Moron Enterprises

There is one thing that automation cannot replace in the world. It will not be able to replace the benefits you get when talking to a live, knowledgeable person. I can’t stand automated attendant systems when I call into vendors. Whenever you reach one of these, chances are that you are going to be on hold even after you get through selecting your choices. There have been quite a number of times that I start doing other things while I am on hold, and by the time I have finally gotten through to a live person and forgotten why I originally called or who I called. I then scramble to look at my phone and see who I called, all the while saying, “Uh…I was looking for…some help with…” Stop making me look stupid and pick up the damn phone!

Still, once in a while I am relieved to catch a break with some hold music. One particular customer of ours has “Just Like Heaven” for their hold music. It’s always a treat to call them and be placed on hold. Sometimes I ask to be put on hold a little while longer to get to the good part of the song.

I spend a lot of time on the phone with customers, and I’ve learned a few things about sales.

Sound confident and people don’t question what you’re telling them. You can sell more stuff that way. There is no need to lie to people in doing this. You are presenting them with products they can use at a price they are willing to pay. You are just convincing them to do it now, rather than later.

The other thing I realized is that people are not comfortable with silence and talk way more than they should, giving out needless information. Sometimes this lets me know exactly where I need to price myself, but most of the time it’s people just rambling on with additional information after they’ve told me everything I need to know. From my own experience I know they are just to try to elicit a confirmation of what they’re already saying, because they’re not positive about what they’re doing.

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