One of our Linkedin Group members posed an interesting question today.
He was knee deep in an outbound call when a prospect randomly asked him a ridiculous question (that had nothing to do with what they were talking about) and then hung up on him before he could answer.
It reminds me of one of my first cold calls when someone asked me “What are you going down a list” and then hung up on me.
I can’t begin to tell you how much that call bothered me and how many times I rehashed that exchange with mental responses that ranged from “No Sir I am not going down a list. I researched your company and blah, blah blah” to a real inappropriate “Not at all, your name came up during a threesome but that’s neither here nor there”
Now these examples might not resonate with you but what comes next usually does . . .
It’s the part where we rehash the heck out of these things wondering what we did wrong, what we could do better and all the while there is this sense of an . . . unresolved zing!
An unresolved zing occurs when someone disses us, is rude, left hooks us . . . but for whatever reason, we don’t return fire! Usually because we’re caught off guard.
And let’s not kid ourselves, these “zings” are not limited to phone conversations.
Zings happen in meetings, they happen with co workers, clients & family members.
Zings happen by way of strangers, smart asses, line cutters, people on the highways and purveyors of middle fingers.
The problem with this is that we spend inordinate amounts of time in the pondering or in the venting to coworkers, spouses or our local bartender!
Meanwhile I would have to wonder how much time the “Zinger” is spending thinking about the “Zingee”?
Here are 5 quick tips to help you whenever you become a victim of a zing.
1) Ask yourself “In what ways could I have handled this differently?”
2) Ask for feedback from others but do it before or after hours (no sense in bringing others down or creating a time waster for several team members)
3) Do a quick “mental reboot” by taking a walk, getting some fresh air, saying a quick prayer (for the offending A hole’s soul), throw some water on your face, call someone friendly etc
4) Shake it off!
5) Do all of these things with a timer set. When it goes off . . . let it go and get on with life!
Oh, and one more thing . . . Life is short . . . don’t give others permission to steal your joy!
Your turn . . . What’s your best advice for keeping these things from getting to you?
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