A wrong assumption on what a potential customer wants may end up being very costly. file photo | nmg
Inference is a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and
reasoning. Fact is a thing that is known or proved to be true. Consider
the sentence, ‘Oduor, a salesman with LMYE, was scheduled for a 9
o’clock meeting in Kamau’s office to discuss terms of a large order.’ On
the surface, you can reason that two men will be meeting - that’s
inference. Fact, doesn’t assume, but instead asks questions and listens
keenly. Because fact knows that the speaker could be referring to a Ms
Kamau who likes being called by her father’s name.
Inferring
breeds untold friction between buyer and seller. The buyer says one
thing and the seller infers another. And it’s because we are wired to
draw conclusions based on our beliefs and life’s experiences. Alas!, the
successful seller must go against this natural flow by remaining
intelligently stupid; and he does this by asking questions and seeking
clarity as he goes along, ensuring that there is mutual understanding of
what the buyer is saying.
A lift-selling client of
mine tells of how a buyer once asked, in Kiswahili, for dirisha ‘inaona’
nje,(a window ‘that sees’ outside)”. When the lift arrived it turned
out that he wanted a see through mirror. Given their lifts are imported
with a lead time of six weeks, and are custom made, it was a costly
inference. Pointing to the contract as defence does little to appease
the buyer.
Being intelligently stupid is not easy. It is being deliberately stupid without looking so, while oozing contagious curiosity.
Notice how, for all his intelligence, a doctor does not pretend
to know what you are ailing from but instead seeks to understand through
insightful questions.
Even if he has just seen three
patients in succession before you, displaying the same symptoms as you,
he will not draw the same diagnosis for you. He may (silently) infer the
prognosis based on the previous three patients but he won’t act on it
unless he has established fact. However, inference may lead him to ask
insightful questions informed by the previous three interactions.
Questions
such as, “Have you left the country lately?” (Notice, it’s not pointed
but general. He didn’t ask, “Have you been to Juba lately?” assuming
that’s where the other three contracted the bug). The informed inference
helps him arrive at fact faster.
And the fact could
be, identical prognosis, and therefore diagnosis, as the other three;
or, identical prognosis, but different diagnosis (because you answered
‘yes’ to the question, “Are you allergic to amoxicillin?” or, similar
prognosis but different diagnosis. And, if you thought identical and
similar are the same, you have inferred that. Factually, they are not.
Remain
intelligently stupid to thrive in selling. Establish fact from
inference through insightful questions before drawing a diagnosis.
Assume you don’t know because you don’t. For instance, is it fact or
inference that Oduor could be meeting Kamau at 9 o’clock in the morning?
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