Are your salespeople making these terrible mistakes?

It started out innocently enough. I was looking for a company to provide contact info for good prospects, based on their job titles, for one of my clients. I was making sure I was up to date on the latest sources. I came across one company that looked good online, a software-based tool you could use to search for certain types of people in particular industries. The site was hip, and they claimed to have 50,156,715 people and 5,201,085 companies. Cool.

There was no way to trial the software - big mistake on their part - but there was a webform, so I filled it out and hit "submit." I kept looking for other resources, since I have had very little success with webforms - salespeople mistakenly assume they are not "hot" leads, and take their sweet time responding to them. Assuming they respond at all.

Sure enough, it was a couple of business days and a weekend, I think, before the salesperson got back to me. Second mistake.

Bear in mind that this is a company that sells a sales-related product. At the very least, they should be fast on the sales draw. But, it gets worse. Much worse.

I got a phone call from someone I'll call "Brian." He was friendly, in a gruff New England kind of way. No problem there, I live in Rhode Island, and love the people here. It was what he said and how he behaved, starting with this phone call, that prompted me to write this article - and give it the title. Here were his mistakes:

1) Trying to hang up on the prospect. By the time Brian had called, I had already mentioned this company to my client, who had said it was one of the companies they had tried in the past - and they weren't that impressed with the data they had gotten from them. So, I told this to Brian. Brian said, "Fine. Then I guess we can't help you." In other words, Brian took offense. Brian was ready to hang up. Brian would have told his boss that I wasn't interested. Brian was wrong. I laughed. "Brian, I've been a sales coach for years, and what you just did is a big mistake. I'm not interested in your services for only one client."

2) Failing to acknowledge what the prospect has just pointed out. Brian pretended that he hadn't made that big mistake, which was a mistake all by itself. He should have said, "You're right - that was not a good move on my part." Instead, he said something like, "OK, so what other clients do you have who might be interested?" He was back in the game, but only because I dragged him back to it.

Let's break from Brian's mistakes to assess how his behavior was influencing me, a buyer, someone who was very interested in his type of service. By this time, I was completely turned off by Brian's behavior. I was interested in the company and the company's services, but the salesperson had really made me NOT want to do business with this company.

However, I won't let a bad salesperson get in the way of a good buying decision, especially when I might be able to help a client. So, I pressed on. We set up an appointment for me to view the demo. Brian sent me an email with a calendar entry, and I accepted. He did this part OK. Then we did the demo together. It was easy enough to get into the shared meeting. That was fine. The demo was another matter.

3) Acting like he had all the time in the world. He didn't already have the necessary screens up on his computer. This was supposed to be a "15-minute demo," but now that he "had me," he was moving very slowly. Salespeople who behave as if the client has all the time in the world are always making a big mistake. Maybe it's good for Brian, if the call lasts as long as possible - so he can tell his boss that he was on the call for X minutes - but it's never, ever good for the client.

4) Not proficient with the product. Not only was he slow getting the screens up, once he was in the program, he moved through it slowly. It was very difficult not to be impatient as I watched him check off boxes and type things in. I felt that he wasn't that familiar with the product, and hadn't spent a lot of time working with it.

5) Not really understanding what I was looking for. We did a search for a specific title in a particular industry. As he was checking off certain search criteria boxes, I thought, "Hmmm - that's not going to result in the right kinds of people." I didn't say anything yet (being in the same mode as all buyers - quiet and poker-faced), but this guy was racking up the "negative checkmarks" pretty fast. Plus, he was doing that heavy breathing into the headset thing. I know, so what - but, as a buyer, and as a sales coach, I notice these things. If you use a headset, move the mouthpiece below your lower lip, so you don't subject your poor callers to listening to your every breath. Anyway, he put in the wrong data, which led to the wrong results, which was frustrating. Why wouldn't the company let me try this product on my own - and just limit what I could do with the results?

6) Not realizing he was losing me. As he did the demo, I could see that I would not be able to find the exact type of person I was looking for. Then, I asked him the price, which was outrageous. OK, I was done now. Now I began the process of peeling this guy off of me - the same thing that all buyers do when they have decided they're done - and the salesperson doesn't want them to "leave." I told him I'd have to think about it. He pressed. "What do you mean, think about it?" "Well, I have other clients who might be able to use this, but I have to do some more thinking about it, that's all." This didn't work well, but I didn't care. I just wanted to get back to work and look for other resources.

 

 

By the way, I did go back to this site one more time and searched for myself, to see if I was listed in their database - and if the information was correct. They had me listed multiple times. Most of the entries were somewhat accurate, but one entry had me as the founder of a makeup company. Turns out I was quoted in an article where the founder of the makeup company was also quoted, and so the company's "intelligent technology" decided that I was the founder of the makeup company. I sent a note to the founder telling her she might want to correct their database entry (you can "claim" the entry if you wish).

I was concerned that I was listed several times. Database padding, anyone? Several companies were mentioned, including my own company (fine). But there were other, irrelevant mentions, such as "Marketing Computers," which is not a company at all, but a magazine that the Adweek folks don't publish anymore - and that I used to write a monthly column for. Years ago.

It was obvious that this company had, at least partially, built its database by scanning news articles for names and titles, and putting them together. If they claim they have 50,156,715 people and 5,201,085 companies, and if my own name/company associations are any indication, there's a lot of silly and non-helpful data in that database.

My client was right. They were not going to be a vendor we were going to do business with. Their salesperson was just sour icing on a "bad product" cake.

Send me an email if you want to know the name of the company.