A Bad Call, Start to Finish
A Bad Call, Start to Finish
“I dunno. I get lots of faxes.”
“It was about mailing lists.”
“If I didn't request it, and it didn't look interesting, I probably threw it away.”
“Oh, well let me fax you another one.”
“No, just tell me what it is.”
“(flustered) Well, we sell very responsive mailing lists that would work well for you.”
“Oh, really? How do you know?”
“These are very responsive lists?”
“What are they?”
She went on to describe several different lists, none of which would be worth the investment for me. And I told her so.
“Oh, but they're responsive,” she argued.
“Look, how can you say they'd work for me when you haven't asked me what I mail, who I target, and what type of return I need?”
“We know these lists are responsive. They're lists of businesses that have just undergone some type of major change.”
“That's not what I'm looking for.”
“Well, the lists work well for printers, people selling exhibit space . . .”
I ended the call. Couldn't take it anymore.
Analysis
Where do I begin? This woman was the poster child for bad calls. Let's examine why.
Unsolicited, Untargeted Faxed Material.
First, sending seven pages of unsolicited stuff via fax, all of which was irrelevant, was a mistake. People get annoyed with “junk faxing” because not only are they not interested in the message, but they have to pay for the paper! She could have called in advance, spoke with my assistant, Tricia, found out what we do and who we mail to, and then, perhaps have tailored one page of info targeting my specific interests.
The Opening.
Beginning with a reactive question about whether someone received anything you sent invites disaster. Even if you do send something in advance, don't make that the basis for your call. Do ensure that it piques enough curiosity so they'll remember something about it during your opening.
For example, “I'm Pat Davis with ABC Lists. My purpose for calling is that we specialize in helping mailers get profitable results by providing responsive lists for their offers. I understand you target inside sales departments and specifically look for proven sales training product and service buyers, is that right? If I caught you at a good time, I'd like to ask a few questions to see what lists we might be able to recommend that would work well for you.”
Presenting Without Questioning.
As is usually the case, presenting without knowing anything about the listener means you're simply pitching what you want to talk about. It's like junk mail mass-spewed to “Occupants,” contrasted with handwritten notes to a dear friend.
Even though I dropped hints in a futile effort to get this caller to question me, she didn't get it. For example, when I told her that the lists she mentioned wouldn't work for me; she didn't ask what would work for me.
When I specifically said, “That's not what I'm looking for,” she didn't respond with, “What are you looking for?” This one question could have given her virtually everything she would need in order to get a clear understanding of the types of lists I desire.
Arguing.
As I always say, salespeople create more objections than were there previously by talking too much. That's what she did. And then she tried to actually justify the value of her lists, which was laughable, since she knew nothing about me! Further, her efforts made me confrontational-not the state of mind you want a prospect in.
The best thing I can say about this call is that it gave me great material for a list brokerage client I conducted training for.
A Bad Call Start to Finish - To learn more about this author, visit Art Sobczak's Website.
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The sales rep began her call to me with, “I'm ____ with _____. I'm wondering if you received the fax I sent to you yesterday?”
“I dunno. I get lots of faxes.”
“It was about mailing lists.”
“If I didn't request it, and it didn't look interesting, I probably threw it away.”
“Oh, well let me fax you another one.”
“No, just tell me what it is.”
“(flustered) Well, we sell very responsive mailing lists that would work well for you.”
“Oh, really? How do you know?”
“These are very responsive lists?”
“What are they?”
She went on to describe several different lists, none of which would be worth the investment for me. And I told her so.
“Oh, but they're responsive,” she argued.
“Look, how can you say they'd work for me when you haven't asked me what I mail, who I target, and what type of return I need?”
“We know these lists are responsive. They're lists of businesses that have just undergone some type of major change.”
“That's not what I'm looking for.”
“Well, the lists work well for printers, people selling exhibit space . . .”
I ended the call. Couldn't take it anymore.
Analysis
Where do I begin? This woman was the poster child for bad calls. Let's examine why.
Unsolicited, Untargeted Faxed Material.
First, sending seven pages of unsolicited stuff via fax, all of which was irrelevant, was a mistake. People get annoyed with “junk faxing” because not only are they not interested in the message, but they have to pay for the paper! She could have called in advance, spoke with my assistant, Tricia, found out what we do and who we mail to, and then, perhaps have tailored one page of info targeting my specific interests.
The Opening.
Beginning with a reactive question about whether someone received anything you sent invites disaster. Even if you do send something in advance, don't make that the basis for your call. Do ensure that it piques enough curiosity so they'll remember something about it during your opening.
For example, “I'm Pat Davis with ABC Lists. My purpose for calling is that we specialize in helping mailers get profitable results by providing responsive lists for their offers. I understand you target inside sales departments and specifically look for proven sales training product and service buyers, is that right? If I caught you at a good time, I'd like to ask a few questions to see what lists we might be able to recommend that would work well for you.”
Presenting Without Questioning.
As is usually the case, presenting without knowing anything about the listener means you're simply pitching what you want to talk about. It's like junk mail mass-spewed to “Occupants,” contrasted with handwritten notes to a dear friend.
Even though I dropped hints in a futile effort to get this caller to question me, she didn't get it. For example, when I told her that the lists she mentioned wouldn't work for me; she didn't ask what would work for me.
When I specifically said, “That's not what I'm looking for,” she didn't respond with, “What are you looking for?” This one question could have given her virtually everything she would need in order to get a clear understanding of the types of lists I desire.
Arguing.
As I always say, salespeople create more objections than were there previously by talking too much. That's what she did. And then she tried to actually justify the value of her lists, which was laughable, since she knew nothing about me! Further, her efforts made me confrontational-not the state of mind you want a prospect in.
The best thing I can say about this call is that it gave me great material for a list brokerage client I conducted training for.
A Bad Call Start to Finish - To learn more about this author, visit Art Sobczak's Website.
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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