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No, I don’t know what you mean
By Ann Williams | May 5, 2008
I had an extremely frustrating telephone conversation today. The gentleman who contacted me used the phrase “you know what I mean” almost continuously, yet it took me more than 10 minutes to just start getting an idea of what he had phoned me about and what I might have been able to do for him!
While I have heard filler phrases used (crickey, I do it myself on occasion) this had to have been one of the worst conversations I have had to plough my way through.
After two minutes in I actually started counting how many sentences consisted of “you know what I mean” or “you understand then” or something very similar. (The count: every second or third sentence.)
After five minutes I said “no, I don’t know what you mean” followed by a specific question to help clarify what he was trying to say (this was ignored). After ten minutes I actually asked him please not to say it….
I came out of the conversation feeling like I had been pulled through the bush backwards! And most certainly I will NOT be doing any work for this man as I don’t think I would be able to save myself from wanting to boot his butt right out of my office (if I hadn’t strangled him out of frustration first).
Which is a pity as I think he had a good idea and seemed to be a concerned and decent person - I just can’t stand having my brain turned to mush like that and the emotional expenditure I had to put into this contact was extensive.
To make matters worst he spent most of the time bemoaning the fact that no-one seemed interested in what he had to say, was willing to fund his business and that he couldn’t get people interested in attending his functions. Unfortunately, I am not surprised.
The bottom line: when marketing a business idea (no matter how good it is) you need to remember that you are marketing yourself as well - probably to an even greater extent than your concept.
So get your thoughts straight (written business plans, no matter how short & sweet, can help with this) and decide specifically what you want to get out of a conversation before you even pick up a telephone or go to a meeting.
© Ann Williams
Topics: Communications, Telemarketing |
One Response to “No, I don’t know what you mean”
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May 6th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Yeah keep those energy levels up, you never know who you are engaging at any given time.