The Tele-Sales Disaster
I had a sales call today from someone who was attempting to have me buy an internet radio show to publicize my business. This was a great example … of how to completely blow a sales opportunity. Even though I’d evaluated a similar service a couple of years ago and declined to pursue it, I just might have been interested today. But it was not to be.
What went wrong?
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The nice lady started out by complimenting me on being well known in my industry, yet she didn’t know what that industry is nor the proper name of my company.
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When I asked how much the service costs, the lady answered with what was written on her script, which included no costing information.
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When I asked too many more questions, she sent me on to another gentleman, without asking my permission. All of a sudden I was speaking with “the closer.”
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At least he knew more about the service, and with some effort I finally persuaded him to give me the cost - $2000 for producing two shows and doing the publicity.
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At this point, he asked me whether I wanted to sign up to do a show on the 18th or the 24th. This struck me as just a little presumptuous, since I hadn’t yet bought into the concept that this is worth spending money on.
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He let me know that he didn’t have time to waste, that he had a deadline. Sorry, but his urgency isn’t my problem.
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When I told him that “I won’t spend money on this until …” he hung up on me mid-sentence.
During the call, I was checking out their website, since I was able to finally get the company name out of them toward the end. I’m not going to incorporate new strategic elements into my marketing strategy just based on a four minute phone call, especially if I’m betting $2000 on it paying off.
Interestingly, the original lady called me back a couple of minutes later, probably by mistake. Flustered, she asked me if the other gentleman had answered my questions. No, indeed, I was appalled and offended.
Now, BEFORE we all have a good chuckle about how screwed up some sales efforts can be, we have to think: Where are WE turning off customers and offending prospects? Perhaps it’s the sales clerk who’s having a bad day and can’t show interest to the customer. Maybe it’s the customer service rep who isn’t sympathetic to the caller’s plight, even though it’s not your company’s fault. Or it’s your website, which isn’t working properly and shows people that you’re not serious about your business tools.
These things are deadly, because you may not have any clue how many customers you’re losing every day.
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins
www.smallfish.us
