To stay responsive to prospects, sales people need fuzz detectors.

A man entered a large hardware store and walked to the household-appliances department. “I need a replacement blade for my food processor,” he said.

“Oh well, we only have two kinds,” the clerk said in a loud but hopeless voice.

The man’s heart sank. He’d driven all the way across town, because he thought this was the only store that carried his brand. He’d gotten a replacement blade here last year. So what now? Buy a new processor? Then he thought a moment and said, “Well show me what kinds you do have.”

“Just these,” the clerk said despondently. “Oh, great! I need one just like that!” he said, relieved.

But while walking to the cash register, he wondered why the clerk had responded as if the store didn’t have what he needed.

The answer is simply that a piece of fuzz had worked its way into the mental “sales machinery” of the clerk. He’d gradually and unknowingly become negative, preferring to be the big authority and tell customers what he couldn’t do, rather than be responsive and tell them what he could and would do.

Fuzz like this can can occasionally work its way into even the well-oiled, smoothly operating sales machinery of the most outstanding sales professionals….

Fuzz like this can can occasionally work its way into even the well-oiled, smoothly operating sales machinery of the most outstanding sales professionals, but they’re able to correct the problems quickly, if they’ve developed ‘fuzz detectors’.

A fuzz detector is a trained ear. The best sales people listen carefully to what they say and how they say it, so upon noticing a bit of fuzz — an unnecessarily negative statement or an overly authoritative tone of voice– they can adjust their presentations and make them more positive.

In one presentation, a customer expressed strong interest in a new copy machine. The salesperson, his thinking impaired by fuzz, said, “It’ll do the job for you alright, BUT it’ll take at least two weeks before we can deliver one.” He should have said, “ You’re right! It’ll do the job for you AND I can have one in your office within two weeks.” Hear the difference?

Fuzz is more than just annoying; it’s debilitating. It can cause you to lose a sale, become frustrated and more negative, which… will continue indefinitely until you give your mental sales machinery a thorough cleaning and start again with a more positive attitude.

Stay responsive to your prospects. Develop your own foolproof fuzz detector.