Read the scenarios below and ask yourself—which type am I?
No. 1. The customer says (either on the phone or in person): "Tell you what—I've decided not to take the Blue Widget." Answer from a passive person: "OK, thanks." Customer feels nothing.
No. 2. The customer says (either on the phone or in person): "Tell you what—I've decided not to take the Blue Widget." Answer from an average person: "You sure?" Customer feels slighted.
No. 3. The customer says (either on the phone or in person): "Tell you what—I've decided not to take the Blue Widget." Answer from a proactive person: "Wow! Sorry to hear that. Are you aware there's a Widget maker that goes with it at a discounted price? You'll have several uses for it. Why not keep it? You'll love it."
Customer feels great and buys the Widget and the Widget maker. See the difference? Now, which one are you?
Fact: There is nothing wrong with any of these types. We need them all in this busy world. However, we need certain types to be proactive.
• Passive—The Telephone Doctor's definition is: A passive person receives information and does nothing with it. The dictionary's definition is: Receiving or subjected to an action without responding or initiating an action in return: the mind viewed as a passive receptacle for sensory experience. (Our definition is just simpler!)
Passive does not mean a person is bad or shouldn't be helping customers. It simply means they're passive—not active. Are there passive sales people? Of course there are. The thing about being passive is most people don't like to be called that.
Passive individuals receive information and do nothing with it. Happens all the time. You go into the grocery store. You hand the checker your check. Which has your name on it. The checker asks you for identification sometimes. And then does whatever it is they do, hands you back your ID, and says, "Thank you." No other words are exchanged. Even though he had your name, it was never used it.
This person is passive. Passive individuals receive information and do nothing with it. The checker had your name. Twice. Once on the check and once on the ID.
But again, it's not a bad thing. From my experience, those that are in the passive mode and put into sales are, in truth, uncomfortable. Not bad, just uncomfortable. They're not at ease telling others what is best for them.
So if you have passive individuals on your sales team, talk with them; be sure they're happy. Be sure they're comfortable in their job. My bet is they're probably not quite there yet.
• Average—It's a fact. It is easier to get an average person to be proactive than it is to get a passive person up to average. It just is. Let's see what the dictionary says about average: average, medium, mediocre, fair, middling, indifferent, tolerable.
Fact: There is a mass of average folks out there. Millions of them; and I don't want to be one of them. Not sure about you, but I made a decision a long time ago that I didn't want to be average. I didn't want to be in the mass of mediocrity. Again, average folks aren't bad. They're fine upstanding citizens. But they're average; like a lot of people. And they don't stand out to be remembered. If you're in sales, you want to be remembered.
Average individuals receive information and honestly try to do something with what they receive. It's just that they don't seem to be able to get over the hurdle. Average folks say a lot of words like: 'wow' and 'gee, that's so interesting.' Telephone Doctor calls those "agreement statements" when they really don't know what to say. So you can see they're not bad, just not effective.
Not sure about you, but those words that define average are nothing I'd like to be called. Yet day after day millions of people—including sales people—go about their business being average. And yes, average people make sales. They do. And sometimes they even 'fall' into a large order. In truth it's usually not something that they're responsible for doing. The sale just fell into their laps.
Average people go about their business being sort of happy with themselves when they could be so much more. Sad. I know some average folks I'd love to take under my wing to help them be slightly more proactive.
• Proactive—Ah yes, it's the proactive people in this world that make things happen. They find the sales. They are detectives. They ask more questions, look a little deeper and always double check to be sure. Very few proactive people take "no" as an acceptable answer (or a final one).
Proactive individuals are exceptional. They are naturally inquisitive. They know it can be done. Proactive people love sales. They eat, sleep and drink sales. They love to talk sales, think sales, and do sales. The sale is never boring to a proactive person.
A proactive sales person isn't necessarily a workaholic. They enjoy vacations. (Even relax on them.) But back at work, they have the ability to turn "on." Normally upbeat and happy, proactive sales people seldom wallow in negativity or self pity. They're somehow able to turn that negative into a positive.
Proactive people find a way to get it done. They know "it can be done." They make one more call, research a little more thoroughly, answer one more question, write up one more sale and never run out of questions to ask.
Proactive people think for their clients. They have solutions. They enjoy solving problems for their clients. They enjoy success.
So again I ask, "Which one are you?"
Nancy Friedman is president of Telephone Doctor, a customer service training company in St. Louis. For more information, visit
