A Sales Lesson From the Babysitter: Your Message Matters

The majority of communicating with another human being is about persuasion or compelling them to act, perform, respond or engage in our desired choice. Yes, that pretty much sums up selling.

So, it’s no surprise to those of you who know how I feel about improving the way we communicate and sell our ideas that I’d use an example from a text message that came from our babysitter for this week’s blog.

Our babysitter came back from college this past summer and reached out to let us know she was home. “K” lives two houses down, her mom is a nurse and she was generally available when we needed her to watch our short people. Other than those few perks, she was not a great sitter. The kids watched TV the entire time she was there, she didn’t pick up after dinner or tidy up after bed time and I’m not entirely sure she really liked our kids. She liked the money, I’m sure as my sweet husband grossly over paid her.

So when “K” came back she sent a text message that read this:

“Hey, it’s K. I’m home now. Let me know if you need me.”

There’s nothing terrible about the text, but I couldn’t help but think she reinforced my suspicion that she’s only in this for the cash.

There are a ton of things she could have added that would have inspired me to plan a date night with my husband. Such as:

• “Missed the kids, I’m here when you need me.”
• “I’m back in town! Do you and Hubs need a date night?”
• “How are those cute kiddos? Can’t wait to see how big they are now!”

Instead, I heard this:

“Hey, I’m short on cash and I really enjoy sitting at your house and eating your pizza while your kids entertain themselves and then you and your husband come home and I make small talk for five minutes and he pays me about double what I would make waiting tables.”

I know, she’s only 19; so I really should give her a break, right? But I’m not going to because I found another babysitter that really seems to enjoy our children, which encourages me to plan more nights out.

So, how important is it to send the right message? Choose the right words? Build trust, authenticity, experience and lock in loyalty with a prospect or customer so they don’t replace you?

Communication is selling. Selling is communication.

Pay attention to your communication to be better in sales!