Tag Archives: sales coaching

E-mail Responses and the Perceptions they Hold; Especially in Istanbul

Originally posted at Pro/Vision Coaching.

There are times in one’s life when decisions just have to be made. What decisions, you ask? Life. Altering. Decisions. These are the decisions that change the course of your life – the ones that once are made, will forever change your direction and ultimate success.

One-ply or two-ply? Margarine or butter? Boxers or briefs? Ok, these are all very important decisions that need to be made, especially the two-ply issue, though I couldn’t imagine why anyone would choose one-ply; that’s just crazy. What I am talking about is deeper than that, one that affects the very core of your existence and the perception of everyone you meet. Inside the world of business, it becomes crucial. What type of email responder are you?

This is a bigger issue than when Constantinople changed their name to Istanbul! Which, since we’re on the topic of Istanbul, is why you should never make a business decision based on a pretty girl; it’s just not thinking clearly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IqJXxHi6RwQ

Anyway, the matter of your response (and response TIME) is hugely important in the business world. Who do you want to show yourself to be? Listed below are a few potential options for response times and the perceptions they hold:

1. Immediate | How needy do you want to look? If you’ve been invited out for coffee after a networking event and you jump in the car before they tell you where to meet, you might find yourself in for some disappointment. The issue of time is one to be respected, and if people know they can grab you whenever they want, they will never be around when you want.

2. Within 24 Hours | Short-term responses can be incredibly powerful. Once you have given enough time to process and understand the request, a timely response goes a long in way showing that you respect their time, which in turn should grant you the same favor. People in the business world will already assume you are busy, so getting back to them quickly will show you care about their time as well.

3. Within 24 Weeks | This strategy can be very helpful, especially when working in post-apocalyptic times. Since zombies have already established themselves as the ruling class, it is to be expected that one can go weeks without an internet connection. In fact, if it’s been a while since zombies took over, 24 months can be considered a very timely response.

4. Invisible Responses | Originally created and popularized by The Acme Corporation in the late 1920s, invisible emails were all the rage. You could write whatever you wanted and no would ever see it because they couldn’t see it! The problem was that the un-invisibility potion was not created for another seventy years, thus rendering the ability to communicate impossible. Simply put, if you don’t reply, you lose all ability to communicate.

How and when you respond to a person goes a LONG way in the ability you will have to influence, befriend, or sell to that person. Take the opportunity to consider their needs before replacing the statue you took from them with an obviously worthless replica. If you respect the time and effort they put into communicating to you by doing the same, they will notice.

Marketing 101 | Reach Your Customers through Their PAIN

*Originally posted on March 15, 2011 by PhilStalnaker at Pro/Vision Coaching.

Recently, I was delayed (when I say “delayed” it was more like an effort on the airline’s part to force me to move to Chicago permanently) and hunkered down at an outlet near a credit card kiosk. As I charged my phone, I couldn’t help but watch the two sales people try relentlessly to capture the attention of the hurried passers-by. The incentive they offered was actually a good deal—a free flight after the first swipe—but no one was interested. Why not? If we were to put their success rate into numbers, it would have to be less and a half percent success rate.

Let’s break it down: at Midway airport, there are 6 gates at the end of the concourse set in a semi-circle. The kiosk was perfectly located at the entrance to the semi-circle, where at least 10 flights per hour were shuffled through (coming AND going). At the average of 135 passengers per flight (according to the airline), over the course of 8 hours, that puts the foot traffic at around 21,600 people during their 8 hour stretch. FYI, I started watching during the last 30 minutes of these particular salespeople’s shift. I inquired how many credit card apps they had sold, which they embarrassedly answered “2”. That means, they literally succeeded at a rate of .000093%.

What was so wrong? Who would not be willing to take a free flight that literally took nothing from them? I say that, because I had already taken advantage of that deal and had acquired the free flight myself. Despite how friendly the salespeople were, no one cared. Curious to find out why, I interrupted a conversation between one of the salespeople and a lady who was overly against this deal. As an objective third party, I asked her why she was so against the deal. Her answer was blunt and honest, “I hate this credit card company”, she said. “They worked me over before and I won’t forgive them.”

“Makes sense to me,” I said, but quickly responded with another question. “Why not sign up, use your swipe to buy a gallon of milk, get your free flight, and then discontinue the card? You would be out nothing, but would have successfully enacted revenge on the company you are angry towards, and you are taking the flight from them.” Without hesitation she turned, filled out the application with a smile, then walked over to me after and thanked me for my help.

5 minutes later that exact same situation repeated itself with a married couple. Again I interrupted the conversation (I also had to include some advice on where to find the pizza that everyone else had while walking around), and again the result was exactly the same. These salespeople, in the last 5 minutes of their shift signed 2 credit card applications from people who were audibly NOT fans of their company. All they had to do was speak to their pain. I’ve already typed over 500 words at this point, so hopefully the lesson is evident, as I doubt I can make the next 500 interesting enough for you to read. Of course, this could never have happened if my flight wasn’t delayed for over 5 hours…

By the way, the credit card companies have no problem with giving people easy ways to opt out after getting the incentive, because statistics show that less than 5% of people will actually go to the effort of discontinuing the card. Laziness, and the credit card companies, win out in the end.

I’m also posting a picture of the shirt that the sales people gave me as a thank-you for getting them those sales.