What’s up with all the non-responsive answers lately?
I’ve noticed an epidemic of what lawyers call “the non-responsive answer” lately. Except instead of the courtroom, I see the non-responsive answer in too many business situations that require an immediate answer. What’s a non-responsive answer? It’s when you ask a direct question, but receive an answer to a question you didn’t ask. 

Q: “Do you sell Brand X?” 
A: “We recently changed suppliers.”
Q: “How’s Thursday at 3pm for our meeting?”
A: “I’m in the office all day on Thursday.”

Q: “What do you say we go to X Restaurant for lunch at noon today?”
A: “I went there for lunch last month.”
While conversations can be valuable relationship builders, these types of answers lead to annoying and pointless conversations. They’re relationship destroyers, not relationship builders.

Conversely, let’s say someone asks you a direct question. If you answer swiftly and decisively, many seem irked or try to engage you in further roundabout discussions: even if they agree with your decision! These people tend to be paid by the hour, trying to pad the bill with conversational drivel. They are almost never sales people: they know that when the customer says “yes” — for goodness sake, stop talking!
Is “billable hour” bill-padding behind the rise in popularity of the non-responsive answer? Is the old sales training “never directly tell the customer ‘no’” behind it? And why are so many taken aback by quick decisiveness? 

What factors are behind the rise in the non-responsive answer? And why is a direct and  decisive answer often perceived as a character flaw?

Posted via email from Laura Bergells is Maniactive | Comment »