Watch Your Mouth!
True story: My great uncle was what we called “simple minded”. Born in 1910, he grew up in a small Appalachian mountain town and only completed 6th grade. He spent his life working on the family farm, making music, and occasionally drinking white lightening (so I’ve been told). While he was not the smartest of his siblings, he could play a guitar, banjo, and piano very well. He never got a drivers’ license or learned to drive an automobile, but that did not stop a well-meaning salesman from selling him a used car. Shortly after buying his car, he had a friend take him out on the highway to see what it would do. During the inaugural ride, a policeman stopped them for significantly exceeding the speed limit. As the cop walked up to the driver’s side window, my simple-minded uncle leaned over from the passenger side and said, “Boy she’ll fly won’t she…”
In Proverbs 21:23 we read, “He who guards his mouth and his tongue, guards his soul from trouble.”
Have you ever talked your way into trouble? Watching what we say is an integral part of being a sales rep of strong character. It’s better to say too few words, than to just keep on talking until we find ourselves where we really didn’t intend to be.
In general we want to say things that the customer wants to hear or to say things that make our products or services appear superior to our competition. It can be very tempting.
I’ve sat in a meeting when a customer is looking for some unique specification for my product, and they asked, “Does it do this one thing?” First thing that wants to come out of my mouth is, “Sure does…” Proverbs 20:25 also says, “It is a trap for a man to say rashly, ‘It is holy!’ and after the vows to make inquiry.” If I tell the customer it has the specs they are looking for and then make inquiry and find out it does not, how does that affect my credibility going back to the customer? It doesn’t help me gain “trusted advisor” status. And even worse, if I find out it lacks that specification and don’t tell the customer and go ahead and book the order, what does that do, not only to my credibility, but also to my relationship with the customer? It kills it. I’m not only out of the running for “trusted advisor” status, but my chances for “supplier of the year” just took a major dive.
Always be truthful. Always measure what comes out of your mouth. Don’t be rash in your answers. Learn to listen to the customer. Get them talking. Set realistic and honest expectations.
And – when you screw up, come clean – apologize, make restitution if needed, and move on.
But is far better to guard your mouth in the first place.
Posted at 11:39AM Jul 21, 2007 by George Miller in Personal | Comments[1]
Posted by Emily on July 24, 2007 at 09:58 AM EDT #