AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS

I haven’t been a sales rep for a number of years now, so it very uncommon today to meet old customers, and yet that is exactly what happened about 5 hours ago.

My wife and I were waiting on line for dinner in a local restaurant we both like and another couple was standing behind us. I really didn’t notice them until the guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I was a sales rep. I asked him how he knew and he told me that I used to be his rep. He told me his business name and where it was located and I remembered the place, as a matter of fact I remembered several of the products that he bought from me.

We had a good laugh waiting for our tables, and then he said to me, “I bet you don’t remember how you screwed up that demo you did for me, do you?” The truth is I DID REMEMBER! It was the first time I did a demo for this product and it went very wrong.

I told him I did remember and went on to tell him the entire incident. Once again we laughed for awhile until my table was ready. My wife said to me that I must have really messed up the demo for him to remember it so well. I had to agree.

As my wife and I talked I started to realize something, I could remember several (more than I like to admit to) demos that I screwed up. I can also remember products that demoed very well, but I couldn’t remember specific demos for specific customers.

It started to make sense to me, we can remember usually remember mistakes. Think about it, we expect things to go right. When things do go right that isn’t very memorable. But when something goes wrong, well now that is another story. Mistakes generally surprise us and it is the surprise factor that we remember.

When things go wrong a good sales rep will always go back over the mistake step by step, second by second doing our best to pinpoint what went wrong and what we could have done to avoid it.

Customers do the same thing. When something goes wrong they will think about what happened (sometimes getting a good laugh at our expense). They will run to through their minds over and over, and if it was at all funny they will tell the story over and over. This recounting of the mistake makes it something they reinforce in their memory and will be able to recall it for a LONG time to come.

So what should we do when we make a mistake to minimize the memories, NOTHING! Move on. The customer will remember it for years and if you learn from it you will too. Don’t try to hide it, it was there for all to see. Remember it and use it to avoid making the same mistake twice.

A customer remembering a “demo gone bad” or an awful sales presentation isn’t always bad. Who knows, a few decades later it may give you both something to laugh about.

Lorin

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