Good listening…Which titration…
Good Listening…More than words
Hearing what the buyer’s saying is easy – well it is if we actually listen – but even if we do, understanding what he means might be another matter.
The reason behind this common communication problem isn’t just one thing. It involves a range of verbal communication matters that can include; the tone, the inflection, the volume and the speakers’ choice of words. And that group doesn’t even include the issue of those completely non-verbal communications clues! No wonder we so often get it wrong!
But getting it wrong can be avoided if we pay closer attention to how it’s said as well as what is said. If the prospect suddenly and dramatically reduces his speaking volume when he says, “I can’t make any changes right now”, it probably has a very different meaning than that same sentence delivered at a normal speaking volume. Likely he’s telegraphing a deeper issue that you might need to explore discreetly and in a more private setting.
If he uses emotionally loaded language like, “I absolutely hate blank”, versus saying something like, “I don’t know if I like blank”, we need to pay close attention because he’s likely disclosing a strong feeling – on which we might just be able to capitalize.
Hearing what and how people chose to express themselves is just another of the skills that we need to hone and utilize if we hope to get to “yes” more frequently … and to avoid making the big mistake of hearing without listening.
Next up: What about those word choices?
Which titration…to use anyway?
There’s a time to take that sample and then there are times to take it. If we walk up to the machine and take it randomly we might get a sample that’s perfectly in the middle of the feed cycle. Or that random timing could just as well have been a fraction of a second before the feed cycle begins … or maybe just after it had ended. If it was either of those, we flubbed it, because the titration number we’ll get will be either higher or lower than it’s really running.
The value we want is one that’s exactly in the middle – because that’s where the concentration will average. Therefore, what we want are two samples … one at the end of the feed cycle and another just as it begins. The average of those two measurements is where the machine is running. For example, if the post feed value is eight drops and the pre-feed is six, the true running concentration is seven drops.
But what if that seven-drop average was the result of a high end of eleven and a low end of three drops?
That larger spread means that at its’ pre-feed end, the concentration could be so low that machine’s probably operating below the detergent strength necessary to sequester the water hardness (and remove the soils). And it also means that at the high end of its concentration, it’s running well above the optimum strength. That too broad of a swing can lead to scale build up and generally crummy results, or (at best) performance that gyrates between dirty tableware and then sparkling results.
Next up: Addressing that range problem.