Five days of Sahara
type heat with indexes of 110 and I’m about done; well- done that is. So I went into a car dealership just to look
around and get cool and before being pounced upon by eager sales people, I watched
as a sales guy slowly worked over this younger couple with gobbledygook about
finance charges, insurance and warranties (which all add costs to the purchase and commissions in his pocket) for about 20 minutes.
I could see that he
thought he had them closed when the woman suddenly interrupted and said, “I really didn't understand
most of what you were talking about so I guess we’ll just take it home, read
the materials and come back later this week.
Ain’t gonna happen. You know it and I know it.
Bang, the guy
worked his butt off and lost the sale. There was no chance they were coming
back. He looked surprised so I walked up
to him and I said, “Hey man, its just TMI.”
He looked at me
and said, “Huh?” “Yeah TMI” I said, “Too
Much Information. You gave that person too much information, confused them, got
them lost and took them out of their comfort zone and that’s why they left.” He was scratching his head when I turned and
left too. Maybe he’ll think about it
when the next prospect walks in. Maybe.
And then it hit
me.I wonder how much information
we give customers who call on the phone. Do we give them too much information
or not enough information?
So I got back
in the SAAB and drove over to the park, punched down the windows and started
calling some bowling centers in the area.
I called to ask
about Birthday parties. Would you
believe that five out of five centers just started telling me about the two,
three or four packages they had without even pausing for breath or asking if I had
any questions! When they finally
finished (after about 5 minutes, I simply said OK, thanks.
Their response? “Sure
no problem. Bye.”
Are you kidding me?
These guys never
asked me even ONE qualifying question such as:
·
What is your child’s name?
·
How old will he/she be
·
Has he/she ever had a bowling birthday party
·
When would you like to have the party? (day,
date and time)
·
How many friends do you anticipate being at the party/
·
Do you have a budget in mind?
·
Will you be bringing your own cake?
If you don’t qualify
the prospect, you’ll be giving people information they may not want or even
care about. So if you ask the right questions you will then have the information
(wants, needs) they think is important. You can now more effectively guide the
person on the other end of the line to the kind of birthday party that more
specifically meets her needs?
And isn't that what
marketing is all about?
