The red message light was flashing on my phone as I shrugged off my suit coat and dropped my planner on the cubicle desk.  Looking for some good news on a day that had a paucity of it, I dialed the voice mail system and punched up the new messages.

"You have one new message.  Would you like to hear it?"

"Yes, I would like to hear it", I said to the voicemail princess whom I had affectionately named Penelope.

"First message", Penelope stated with detachment.

"Hi, Tim, this is Angie, Bob Miller's assistant.  Mr. Miller asked me to give you a call and let you know that he has decided not to take advantage of your proposal.  He appreciates the effort you put into the presentation and looks forward to doing business in  the future but just not right now.  Thank you.  Bye."

I slid deeper into my chair - my head tilted to one side staring at the phone.  I erased the message.

Penelope declared, "You have no new messages" with no hint of empathy for my pain.  I hung up on the bitch.

I didn't hear Dick coming.  Normally, he was whistling or greeting people as he walked through the sales bullpen.  But,  with my hands holding up my face and my eyes closed, I was oblivious.

"Timmy, what's the matter?" Dick asked.  While I had long ago told my father to stop introducing me as "Timmy" to his friends, I had always accepted Dick's use of my childhood nickname.  No doubt that psychologists would have something to say about this but I had never asked one what it meant.

My hands dragged themselves begrudgingly down my face, the fingertips hanging on my chin for an extra moment before all ten digits dropped into my lap.  I looked at Dick.

"I just don't understand what happened.  I made a great presentation to Bob Miller Ford and he said that he liked it and that my proposal was going to be a part of his advertising plans for the next three months.  I've been projecting it and counting on it and I just heard from his assistant that he wasn't going to do it.  I don't get it."

"I think I may be able to help you understand.  Come to the conference room with me."

We walked to Conference Room A and Dick opened the white board cabinet while I sat down. 

"Okay", he said, "tell me about the conversation you had immediately following the presentation."

"All right.  I finished the presentation and asked him what he thought and this is what he said:  'This looks good.  I'm impressed.  You've presented some ideas that I think will work for us.  We'll be making decisions next week so give me a call then and we'll figure this thing out.  Thanks for coming by.'  Then he made a crack about me trading in my car for a new Explorer.   I said thanks for meeting with me and I will call next week to confirm plans.  He said, 'Great, I'm looking forward to it' and then I left."

Dick was writing down the prospect's portion of the post-presentation verbiage on the board as he said, "You called him back and didn't get hold of him and then you got bad news today, right?" 

"Right"

"Okay, back at your cubicle you said that you didn't understand.  Understanding is about clarification.  What you must do after your presentation is get a complete understanding of your prospect's reaction to your proposal.  You asked him what he was thinking but to be more effective at gaining a complete understanding you must clarify what his words mean.  Let's examine what was said and do a little role playing.  First, can you identify some of the words or expressions your client used that seem vague in retrospect?"

"Sure, now that you have written them down it's clear that "looks good", "I'm impressed", "ideas that I think will work"; "next week", and "figure this thing out" are all very vague answers that I took for positive signs that he was going to buy the proposal."

I was feeling sick to my stomach thinking about how I walked out with nothing but thought I had an order.  Dick was empathetic.

"Let's not focus on the loss but the lesson, instead", he suggested graciously.  "Now that you know which words need more clarity you be you and I'll be Bob Miller in a dramatization of how you could have finished this sales call."

"Okay", I said.  "Mr. Miller, I'm glad to know you're impressed with my ideas.  Would you mind identifying the idea that you would most like to implement?"

"Sure, that's easy.  I like the idea of having qualified prospects choose one of four envelopes that they open after their test drive.  The prizes that you'll provide will drive traffic to the dealership but the way the program is implemented will encourage test drives and that is key."

"Why is having people test drive the cars so important?" I asked Dick who was doing a good job imitating Bob Miller.

"Because 65% of all the prospects who test drive our cars end up buying one!"

"Wow!"

"Yeah, that is a wow but it's true", Dick said.  "Let's take a break from the role playing for a second and let me ask you a question.  Now that you know what Mr. Miller is really excited about do you know what to do during your follow-up to keep the sale moving forward?"

"Yes", I said excitedly.  "I would come back here and line up some great prizes and then call Mr. Miller to tell him that the prizes we are going to use to drive traffic to his dealership are unbelievable and then I would let him know about one of the prizes.  Later that day or maybe the next I would call him again with more great news about the prizes."

"Exactly", Dick said smiling.  "Rather than just calling back to follow up after he has had his internal meeting you will call before the meeting to keep him excited about the specifics in the proposal that he has identified as being attractive.  That way, when he gets to the meeting his enthusiasm for your proposal is still very high.  Now, back to the role playing.  Get some clarity on other vague expresssions that Mr. Miller threw out there."

"Mr. Miller, I want to make sure that the station is going to be able to promote the consumer sweepstakes I've proposed with at least the number of announcements I've promised.  To do that I've got to be able to provide a starting date to the Promotions Department.  Are we still looking at a 1/25 start?"

"Oh, no.  We've committed all of our dollars for January.  If we decide to buy your station we're looking at a 2/8 start."

"And you're comfortable with the $10,000 per month that we've asked you to invest?"

"Comfortable?  I don't know about that!  $10,000 is still a lot of money to me, Tim, but it's in the budget if that helps."

"Sure, that helps a lot, Mr. Miller.  I will certainly follow up with you next week to finalize the copy you want to use in your commercials.  Be on the lookout for my call on Tuesday at 10 a.m."

"That's too soon in the week, Tim.  My meeting with my marketing and finance people is going to Wednesday at 10 a.m. so give me a call after that."

"I will do that, Mr. Miller.  One last question for you.  Earlier you said that we would talk next week and 'figure this thing out'.  Did we just figure it out?  Can I go back to the station knowing that we're doing business starting in February?"

"You know, you're a smart, young man, Tim.  As long as nothing catastrophic happens in the next week I am going to recommend to the marketing folks that we do your program.  So go back and tell that GM of yours, Dick Harlow, that you deserve a raise."

Dick and I both laughed and I headed back to my desk with renewed confidence that next time I would understand completely what my prospects were telling me.