George Carlin did a bit once about words that included the phrase, \u201cit\u2019s the context that makes them good or bad.\u201d The bit *hasn\u2019t* aged well, but his words are prescient when it comes to techniques learned in training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People tend to approach situations with linear thinking (e.g. \u201cif situation is this then I\u2019ll say\/do that and get this (probably desired) outcome\u201d) which is compounded by our desire to seek simple solutions (e.g. \u201csay THIS to always get the appointment\u201d or \u201csix ways guaranteed<\/em> to close the sale\u201d) and forget the context of a situation before dropping a technique bomb into an interaction with a prospect or client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of the context we forget is that the other person(s) in our interaction are filtering our words and actions through their worldview, communication style, hopes, fears, dreams and scripts, which might cause us to unintentionally blow up a nascent relationship or end a long term one by using a technique out of context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the Sandler Rule for Sales Leaders goes, \u201cdon\u2019t leave training in the classroom;\u201d but that doesn\u2019t mean we should jump from a training session to a conversation with a client with a bunch of shiny new toys to tryout that we haven\u2019t made our own yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my first 12 months with Sandler, I cost myself at least $580,000 in opportunities because I regurgitated techniques I heard on recordings of David Sandler and other Sandler colleagues, which did nothing other than break rapport with my prospect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n