Working in sales enables me to communicate with people from all walks of life as well as observe the interactions between colleagues and their customers. Unfortunately, not all of the communications between the customers and sales persons always run smoothly.

An example of this was between a customer and a coworker. A man walks into the store because he was shopping for a last minute anniversary gift. One of my coworkers, Jason, walks over and greets him. The man starts telling Jason what he wanted, but he spoke so low it sounded like he was mumbling. It almost seemed as if he was shy to say what he wanted. This made it very hard for Jason to understand him. Jason politely asks him to repeat what he said. The man repeats what he said, which sounded like “bracelet”. So Jason goes and gets him some bracelets to choose from to which the man responds, “No! That’s not what I wanted!” After several exchanges like this Jason starts to lose his patience a bit, and starts talking with a tinge of frustration in his voice. The man was eventually able to convey what he actually wanted, which was a necklace. Had the customer spoken more clearly, he would not have spent so much time looking for what he wanted, causing frustration amongst everybody.

There were several things I learned from observing this experience, particularly from the customer, one of which is the importance of always speaking clearly, and audibly so that the other party may understand what you are trying to say. Speaking clearly and confidently is essential to communicating to the other party. Secondly, from my co-worker I saw the value of patience when dealing with other people.