MAKALE

“WHAT DO REALLY PEOPLE WANT?”

 Emrah Altuntecim

Years ago I was in Spain as a freelance consultant to give training to the European and Middle East dealer managers of one of the largest companies in its sector.

Managers from Spain, France, England, the Netherlands, Turkey, Morocco, Jordon, Lebanon, Israel, Oman, and Saudi Arabia attended the meeting that took place in the city of Barcelona.

The main theme of the training was “sales”, and while my place was descending for Barcelona Airport, I was entertaining the possibility that the people attending this important programme that I had prepared for days were competent bosses and that these people could wish to experience some new things rather than learning some things.

I arrived at the hotel, and then I strode through Barcelona, and explored Gaudi’s La Sagra De Familia Cathedral…

Then the morning came. The presentation was to be in English, and I was to convey the equation of “features, advantages, and benefits in sales” and the subject of communication in customer relations. I was going to make a Communications Styles / Character Test at the end of the training.

Everything went completely as planned. The participants stated that they had quite enjoyed the training at the end of the training. When I went downstairs for breakfast about 1 hour before the training started, a bright red apple that caught my eye became one of the keys of the success of the whole training.

While I was having breakfast with little bread, some olives and fruit, I felt once again but in a stronger way also with the effect of fresh Mediterranean air that people tended towards consumption because of some specific benefits of products rather than their features or advantages.

I started observing… While our English and Lebanese guests sitting at the table across from me were sipping their orange juices together, they had tended towards orange juice for different reasons. What could be the reason? The feeling of thirst, a measure against a mild common cold symptom, the fact that orange juice goes well with cheese… Which one of these had directed them to orange juice, and why?

I wonder if they had been inspired by our Dutch guest sitting at the table across from them? And I wonder whether it was to establish a silent communication or a subliminal connection with our Saudi Arabian guest sitting the adjacent table? Because one of our Saudi guests had come quite early and was drinking freshly squeezed orange juice…

In the meantime, the red apple was still occupying my mind. I also had a glass of orange juice (and it was quite nice), and then I tended towards the apple. I took it and then I went to the training room.

One hour later the room was full, and the participants had already fixed their eyes on the stage in order to get to know and analyse the speaker with the awareness of the first three seconds… After introducing myself briefly, my first sentence was: “I did not come all this way from Turkey to teach you something, I am here to inspire you and to share things with your…” (Dear reader, do not try to teach really competent people, do not try to teach them something). The idea of exchange and being inspired relieved the participants…

During the “feature-advantages-benefits” section of the training, I took the red apple out of my bag. The participants were astonished. I asked them to tell me the features and advantages of an apple, and they listed them one by one… And the benefits part was also a good occasion for quite detailed exchange of ideas. We talked about a single apple for about ten minutes. An apple became the main topic of an international training!

At the end of the training I took the apple into my hand and started eating it on the stage. No, you did not misread it! It was a bright red apple, and thanks to its freshness, its sound was heard in the whole room, causing excitement and chuckles…

The “benefit” the apple had for me and what the participants said may have been very different; however, what I experienced was “unique” and special… The training was over and the participants shook my hand and left the room (perhaps to eat an apple on an unknown day and time with their own preference). Each of them was happy…

I guess one of the most important things in life is to remember and remind others that everyone is unique and special, and try to understand and feel one another more thanks to the differences in our worlds of perception…

Have impressive meetings with people around you occasionally to feel their world of experience and perception with a brand new perspective. Remember that you are in a state of flow every moment and offer brand new things to even your closest family members and friends to perceive them with a brand new perception. Do not expect happiness! Do not expect compliments! Do not expect to be understood! And do not event expect compassion! Try to feel and understand them instead… You should know that you are on the right track when you start giving happiness, trying to understand, love and make people smile. The things you offer would return to you within minutes as a result of the functioning of a universal rule. You can combine your perception with that of the people around you for real communication… You can watch surprising and pleasant developments while learning some things from life instead of teaching some things on the stage of life.