Learn early and often

Posted: July 31, 2014 | Categories: Sales, Self-Improvement, Time management

We know that top-performing salespeople are very good at asking questions.  As prospects, we should plan our questions too.  It can save us big money.

While working in the yard this weekend, a couple was walking by and stopped to talk.  They had just moved in down the block, and this was the first time that we had met them.  They complimented us on our landscape, and soon our discussion gravitated towards trees.  In our discussion, I learned that a River Birch has a life expectancy of only 20-25 years and a flowering crabapple lives 30-35 years.  Realizing our house was 25 years old, we saw what was coming.  A few years from now we will probably have to remove these trees.  Not only is removing mature trees expensive, it also means we will have less shade.  We’ll miss them!

If we had known these trees had such short lifespans, we would have opted for a longer living tree like an Oak or a Maple.  Why didn’t we know this information?  We didn’t ask.

I began to reflect on our other landscaping goofs.  We lost a cherry tree to disease which we learned later was very common.  The Bradford Pears both split in bad storms.  As attractive as Bradford Pears are, they have a history of splitting in harsh storms.  Our Honey Locust had to be re-located because we planted it too close to the house.  We should have known that.  Summing it up, we made a lot of mistakes due to lack of knowledge.  If we had asked the right questions and the salespeople had asked good questions, we could have made better decisions that would have saved us money.

Here the lesson we learned:  If you are going to make a purchase, plan ahead.  What is important?  What are the most important criteria?   If we are selling, we need to take the time to get permission to ask questions.  When we do, we need to ask all the “how” and “what” questions needed to make sure we sell them the right product or solution.  If we do, we will be seen as a friend, a consultant, and a teacher.  We will have a loyal customer.

---