(By Rick Fink) Most coaching and sales training programs highlight the importance of empathy in establishing solid customer relationships, but as management guru Peter Drucker says, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” So how do you measure your empathy to take it to a higher level?
I recommend you use the Empathy Index.
Review every oral or written presentation or communication to calculate your EI. Count the number of words or phrases that talk about “Your Client/Customer”, and divide that figure by the number of times you’ve talked about “Yourself or Your Stations”.
The figure is your Empathy Index. Your goals should be a minimum of 1.5. In other words, you should be talking about your prospects a minimum of one and one-half times for every time you talk about how great you or your products are.
Don’t be discouraged if your first few attempts reveal a negative EI. It’s normal for salespeople who are excited about what they’re selling to talk too much about themselves, their ideas, and their products.
Improving your score over time will strengthen your advertiser relationships in a world where your competitors continue to babble on about themselves and their offerings without empathy.
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Rick Fink from ENS Media can be reached at 605-310-2062 or at [email protected]. Read Rick’s Radio Ink archives here.
1.5:1 at minimum, 3 or 4:1 to actually be engaging. I’ve sat through too many pitch presentations where the only topics from the seller was about their pitch, my budgets, their station share, and my flight dates/when we’re going to spend. No questions about campaign goals (or if a campaign is forthcoming), a qualitative audience or even a simple demographic. Often it’s even difficult to get a word in edgewise during a pitch, even if it’s to ask questions or point out that the seller is going down a wrong path.