No matter how many sales presentations you’ve given this week, no matter how tired you are, no matter how many miles you’ve traveled, it’s important to be sensitive to the situation of the audience in front of you at the moment.
United States Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was in Europe this week to talk debt and threats to the global economy. It didn’t go too well. Borrowing some quotes from a Reuters story, here’s why Secretary Geithner’s talk was not received particularly well:
“I found it peculiar that even though the Americans have significantly worse fundamental data than the euro zone that they tell us what we should do and when we make a suggestion … that they say no straight away,” Maria Fekter told reporters afterwards, recalling a difference of opinion between Geithner and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on how to reinvigorate the euro zone and tax financial deals.
“Of course your financial challenges in Europe are within your capacity to manage financially, you just have to choose to do it,” Geithner told the audience, sitting cross-legged and slightly slouched in his chair.
“I had expected that when he tells us how he sees the world that he would listen to what we have to say,” said another attendee.
While Secretary Geithner was undoubtedly attempting to be helpful, his tone was not well-received and many thought the Secretary was not prepared to listen. In addition, he arrived in a private car while the euro zone ministers arrived together in a bus. Not a good visual. Not a message reflecting sensitivity to tough times.
What was the Secretary’s audience hearing? They were hearing a message of here’s-how-you-do-it from a representative of our country facing its deepest debt crisis ever, highest rate of unemployment in many years, and largest number of its population living in poverty in decades.
His communication was sending the wrong message. His audience was not hearing what he was selling. Today, in this post-financial collapse economy, it’s increasingly difficult to create the trust and confidence that decision makers need to buy. Our new e-book, Outfluence for Sales Professionals, is a resource that the Treasury Secretary could use as a refresher before his next “sales pitch.” God bless him – his job is not an easy one.
