When to Ask and When to Tell

Business Management

In my IT support job, I used to deal with a lot of sales and marketing chaps for my computer-related purchases. Whenever I wanted a pricing quote or delivery of some materials most sales executives, except one, would jump at my request and blindly promise everything immediately. Many would also confidently commit themselves to unrealistic timeframes on delivery and implementation in an attempt to please the customer and clinch the order. But one particular salesman had a unique style. He would tell his customers his position exactly, and not simply agree to whatever the customer demanded.

For example, while most salesmen would jump to every irrational customer request to say, 'We will send it right away and we guarantee immediate delivery,' that unique salesman would say, 'I will fax the pricing quote tomorrow afternoon or the day after, and the delivery timeframes and terms will be mentioned in the quote.' Initially, as I was still a novice, I thought it was odd or sometimes blunt for not saying yes to everything a customer asked, but gradually realized he was doing the right thing. As we got to know each other he explained his style of not committing anything instantly to the customer unless he verified his stock position, pending orders, dependencies, availability of service personnel, and other logistics issues. All simple stuff, but he would rarely miss his promise.