I usually don’t pick up my phone if I don’t recognize the caller number, but on the rare occasion when I forget and pick up, this is the call I often get. Hello, Mr ____, I’m Joe with Acme Systems, a leading provider of .... Everyone is a “leading provider” of something. But anyway, I can’t stand these calls for several reasons. One, I am often not the contact they are looking for. My title suggests spending authority so I am a target. But the bigger reason is that I am pretty well-informed on my field and I have what I need or know where to get it. And I learned a long time ago not to let vendors take me to lunch. I would rather buy my own lunch than listen to a sales pitch and vapid small talk for an hour plus. I have worked in sales before (briefly) so I know what it’s like to be on that side of the table. It’s hard work, and sales is important work. Many of us would not have jobs if someone wasn’t out there working on deals and digging up opportunities. Any salespeople here? What is your experience like?
I know quite a few people in sales. They are probably far too busy trying to keep their job to post on this thread.
That’s probably true Larry. I don’t know if I conveyed this very well, but I am sympathetic to the sales role. With the various calls and all the marketing ******** I still get in my Inbox, I am just numb to it anymore. Invitations to conferences, summits and webinars are almost daily. Signal or Noise?
l00p, Acme’s rocket shoes are among the finest but the Koreans are making the killer anvils these days. We really need to catch up in this area.
Having been in sales for almost 20 years. I always laugh at the prospects and or customers that won't spend 30-60 minutes every few month talking to people that are on the leading edge of whatever they are selling or marketing. You may not be interested today and it may not be a good fit but some day soon it will be needed or a good fit. The customer who thinks they know everything is the one that I get the frantic call from in the morning and then in the afternoon they are no longer with the company. I have customers that I have probably met with 20-30 times and they have never bought a thing from me. What they get and what I get is knowledge of the industry, what my competition is doing, what their competition is doing, the knowledge helps me in every other aspect of my job and market. Developing a relationship with that Sales guy can only increase your network and knowledge. If he is just trying to make a quick buck, he will stop calling you. You can always be up front and let him know you aren't in the market today but would like to learn about his company. Watch Boiler Room when he is eating breakfast and the newspaper salesman calls him. The emails and marketing junk that you get is the product of marketing not the sales people.
You are absolutely correct. Every industry, organization and department are all different. I one time saw a cartoon, it was Haggar the horrible or Wizard of Id or something like that, the caste was being attacked in the background by bows and arrows and the King answered his front door, it was a sales person, the king said he didn't have time right now, what the king could not see was the Sales person was pulling a cannon behind him. The hard part of any buyers or recommnders job is to determine if the sales person is quality or just trying to make a quick buck. What I do when someone comes to my front door or calls me on the phone, I tell them I am busy and they 60 seconds to convince me to talk to them for 5 minutes or set up a meeting with them. Put the immediate pressure on them to cut to the chase or to the meat and potatoes of why they are calling. This also ferets out the good vs bad sales people, count the umms and ahhhs............ Have them explain to you in 60 seconds how their product and or service is relevant to your industry or company, they should have done some research on your company before they called you. We actually took a "Challenger" Course, where in the first minute of talking to a new client we have to provide them some challenging or informatioin they didn't know about their company and or industry. Asking them what they think about that bit of information. For Example, if you were Mack Brown, I would work into the early part of our conversation, Mr. Brown did you know that in 2011 the average age of a person attending a college football game was 19, how does that effect the way you recruit players. That was just an example and probably not a good one......it is not easy to do...... Anyway it is Friday and I am rambling.......
When a telemarketer calls me and I tell him I don't want it and he asks me why, I tell him it's because I'm a maniac. After a few seconds of stunned silence, they hang up. Works every time.
I would do it in such way as this, John thanks for calling, I am busy right now but I will give you 60 seconds to give me a reason to set up a longer call or a meeting, is that fair? Yes, sir it is fair. Go!!! As most people want honesty and up front ness with sales people, sales people appreciate the same.
Another thing we are doing from a sales perspective is using LinkedIn. We categorize customers and instead of flooding their emails, we ask if we can send them articles and information through LinkedIn. We are experimenting with that....
