Choose your listeners wisely

Our mind is never idle. There is no hibernate mode we can switch it to. It is impossible to keep our heads clear of thoughts, fears, opinions, or stories of our past experiences, even for a second. Along with this, comes an urge to let it out in one manner or the other. Some choose to write it in their secret diaries (wonder how long they remain a secret) while some choose to express it to a person they believe would understand it.

As shrewd as it might seem, not everybody cares to even respect what you have to say let alone understanding it. The virtue of lending an ear to somebody with an open mind while being sensitive to the other person’s emotions is fading in today’s world. More often than not, minutes into the exercise people become busy in judging you and painting you with a brush they use to categorise ‘people like you’.

I remember an instance where I learnt it the hard way. I used to discuss few of my life’s challenges with a few friends in college. On one such occasion, I was telling a friend how worried I was about arranging for the fees which had to be paid for the second year of my Bachelor’s degree. After listening to me (or to my cribbing/bickering as some would term it), she asked me why I kept cribbing about my problems and never did anything about it.

It sent jitters down my spine and I could not believe what she had said. However, coming to think of it, I gave her an opportunity to pronounce a judgement on me. I do not blame her for saying what she did. We can never control everybody’s perception about ourselves and our lives. In my defence, I merely wanted to discuss things with a friend to get a different perspective on my ideas and see how I can improve my efforts. Only I and my family knew how I ran around desks of different bank officials trying to obtain an educational loan in vain.

This is when I learnt that I need to choose my listeners carefully. Since then, I have consciously worked on what exactly I discuss with different kinds of people. I might have won a few battles while working at it but there is still a lot I need to do. However, I do not endorse being sceptical about everybody you know. You definitely need to share your thoughts and experiences with people because it helps you evolve as an individual. Different people lend you different perspectives which help you in the longer run.

Try to know somebody with an open mind, lay your trust on the goodness inside them, and become good listeners yourself. Remember it has to be mutual. If you cannot respect your listener’s advice or opinion on whatever you said, please do not go beyond talking to yourself in the mirror waiting for your conscience to wake you up to reality.

Close-ended questions: the biggest error in cold-calling

The training I received at my first job, at a US call center in Panchkula, taught me a few tricks when it came to converting cold calls to sales leads. One of the tricks was to never ask a customer a close-ended question. A question is called close-ended when the answer to it is either yes or no. Clichéd examples include – “Is the right time to talk to you?” or “Would you be interested in it?”

It is a given that every answer has a consequence and at all times, we like to be in our favour or for our greater good. When you ask a customer or a client a close-ended question, he/she puts the thinking hat on and wonders what the consequences of both the answers would be. Any layman can predict what I am going to say next. On a sales call, a client’s ‘no’ is not going to have a negative impact on him/her unless you convince him/her of that. On the other hand, a ‘yes’ could mean an outflow of a certain amount from the company’s or the individual’s account.

In this scenario, a ‘no’ is definitely an easier way out. Therefore, more often than not, a 

customer or a client is going to opt for it over a ‘yes’. How do you change it then? It begins with a simple step – do not give him/her an option. Instead, explain what the consequences of both those answers would be and eventually, lead him/her to a point where he/she would believe that saying a ‘yes’ would be far better than saying a ‘no’.

Rather than asking if it is the right time to talk to him/her, try saying – “I am calling you with an opportunity worth the ten minutes you are going to spend listening to me”. Start simple and change it every single time you approach somebody. Once you have the listener’s attention, take charge of the conversation, make him/her comfortable enough, and lead him/her to what you really wish to discuss.

Avoid close-ended questions, learn to be spontaneous on the call, and at all times, remain in charge of the conversation. This may not guarantee that every cold call would turn into a lead but it would certainly do a world of good to your confidence as a salesman/saleswoman.

Do not let the writer in you fade away

You are not a writer because you can churn out content (of any kind) for your company within tighter deadlines. You are a writer if you know how to notice a story in everything and be able to narrate it clearly. Like any other professional who writes for a living, not an author or a poet, I have let the writer in me take a back seat in the last three years as I was too busy writing to convince my boss or the audience at large.

To evolve as a professional writer, you have to adapt to the latest trends and mould yourself to suit the market and attract higher salaries. However, in the process of doing so, you must not forget to do the most important thing – that is, to write to express yourself. As ashamed I am to admit it, it has been long that I sat down to write something for myself. I have always explained my love for writing by telling others that I indulged in it to find solace in my otherwise maddening life.

Better late than never. I have decided to awaken instinctive writing that has been left buried inside me for years now. Starting today (July 24, 2016), I will write at least 100-150 words more often than not and to help me write better, I will read at least a chapter from a book. These definitely seem to be extremely low standards to set but goals like these are often the most difficult ones to achieve. Believe me when I say this as it took me two weeks to eventually write this article and begin with this challenge.

I do not expect you to take inspiration from an ordinary writer like me. However, I would request you to do everything you can to keep your zeal for writing alive. Writing for an audience is definitely important but let it not be the sole objective for everything you write. Try keeping yourself above everybody else for a change. More importantly, do not let self-doubt cloud your thinking and writing capability. You can never please everybody as you cannot control their perception of your writing. Write while being honest to yourself and readers who relate to you and your words will support you no matter what happens.