Went for a session of catch and give intro talk near forum mall today...
Here are a few learnings...
1) First it is very important to establish a rapport with the people you are approaching...See, when you first approach a new guy he will have all sorts of questions - "Who are you?", "What do you want?" and at times "What is your problem?". So to begin with it is very important to somehow convey to the person - Look, I am your friend and it will be a great use of your time to talk to me for the next few minutes.
2) Once the rapport has been established we have to convey "Look I have gained something in life and I want to share it with you." This is the time to talk about the 7 abilities - the relevant ones...Basically at the end of this step the person should be thinking - "This looks like something good...I should try this out."
3) Now is the most crucial part - enrollment. There is no point of doing really well at 1) and 2) but missing on the enrollment. Here lies the real skill - a skill that I am still learning. I have seen two ways we usually mess up here :
(i) We succeed in 1) or 2) but fail to convey to the person the urgency of doing the course at hand. We think we have done our job and its his decision now. No, your job is not done until the person who looks interested right now actually comes for the course. Tell him what he might miss if the registrations close before he pays. We need to work with him on any reasons he might have for not registering and counter all the excuses...for it is only us who know what the person stands to benefit/lose depending on his decision. Go to an ATM with him if necessary. But remember that if you miss him now, who knows when he will come back.
(ii) The other way to mess up is somewhat opposite. This happens usually when we fail in steps 1) or 2)...the person is often not impressed enough by our talk and is really trying to say "No" politely by saying he will tell later or something. But the volunteer keeps persisting on him doing the course urgently for one reason or the other. Dude - he does not even look interested in the course, why the heck are you wasting your time telling him that his seat would be gone soon...he does not care. We need to be able to judge if it is worth spending any more time on him. For all you know the person may have some preconceptions and it may be the best to let go of him right there. Or maybe we did not convey the benefits properly and it is time to go back to 1) and 2)...he needs to understand that we care and it will help him to listen.
Guruji says there are three reasons why a person would do something - out of love, greed or fear - if you look closely it is these three techniques we are using in 1), 2) and 3) respectively.
