Good morning!

Well, that was a first…

Over the years, I have held thousands of workshops and conference calls and Zoom calls, but I’ve never had one quite like the one last week.

A sign sales rep out of Denver took part in the bi-weekly New-To-Sales workshop where each participant brings a sales challenge for group input. The question on the table was what to do if you get ghosted after you’ve submitted a quote: How long do you wait till you follow up? How much is too much?

The rep started to offer her insight when she stopped and said, “I need your help. I’m taking a leadership class and have been tasked with eliminating three words from my vocabulary. If I say any of these three words, please call me out as it means I will need to send in a dollar for each infraction.”

The words?

But.

Can’t.

Try.

As it wasn’t the time or place for a deep dive for more info or background, we ran the rest of the call and the hour ended.

I’ve been thinking about those three words ever since.

But.

Can’t.

Try.

I won’t pontificate on why these words were singled out — I simply love the thinking. Apple, as an example, teaches their retail store employees not to say ‘But’ to customers, as the word negates whatever precedes it and can create a sense of defensiveness. ‘Can’t’ is just negative thinking. And ‘Try’? Well, Yoda covered that one: “Do or do not. There is no try.”

The lesson to this madness is to be cognizant of the language you use in your communication with customers. There is always a way. Find it. Ask more questions. Ask different points of contact. Learn what the client is trying to do. Be curious.

Think not in terms of what can’t be done, but rather try for a more positive approach, for by solving problems we earn orders.

Hey, look at that last sentence. It had all three words in it.

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Find sales best practices in The Sales Vault. Go to SalesVault.pro or call Bill Farquharson at 781-934-7036 for more information.