The Whole Story?

Credit: Bill Gillespie

My office phone rang. It was my wife. "Is it ok to drive the car if it's leaking oil?"

I was caught off guard. "How much oil? Is it a trickle or is it showing on the ground?" She responded that it was quite a bit. It was starting to stream down the street in front of the house. She went on to tell me someone left a rock in the street, and she thought she might have "bumped it."

Of course I told her not to drive it. I called our mechanic, had him send a wrecker and had it towed to his garage. He called me shortly after it arrived.

"Bill, she hit something hard. The oil pan has a hole sheared into it and the pick-up for the oil pump is toast." It was a very expensive repair. It was a mystery too. How could a rock too small to see cause so much damage?

FAST FORWARD: I'm in the yard talking to a contractor building next door. He asks, "did the little lady get her car fixed." I responded, yes and asked, "I don't suppose you saw what happened." He smiled and said, "sure did."

"There was a guy cutting grass in that yard over there. He was wearing blue jeans, no shirt and a cowboy hat. Your wife was breaking her neck to get a look. She ran up over the curb and through the corner of that yard over there. She dragged the oil pan over a curbstone."

It was a very expensive look! It's one she still remembers fondly. It's also an example of the first story not being the whole story.

This happens in our careers too. I see it very often in account management. A leader or successful rep will place a prospect or client in "Time Out." They go to the "we're wasting our time to call on them" zone. All sorts of reasons might be quoted. "We made them mad years ago," or "they only see people that have this piece of equipment" or "so and so has them tied up."

All of these are BALONEY! The person holding the name is in the way. He/she needs to open the account or get out of the way and let someone else have a shot. They aren't sharing the whole story.

Nobody is so mad at your company that doors are permanently closed. They might be mad. If they are, give them a chance to vent. Meet with them, let them share their anger. Ask if there is anything you can do to make things right. Give them the opportunity to share their version of what you did wrong. Apologize and do better.

WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE? YOU'RE ALREADY DOING WITHOUT THE WORK! Don't let an ineffective manager or fellow sales rep hoard names they aren't making progress with.

Now, managers will say "that doesn't happen here." But it does. Wanna guess how many teams I've found that aren't guilty? I'm still looking for the first one.

Idle contacts are like idle resources of any kind (farmland, oil fields etc.). They are being wasted. They are being ignored at the behest of someone without a plan. Yank em and work em. Chances are great that you'll make them pay.

So, back to the car. It got fixed. I will confess to investing in a cowboy hat. More on that another time.