I once worked with a salesman in an insurance office, who declared after every lost sale, after a brief diatribe about why he didn’t close the sale, “You can’t fix stupid.” He was of course implying that every lost sale was the fault of the prospect. It certainly wasn’t his fault, it was always the prospect’s fault.
Being a good story teller, my business associate always had a good, and usually humorous, story why the “stupid” customer didn’t understand what a good deal they were being offered. If only the prospects knew what a great opportunity they were passing up – Like the opportunity to pay some hard-earned cash for an insurance policy you will probably never use. But I guess, “You can’t fix stupid.” His stories were always good, his stories were always entertaining. And the rest of us would laugh along with him.
I often wondered if I was this salesperson’s prospect, how I would feel if I had turned down his offer and he was thinking about how he couldn’t fix me – stupid. I was obviously stupid, too stupid to understand.
As you might have already imagined, this salesperson lost more sales than he made. I wonder why?
I worked with him for six months. I heard the sales pitches. I never bought any of his insurance policies. I didn’t see the need; I was obviously too stupid to understand my need. Or his need. Though I did understand his need to earn a commission.
Maybe he had it backwards. Maybe his prospects were smarter than he, and he was the “stupid”. You can’t fix stupid can you?