The Journal Blog: Sales calls

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September 14, 2005

Sales calls

One of the things you resign yourself to when you run a business is that you're going to have to field sales calls.

You would think that sales people would assume that their prospects might be just a little savvy about one thing or another. Or, at the very least, they might try to find out before they start their schpiel.

Several months ago, for example, I took a call from a sales gal from Overture. One of the first things she asked me was whether or not I was familiar with the company and with the pay-per-click search engine advertising model. Once she found out that I was, she adjusted her pitch accordingly.

Common sense, right?

On the other hand, I was just privileged to listen to somebody field a sales call from a company selling search engine optimization. This guy's opening gambit was to tell the business owner that he had no meta data in his HTML pages.

Unfortunately for the sales guy, this particular business owner knew there was meta data there because, being his own webmaster, he put it there himself.

Needless to say, that particular sales guy was unable to close the sale.

Dawn's rule of sales, No. 1: It doesn't matter how cutting-edge your technology is, you should never assume that the person you're calling knows nothing about it.

Dawn's rule of sales, No. 2: Even if your prospect has never heard of the technology, that doesn't make them stupid and it's poor sales techique to treat potential customers like they're morons.

Yes, I know. Screamingly obvious. But, you'd be surprised how many sales people get on the horn and call potential customers for the apparent sole purpose of insulting their intelligence.

Do us all a favor. Don't.

Posted by The Journal Blogger at September 14, 2005 03:26 PM

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September 14, 2005

Sales calls

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The Journal Blog « Quote of the day \| Main \| Getting the point » September 14, 2005 Sales calls One of the things you resign yourself to when you run a business is that you're going to have to field sales calls. You would think that sales people would assume that their prospects might be just a little savvy about one thing or another. Or, at the very least, they might try to find out before they start their schpiel. Several months ago, for example, I took a call from a sales gal from Overture. One of the first things she asked me was whether or not I was familiar with the company and with the pay-per-click search engine advertising model. Once she found out that I was, she adjusted her pitch accordingly. Common sense, right? On the other hand, I was just privileged to listen to somebody field a sales call from a company selling search engine optimization. This guy's opening gambit was to tell the business owner that he had no meta data in his HTML pages. Unfortunately for the sales guy, this particular business owner knew there was meta data there because, being his own webmaster, he put it there himself. Needless to say, that particular sales guy was unable to close the sale. Dawn's rule of sales, No. 1: It doesn't matter how cutting-edge your technology is, you should never assume that the person you're calling knows nothing about it. Dawn's rule of sales, No. 2: Even if your prospect has never heard of the technology, that doesn't make them stupid and it's poor sales techique to treat potential customers like they're morons. Yes, I know. Screamingly obvious. But, you'd be surprised how many sales people get on the horn and call potential customers for the apparent sole purpose of insulting their intelligence. Do us all a favor. Don't. Posted by The Journal Blogger at September 14, 2005 03:26 PM Trackback Pings TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.microenterprisejournal.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/553 Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Sales calls: » video poker from video poker Hertable video poker easy. [Read More] Tracked on December 23, 2005 08:40 AM » casino from casino Turn casino? [Read More] Tracked on December 23, 2005 08:45 AM Comments Post a comment Name: Email Address: URL: Remember Me? YesNo Comments: