Hot take: That guy who told me to stop 'being nice' on calls was completely right

I had a production coordinator last year named Dan who said I needed to cut the fluff and get straight to rates and deadlines on intro calls. I thought it would rub people the wrong way, but I tried it for 3 weeks and my booking rate went up by 40%. Turns out being super polite and letting them talk for 20 minutes just wasted everyone's time. Has anyone else found that being more direct actually builds trust faster?

3 comments

3 Comments

sanchez.ivan11d ago

Wait, did Dan ever say why the chit-chat was actually hurting your numbers or just that it annoyed him?

wadejenkins11d ago

I dropped the small talk and started saying what I needed upfront. Worked like a charm.

margaretc4211d ago

lmao honestly Dan probably just got tired of hearing about Brenda's cat for the fifth time that week. i mean yeah it might have been hurting numbers if everyone was spending 20 minutes talking about the weather before getting to the point. but let's be real here, Dan sounds like the kind of guy who would complain if you breathed too loud near his desk. i bet if you said "hello" he'd say it was too long lol. dropping the small talk totally works in some places though, especially if people are just wasting time to look busy.