As consumers we are smart.
We don’t want to be conned, or manipulated.
We want transparency, open hearts, and pure honesty.
Seth Godin taught me that until you can see how you feel as a consumer, you won’t be able to treat your customers like humans. I wish doctors received this same training. It seems that most of them haven’t thought about what it’s like to be a patient. We sit and wait for hours for their selfish benefit and when it’s time for a diagnosis, instead of transparency about what they know for sure, they give us worst case scenario. I cringe and try to steer clear of the medical profession as much as possible because they ironically don’t trust us a humans.
I would always rather be told the whole truth about a situation or product, than to find out later and feel surprised. I can make better decisions when I know all sides of the equation. I want to know if I’m buying junk. Sometimes that’s ok with me and other times I only want to buy quality.
On the flip side when I’m the salesperson I want to be transparent, but I have to force myself to talk about the imperfections. I would always prefer to talk about all that’s good and I have to force myself to power through what might not be seen as perfect. It brings up all sorts of feelings of rejection when I do.
My fellow sales people have taught me the long game is always more important than the short game. Just like I don’t want to return to the doctor because they don’t see our human side, we don’t want customers who won’t return because we don’t see theirs.
Empathy is huge in the market place, and I want to support businesses that are thoughtful.