Learn From Those With More Experience

By Tom Richard
As I visited my mother in Florida, I made sure that the vehicle I was to be driving was equipped with a GPS system. There is nothing worse than being in a strange town and not knowing your way around.

The lovely lady's voice coming from the GPS unit was reassuring, and I quickly learned to trust her every word. It was like having the world's best co-pilot looking over your shoulder helping you make the right decision while you navigated through unfamiliar territory.
My loyalty to the voice coming from the box was challenged as my mother and I drove the family to the beach one morning. I was driving, and my mother was in the passenger seat. It seemed like the beginning of a wonderful day of relaxation.

While we were driving down a busy thoroughfare, the lady in the GPS box told me to turn left at the next intersection. Hearing the lady's instructions, my mother chimed in telling me not to turn left, but continue going straight for another few miles. Hearing a conflicting set of instructions, I began to realize that I was about to be faced with a decision of which woman to listen to. Should I listen to the computer lady telling me to turn left, or should I listen to my mother who was telling me to continue going straight?

Weighing the decision of which of my ladies I should listen to, I realized I was in a no-win situation. I firmly believed that the GPS unit had a super-secret shortcut of which even my mother wasn't aware, but I knew that if I chose to listen to a computer voice over my mother's advice, I would never hear the end of it.

As the intersection drew nearer, the two ladies began to argue. The GPS reminded me that I should be turning left, to which my mother said, "No, you need to continue going straight." As the intersection approached, I had to make a decision quickly. I choose to turn left against the advice of my mother.

As I made the left turn, my mother shook her head, not believing that I would do something so stupid. Soon after, I realized that I had just turned into the world's largest traffic jam. Apparently the GPS unit didn't know the road was under construction - my mother did.
As the car slowed to idle, I sat there behind the wheel hearing the silent "I told you so" that never was spoken aloud. My mother then calmly explained that she knew the road was under construction - that is why she told me to continue going straight. She would know; she travels these roads everyday.

There are two equally important lessons I learned that day. The first is simple: always listen to your mother.

The second lesson is one that has helped me grow as a professional each and every day: listen and learn from those who have traveled on the roads before you. Every day we are faced with situations with which we are not familiar. As we navigate through these difficult decisions, we have many available resources. It is our job to successfully combine and utilize all of these resources. Unfortunately, many younger and less experienced business professionals place too much trust in "book knowledge" and "expert" opinions and do not place enough trust in the advice of those who have been working in the business world since their younger co-workers were in diapers.

True success comes through figuring out how to combine both types of resources. We need to be able to learn from those who have experience and combine these lessons with the new information presented to us on a continual basis. No matter your career or position, take some simple advice: when you are faced with a difficult decision - listen to your mother.
Read, listen, and watch hundreds of Tom Richard's free articles, podcasts, and videos on his website at http://www.boltfromblue.com
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Take a Well-Worn Path to Clean Communication

By Tom Richard

While spending the week with family in Colorado, my brother-in-law, Jason, and I spent one morning traveling the mountainous back country on my father's ATVs. Thrilled by both scenery and speed, we took the hills with that wonderful combination of confidence and naiveté that men on 4-wheelers have.

After about an hour of maneuvering through the well-worn paths of Westcliffe, Jason looked at me and pointed to the mountain in front of us, indicating that we should ride to the top of it. Excited at the challenge, and armed with all the confidence an hour of experience brings, I raced ahead of him onto the base of the mountain.

Shifting into 4-wheel drive, we climbed the steep mountainside. As we reached the rolling flat summit, I threw my arms up like I was Rocky reaching the top of the stairs. A few seconds later, I realized that getting down from the mountain wasn't going to be as easy as getting up had been.

I turned to Jason and asked, "So... how do we get down?" He replied, "Easy, we go this way." As we began to retrace our path, it became apparent we were going to have some trouble getting down safely. The mountainside was too steep and we could feel the ATVs starting to tip over. Throwing them into reverse, we backed up, trying to find a safer path down. With his military experience, I trusted Jason's instincts over my own. Following him to another path, my heart jumped as the back two tires began lifting off of the ground, about to tumble. Looking at the quarter mile downward, I froze.

I dismounted the ATV and pushed it back to safer ground. We repeated the process no less than a dozen times. Jason's confidence and my belief in it had me following him blindly. Finally, I had to ask him straight out, "Do you seriously know how to get down from here?" He replied, "Yes, it's right over there, it's the safest way." Having just spent 45 minutes following him, I asked again in a non-accusatory tone, "Are you sure that's the way?" Jason paused, "No, I have no idea."

Admitting that he had no idea how to get down, we were able to make some progress. We dismounted, sat down, and evaluated the situation. Pooling together our thoughts and scouting out paths on foot, we found the most effective way to resolve the situation we were in.
In business, we encounter situations like this everyday. However, basic business training encourages seeking out "yes" answers and avoiding the word "no" at all costs. Truthfully, we should seek to establish clean communication with our customers, the type that allows the salesperson, and the customer, to evaluate the situation, using all of the information available in order to make the right decision.

Too often we lead our customers down the path of "yes" when the right answer is actually "no." We try so hard to close a sale that we fail to establish a clean understanding of the situation. In the absence of this clean understanding we can drag out the sales process with no acceptable conclusion, or we convince our customer to take a path that is wholly inappropriate. You may get a sale, but you will kill the long-term relationship as you and your customer tumble down in the wrong direction like a top-heavy ATV.

In every sales relationship, you must try to understand where you are at from a communication standpoint. There is great value in taking some time to have a simple conversation about whether you and your customer feel you are on the right course. To receive an honest, productive answer, creating an environment that allows your customer to feel comfortable enough to tell you "no" can sometimes be the fastest way to the sale and the only way into a long-term relationship.

Read, listen, and watch hundreds of Tom Richard's free articles, podcasts, and videos on his website at http://www.boltfromblue.com
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