CGM blog: Some forward thinking

26 Jan CGM blog: Some forward thinking

I’m a big fan of Radio 5 Live’s morning phone in, writes Teresa Green.

A recent instalment focusing on bad behaviour on public transport, including size nine shoes on seats and hasty retreats into newspapers as soon as a pregnant woman steps on board, was excellent, albeit depressing.

Both have happened to me – at six months pregnant I gave up my seat for women eight months gone as blokes merely tunelessly whistled and glanced aimlessly around like Wile E Coyote attempting to look cool while staging his next fruitless assault on Road Runner.

Bad manners drive me bonkers – and what I find particularly disturbing is the lack of courtesy often shown by businesses.

When I worked on a weekly newspaper, I remember a large whiteboard in the sales department with the words ‘SELL, SELL, SELL’ emblazoned on it. Umpteen years on, I’m beginning to think that some people have this mantra permanently tattooed on their foreheads.

Whatever happened to building relationships and seeing things from the other person’s point of view? How about winning buy in instead?

Forget all that, they’ll cry, as they roar into battle (for your hard-earned cash) with all the charm of Katie Hopkins on a bad hair day.

Ironically, the very latest example of this came just after the phone-in on Tube toenail cutters (seriously!) had finished and went along these lines (this is the abbreviated version of course).

Ms Over Zealous: “Hello, we’ve got a teenager who’s been looking at your website and would like to come and work for you. Are you interested?”

Me (with one eyebrow raised in timeless Roger Moore fashion): “Well, considering I don’t know you – or this young man – from Adam, I’d need to think about it.”

Ms Over Zealous: “Well, we wouldn’t expect you to make a decision straight away.”

Well, that’s very noble of you, I muttered to myself when I’d put the phone down.

My training as a journalist taught me to treat the person you’re speaking to with respect if you want to get the best from them.

Due to the absence of emails and t’internet back in the 1980s, we had no alternative but to call people, whether it was grieving relatives or disgruntled allotment holders.

Too many sales folks these days lack these basic skills – preferring the lazy method of bombarding people they don’t know anything about with unsubtle sales messages – but assume they’re going to buy into them 30 seconds after picking up the phone.

People like to criticise overseas callers “conducting a survey” but fail to look closer to home.

At Chris Green Media, we inspire businesses and organisations to communicate better by connecting deeper. The result? Relationships that last.

Teresa Green is editorial partner of Chris Green Media.