The Salesby5 Blog

Returning calls and emails in a timely fashion makes a difference.  People take ignored communications personally.  By saying nothing, people think you don’t care about their opinion, you disagree with what they’re saying, or you dislike them.  It is up to you to manage expectations.

It is easy to stand out.  Be quick with your responses, no matter who you are.  You have a cell phone with text messaging or email.  What’s keeping you from being a great communicator?  Put numerical precision to it – Who do you need to call or email back within the next 10 minutes?

This morning I dropped off my dry cleaning, with a coupon.  This evening, I picked it up.  On the way home, I noticed that I had not received the proper pricing so I returned, receipt in hand and requested an adjustment.  The gentleman responded “Sorry, nothing I can do.  Only the manager can make that adjustment.”   Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a complaint about my dry cleaner.  During the normal course of business, my dry cleaner must have been de-motivated by an F Player who did the wrong thing.  In response, they added a rule they thought was correct, but that makes their customers lives more difficult.  What if we all worked harder on hiring smarter and applied only a handful of rules Give your employees and your customers the benefit of the doubt and fire those that don’t deserve it.

Action item: Give your people a numerical precision element of empowerment. For Example, "You have $50.00 to do with what you need in the best interest of our customers and company." If your company has core values and a purpose, this will work. If it has neither, it may be a problem and you need to call us at 210-403-3916 now to fix your values and purpose.

Check out Seth Godin’s similar riff regarding answering the phone.

When I ask one of my two young children to do something, like clean a mess, or “take this to your room,” the message is not listened too. I can ask four times and have the same outcome. Yet, when I give them a number for them to use to help understand, everything changes. “On the count of three, you will take this to your room, one, two…” and they are on their way. I do not need to have a punishment.

WHY: We need that clarity. ASAP means AS SOON AS I make time.

WHAT TO DO:  If someone says “I need this Tuesday,” ask “what time?” If you are the person that asks, start giving an exact time – “I need this on Tuesday at 2:15.” It gives relevance on when and it gives a sense of urgency, let alone clarity!

THE POINT: Give clarity in your communication to the point of numerical precision at home and at work. Ten years ago you were not competing with my BlackBerry, my kids, and the quantity of ideas that I have.