Pushy, Pushy

I went to Mexico when I was 15 with a group of adults from my church to play guitar, entertain children, and run the sound board on a singing tour.  One of the most amazing experiences was shopping for souvenirs in the open air market in Oaxaca (wah-HA-ka).  I just wanted to buy my dad a chess set and my mom a blanket.

I took Spanish I in the eighth grade, which meant I could ask where the bathroom was, a couple of dirty words, and the word for pencil sharpener (sacapuntas).  I was completely unprepared for the way the market worked.  I was caught at one “store” for about 20 minutes because the sales guy would not take no for an answer.

He wasn’t listening to me as I patiently explained to him in broken Spanish that I did not want to buy his necklaces and would he please tell me where the pencil sharpener was located.  Lucky for me one of our translators came to my rescue and we spent another 5 minutes trying to break away from this guy.  Not only was he not listening to me, he wasn’t listening to someone that could speak his language.

He was thinking that if he kept it up long enough he would wear me down and I would buy something to get him to shut-up and leave me alone.  I hate that kind of sales tactic.

If someone doesn’t want to buy something you should listen to them.  That doesn’t mean you can’t circle back later and ask again, but you risk alienating someone from your business or products forever if you push and push and push.  It tells your targets that you are not interested in their needs, only in making the sale.

I see similarities in the way that Congressional representatives are handling these town-hall meetings in their districts.  Instead of reading the polls that tell them that a VAST majority of the voters in the United States are completely against the version of health-care reform that is currently in draft, they just ignore it.

This causes their constituents to get angry and show up to the meetings and YELL their NO’s.  But the representatives keep right on selling.  Its getting to the point that the people of the United States wonder, “Do they care more about passing a bill or listening to the people that they represent?”

Do not make this mistake in your business.  Listen to your customers, they will tell you everything you need to know.  Push too hard and they will feel as if you care more about the sale than them.