The people with concerns tend to always have concerns. For them, it’s not you, or your company, or your solution that concerns them. They are concerned about almost everything.
The people who are grouchy aren’t grouchy because you called them. They were grouchy before you called them, and they’ll be grouchy the next day, and the day after that. They are grouchy people.
The people who are cheap aren’t just cheap when it comes from buying what you sell. They’re always cheap, refusing to believe that anything else equals value. When cheap things fail cheap people, they buy the next cheap thing. The thing that makes cheap people is that they are cheap.
The people who are skeptical don’t believe what you are saying. They don’t believe what anyone says. To the skeptic, everything is suspect—and so is everyone. The skeptic doesn’t trust you because they don’t trust anyone.
The people who already know everything can’t take on any new information. There is no room for new ideas, even if they are valuable. They don’t know everything about their business or your business or some other thing. They know everything about everything. This is what makes them the people who already know everything.
The people who are fiercely loyal can always be counted on to be fiercely loyal. They’re not just loyal to your competitor. They’re loyal to all the people to whom they are loyal. You hope someday they are loyal to you.
The people who don’t have time now never have time. It’s not that they don’t perceive value in what you are offering to trade for time. They don’t value anything more than being the people who don’t have time.
The people who go dark to avoid conflict and fear being sold avoid having to tell people no and choose instead to disappear. You are not the first person they have avoided. They avoid everyone who might require they say yes or no.
The people who are perpetually unsatisfied are never satisfied. That’s what makes the perpetually unsatisfied. If they could ever be satisfied, they wouldn’t be who they are.
The people who refuse to change even in the face of overwhelming evidence that they need to change. They still have a fax machine next to their desk because it’s worked perfectly well for more than two decades. If they were willing to change, they would not be the people who refuse to change.
It’s easy to believe that how a person appears to you is their response to you. But often, maybe most of the time, the person is who they are, and how they appear has nothing to do with you.