Based on the Evidence

From the "I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried" department, a voice mail received earlier this month:

Read this with halting, low energy:

“Hi, Nick, this is Adam over at ABC Staffing Company. I’m calling because we just had this person come off assignment that I think would be a great resource for your company, for any year end or holiday assignments or coverages. They have admin experience for the past four years at the same company. Before that they had some secretarial and some receptionist positions. I believe that, uh, they could help out any company they went to. My phone number is___ . Thank you. ”

I received this and played it from my phone for participants in a sales class I was leading at the time. They were v e r y critical – bad grammar, no energy, no benefit, no connection. Tough graders, this crowd.

Now, read this.

“Hi, Nick, Adam from ABC staffing. I enjoyed your Web site. I see Clarity consults to banks. We provide extra staff capacity to help consulting firms deal with their year-end rush of project completions, holiday cards, gifts, parties, and other extra activities that their admin staff doesn’t have time or shouldn’t have time to take on. Our temporary employees are very experienced with these activities. They know how to fit into a team quickly and complete the work without distracting your staff from their projects unnecessarily. If you’re concerned about staffing the year end bulge, I’m at XXX-XXX-XXXX.”

Note some differences between the two approaches.

Evidence of effort. In the second approach, there’s a reference to Clarity’s web site and our business. Some evidence that the caller invested 2 minutes to learn about us.

Evidence of knowledge. The caller in the second call has some understanding of what small to medium sized consulting firms face at year end. She indicates she has other consulting firm clients. That’s a positive. That also means she has some knowledge of professional services companies’ high standards.

Evidence of benefits. The caller raises some “fear and uncertainty” for which her services are an antidote. She also identifies the benefits – time and expense saved, stress reduced. As THIS time of year approaches, saved and reduced sounds good.

So, I’m not sure I would have called Adam back with the second call. And, I would have been more impressed and curious, based on the evidence.

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