Sometimes The Two Lane’s Better Than The Interstate

It’s new ! It’s easy ! It’s fast !

Is it better ? Maybe not.

Notice I said maybe, so save the crucifixion comments.

I had an interesting conversation, thru the comments section of a blog, the other day. I’m not going to link to it here, not because I’m mad, but because I don’t want them to think I’m picking on them and calling them out. I read that blog every time they post. Always have, always will.

I’m also going to use some off topic quotes that aren’t so off topic, from Seth Godin. The blogger noted that he would respond to text messages in 15 minutes, but hated voicemail. Wow. That, to me, in my industry, would be equivalent to death. And I’m sure a LOT of below thirty-somethings feel the same way.

The basic problem with this is it’s circumvents one of the basic tenets of selling, which is learning how to interact with, deal with, respond to and work it out with human beings.

Voice transfers emotion, text does not. Smileys are cute, but they don’t allow someone to say, ” Did you mean thisorthat ? ”

Being unable to stop a text message in the middle and say waitafreakingminute means you’re shortchanging yourself, the other person, the conversation and the product or service.

Here’s a recent quote from Seth:

” I don’t use Twitter. It’s not really me. I also don’t actively use FaceBook, and I’m not adding any friends, though I still have an account for the day when I no doubt will. I also don’t use Flickr or MySpace or Meebo. “

Me neither. This example by Thom Singer is one of the reasons why you should think about avoiding these like the bubonic plague.

Another reason that you might consider not using social media if you’re a professional sales person is simple - You can’t do 55 things and do them all well.

If Seth can’t do it, you can’t either:

” My reasoning is simple, and it has two parts. First, I don’t want to use a tool unless I’m going to use it really well. Doing any of these things halfway is worse than not at all. People don’t want a mediocre interaction. Second, I don’t want to add a layer of staff between me and the tools I use and the people I interact with. I think both of these ideas go together, and unfortunately, they’re also a paradox. If you want to be in multiple social media and also have a day job, you’re going to need a staff. Scoble is the poster child for being everywhere, all the time, but it’s all he does. “

Just because they build it doesn’t mean it’s good. There are millions of products and services launched every year that should have never seen the light of day.

Technology’s great, but learning the basics of your profession first and then making an intelligent decision as to whether or not to use a piece of technology is better. By far.

” In 1993, we installed a primitive form of chat on our network at work. I think it was called SnapMail. I discovered pretty quickly that I was spending three or four hours a day using it. I was really good at it. And I also didn’t get as much done as I needed to. So we ripped it out. Just because it was stimulating doesn’t meant it helped with our goal. “

Don’t get caught up in technology. Use it if it improves the customers experience, not if it makes you feel like you’re ahead of the curve.

Use it if you can create a better atmosphere for your support staff, not just because it means you can have fewer exchanges with them on the phone.

My support staff needs to hear my voice, even if it’s voicemail. If I call and let them know about a potential volcano-ish problem on a jobsite, they need to hear, feel, smell and experience the emotion in my voice, so they can drop the things that can wait and immediately attend to the customers need.

Exclamation points in a text message won’t get it done. They’ve been there done that and are now ignored, because they were used improperly and conditioned people to ignore them.

Sorry. I didn’t cause it, but I know it true.

Tools and technology are wondermous thangs. I love ‘em. But in the B2B and professional B2C world, you’ve gotta know the basics before you can try to change the way people have been buying and interacting for eons.

And don’t change anything that doesn’t benefit the customer or your support team.

It ain’t all about you, whether you believe it or not.