Be Smart Enough to Say "I Don't Know"

I have written before about how I am currently eating a dairy free diet. It’s due to a milk protein allergy my son has. It’s very important that I don’t eat anything with milk in it, and my son lets me know pretty quickly if I do. When I order any food I am constantly asking, “Does this have milk in it?” “Does the bread used for your sandwich have milk in it?” “Does the sauce you use for your pasta contain cream?” - “No cheese please”. I have learned to read the ingredients on everything, from chips, to sausage, to pesto sauce… I have found a plethora of food that you wouldn’t think contained dairy but does. So I ask every time I order or buy food.

At the grocery store today, I considered ordering a Panini sandwich (no cheese) and asked the lady behind the counter if there was milk in the marble rye bread it came with. She looked at me, blank eyed and stated… “No I wouldn’t think there is”. I quickly responded with “will you please double check for me?” She looked annoyed that I asked her to do more than grill a Panini and stomped off to the back room to check. She returned with the answer of “I don’t know”- Apparently they use an outside vendor for their bread and the bread shows up in a big unmarked box. So there is no way they would know. So why would she tell me otherwise? This reminded me of something my mother has always told me when dealing in my career. “Be smart enough to say I don’t know – but I can find the answer for you”.

It’s always better to be willing to look up an answer than to give a false one. Many times as an agent you can get nervous to say “I don’t know.” The fear that our customer won’t see us as the resource we are takes over and temptation to guess becomes strong. You need to resist. You need to have confidence enough in your intelligence to say I don’t know. You can show how big a resource you are, in the simple fact that you know where to find the answer. This is my tag line in all of my trainings. “Don’t memorize the answer – know where to find it”. Policies change and there are too many details to keep stored in your mind. Even if you are a super genius with a photographic memory, by the time you set it to memory the insurance company will change their policy. Knowing where to find the answer, and being eager and willing to seek it out will be the winning ticket to sales every time. And trust me your clients will be happier knowing you gave them the right answer instead of an immediate one.