Here's one for those of you who think that the mail and e-mail will do your selling for you. It's a call I received.
Rep: "Hello, I'm ___ with Computer Consultants. I'm calling because of the letter I had sent you."
"Ok."
Rep: "Well, what did you think of it?"
"I don't know what letter you're talking about."
Rep: "It was a six-page letter on Internet security."
"I didn't request it, right?"
Rep: "Uh, no."
"Lots of stuff arrives here every day. If it's not from someone I know, or if I didn't request it, it usually goes in the can."
Rep: "Oh. Uh, let me resend it then."
"No."
Rep: (Silence.) "Well, why?"
"Because you haven't given me any reason to spend any time listening to you, or reading a six-page letter. Or any letter."
Rep: "You should read it because we're the best at what we do."
(I'm now trying to hold back laughter.) "Look, you've given me no reason to speak with you. I'm not interested."
Rep: (sarcastically, and noticeably annoyed) "Well, I don't imagine you've heard of AT&T, Sony, Xerox, and General Foods."
"Uh huh."
Rep: "Those are just a few of the companies we work with. We're the best."
"I've spent a couple of minutes on the phone with you, and all I know is that you say you've worked with big companies, which as a small business doesn't impress me, and that you send out unsolicited letters, and you're becoming irritated with me, even though I have no idea what you do and how it would have ANY affect on ME."
Rep: (exasperated) "We analyze companies' Internet security, and exposure to risk, and provide comprehensive suggestions and solutions to ensure they minimize or eliminate any potential downtime due to breaches resulting in internal computer and network failures."
"Sorry, not interested."
ANALYSIS
This is a good example of what happens when you stick a techie on the phone without adequate sales training. I hate to stereotype here, but, when you take someone who has an intimate knowledge of their product, and is passionate about it (which is great, by the way) without training they are not able to understand that everyone doesn't have the same knowledge or feelings they do. And that is frustrating for them. The fact is, if the guy would have used those very last few statements he made to me as an opening, and then bridged into questions, I would have listened to him.
For example, "Art, I'm ____ with Computer Consultants. We analyze companies' Internet security and exposure to risk, and provide comprehensive suggestions and solutions to ensure they minimize or eliminate any potential costly downtime due to internal computer and network failures. I'd simply like to ask a few questions to determine if we have a basis for a more in-depth conversation." I would have listened to that.
Let's look at his errors:
• A lack of information. There's no excuse for someone selling that level of sophisticated consulting service to not get information about the prospect before speaking with him.
He could have used Smart Calling techniques. He could have asked someone here about our business, computer network, and Internet security measures before taking any action. This would have allowed him to plan a more customized, on-target approach, one that would have been interesting.
• Relying on the mail. Are some salespeople naïve, delusional, or just plain stupid when they think they can their sales message by mail or e-mail, and assume it will travel further than the trash bin? And if the written word could do an adequate job of selling more than a tiny percent of its recipients, why would you be needed, anyway?
We've had plenty of articles here over the years about how to use the mail in pre-approach strategies to take the chill off a cold call, but none rely on the letter to do of the selling, while all assuming the target will eagerly read it with interest. This led to the call starting off horribly.
He was already in a hole within the first 10 seconds. And I suspect it was not the first time. Tough to make a career out of that.
• "We're the best!" Question for you: How do you react when a person—whom you already are suspect of or dislike—makes an egotistical, unsubstantiated claim?
You view it through the filters of your emotional prejudices and biases and doubt it, resent it, and maybe even challenge it.
It further validates your negative feelings. I had already characterized this guy as a goof (and as likely material for this column). He didn't let me down with his "We're the best" claim as a reason why I should listen to him.
He had not given me any indication whatsoever about what his company did, let alone how he could help me. That is all listeners' care about. And it reminded me of other similar phrases that reps should avoid without having proper substantiation, such as: "We're the biggest;" "We're the leading;" and one of my favorites, "We're the most respected."
If you want to use the mail or e-mail to warm up your calls, fine. But don't rely on it to do the selling for you.
This was from a recent "Smart Calling Tip" post from Art Sobczak, president of Business By Phone, Omaha, Neb. To learn more, go to
