Clarifying Wishy-Washy Statements

June 14th, 2010

It has been an interesting few weeks at the Prickel-household however there has been a new wrinkle of excitement over the past month.  One of my wife’s younger sisters will be getting married this July and the sisters (6 girls total) have prepared for the wedding shower and of course the bachelorette party.

They have been putting the final touches on these two events and I overhear most of these conversations either in person or when my wife is on the phone.  This is wedding #5 in the family so they are nearly experts at the execution part, it is the planning part that is causing havoc.   As I overhear conversations I hear things like “I will have this part finished soon,” “I will pick up a few more centerpieces,” or “We should get there early to set up.”

Here is where the confusion kicks in.  One of the girls thinks “soon” means 2 days and another thinks it means 4 days.  One thinks “a few more” means 12 and another thinks it is 6. One thinks “early” is 10am and another thinks 8am.  Do you catch my drift?

What is causing most of this confusion is not clarifying what these statements mean.  They hear a phrase from someone and automatically assume what they mean by that.  This causes an expectation to be set and when it does not fall in line with their expectation it causes someone to become upset.  Why? All because they did not talk it through before starting or gain clarity to a statement someone said.

I have an addiction to living personal experiences and correlating them to sales and this is another classic case.  When you are talking with prospects clarify these type of wishy-washy statements otherwise you may find yourself planning for an event that won’t even happen.

Aaron Prickel

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