This quarantine and lockdown certainly have been a confusion, especially for businesses and their clients.
A major reason it has been such a confusion is the proliferation of conflicting information. Information asserted as factual turns out to be false, while vital facts go virtually ignored by major media in the interest of pushing bad news for ratings. Mix in opposing political views, and you have a real mess.
Who is right? Who is wrong? Who or what do you believe?
There is only one answer to that question: you. You must be able to evaluate information, think for yourself, and come to your own conclusions.
The media (on both sides of the political fence) greatly enjoys pretending that people watching, or listening does not have to evaluate information—the media will do it for them. People who accept information from “authorities” in the media then end up greatly confused because another “authority” comes out with something different. People do not know what to think.
The bottom line: you must be able to operate on facts. As a drastic example, someone could come up to you on a bright sunny afternoon with the firmly stated opinion that it is midnight and totally dark. You would laugh at them because you know for a fact that it is daytime.
Their assertion that it is midnight would not confuse you at all. But when we have various authorities telling us about a dangerous virus, that we must quarantine everyone, and people receiving this information have little to no real facts about the virus’s actual danger—that creates confusion.
Coming out of this confusion, let’s take the safe approach, at least when it comes to business and dealing with customers: stick to the facts.
What does this mean? It means to look for, and accept, only things you can authenticate. This would be information not simply based on authoritarian “you must believe,” but information you can verify as factual.
As a businessperson, look for facts in the marketplace and the overall economy that will help guide you as you evolve sales, marketing, and business strategy. This includes facts and demographic information about your potential buyers.
On the selling side, make sure that what you are offering your customers are facts, too—facts that support your product or service. As you bring customers through the various stages of your sales process, make sure each stage is supported by facts.
Facts such as why they really need your product or service, and facts that back up reasoning on your company being the best provider of that product or service. That way, when you reach the Agreement stage of the sales process—that stage where your prospect agrees to buy—it is based firmly on facts and will stably remain through the close. Being supported in this way also means that their decision to buy will not be blown away by competition.
