Customers Do Not Listen!

Thomas

You hear all the time about salespeople who don't listen to their customers but I've been paying attention and I'm here to tell you that customers don't listen either!

Wonderboy

Just because the window is open doesn't mean the screen is up.

Thomas

That means they aren't listening right?

Wonderboy

What I mean in this case is that the customer may be listening, but the message may not be getting through.

Thomas

Right. That's what I'm saying. They're not listening.

Wonderboy

Can you give a couple of examples?

Thomas

Yeah. A lady called in yesterday and asked me if we sold mobile homes in parks with ammenities where you don't own the land. I said yes we do. She then said, "You do sell mobile homes in parks where you don't own the land?" I said yes maam we do that's our business selling mobile homes in parks where you don't own the land. She then asked again, "Do you have to rent the land when you buy the home?" After one or two more questions like this I told her that I couldn't work with her because she wasn't listening to what I was saying. She said, "you don't want to put up with me?" I said, maam I can't help you. You're asking questions but you're not listening to the answers. You've asked me the same question at least three times. We are not communicating. If we can't communicate I can't help.

Wonderboy

People like that usually have a lot on their mind (sounded like she was unsure of herself). Usually a question like "Do you want to own or rent the land?" would snap them out of it to get a real dialogue going.

I had a person who I was talking with by phone. Every other sentence, she kept saying "Hello!" When I finally asked her why she kept doing that, she replied she wanted to be sure I was there.

Thomas

Yes! I have had this same thing happen to me. I don't get it.

Thomas

Here's another example of customers not listening. A couple of hours ago I talked with a guy who wanted to buy his friends mobile home that our office has listed. When he called all we talked about was financing. I told him we had access to financing and would check into rates and call him tomorrow before noon. I called the seller a few minutes ago to update him and he said he had also talked with the buyer after my conversation with him and gave him his lenders information because the buyer said I didn't have any financing. WTF? Our entire conversation was about financing and how I was going to check rates and get back with him tomorrow.