.
And most of the time, their decision will be to not buy what you presented,
but instead only to buy what they originally asked for if anything at all.
Any time you take your attention away from the customer for any reason and
allow them to consider your product without you there to guide them your
closing percentage will drop off by 95%. Work the deal, customer or
situation you have in front of you and you will experience infinitely more
success. The person on the phone is a possibility; the one in front of you
is reality.
I believe every business/sales person should implement the
following rules:
1.
No personal calls or texting unless you are on a break
and out of view of your customers.
2.
No personal calls or texting during working hours unless
it is a true emergency.
3.
During working hours all personal calls should go through
the main switch board.
4.
No personal cell phones are allowed on the service
drive/sales floor period.
5.
When a sales person is talking with a customer in any
manner, they are not to have an interruption of any kind until that
sales situation has ended and the customer is out of the area.
In closing out this message, let me share with you how far I
have personally taken this. When going to a presentation, my phone is shut
off and is in my briefcase until the end of the meeting and I am out of my
customer’s site. When I go to a lunch or dinner meeting, my cell phone is
off, in my pocket and not turned back on until the meeting is over and the
customer is out of site. It has even carried over to our home. No cell
phones at the dinner table or during other family events.
Bottom line: It’s time to stop being rude to the people that
mean the most to us; family, friends and customers, and start appreciating
and taking care of what is right in front of us. After all, isn’t that
where most of the things we seek are, right in front of us?
Right, wrong or indifferent, that’s way I see it, from my
perspective.
