I just received a sales call from an independent telephony supplier – we get a few each week despite registering for do not call lists. Usually you simply pre-empt them, let them know you’re in a fixed term contract with your existing supplier and they go merrily on their way.
Not today.
Today after explaining that I was in a fixed contract I got the response, “I know you are, what’s that have to do with anything?”. Now bear in mind that at this point the caller hasn’t given their name, business name or been truthful about the purpose of their call (”making sure you’re on the lowest tariff”).
Needless to say I’m not impressed and so ask, “Who exactly is this?”. More indirect and intentionally misleading sales patter follows. At this point I interject, and ask who exactly they are again.
And they hang up on me.
Now I’m pissed off but my attempts to phone them are thwarted by a withheld number.
Sales doesn’t have to be like this.
The caller probably thinks she’s really good at sales. Her friends, family and boss probably all think the same. She isn’t. If the only way she can convince is to obfuscate and mislead then she can’t sell.
The person who can talk the proverbial ‘hind legs off a donkey’ is not the person you want representing your business – it’s the person who can be convincing and truthful, who can answer questions well and listen to your prospective customers. You need ambassadors with the ability to close, not conmen with the smooth patter.
Yet companies still persist.
Why?
- They have a perverse view of good salesmanship and what constitutes good sales techniques
- They aren’t willing to invest in actually differentiating their products and services and therefore have to mislead to sell
- They have a myopic short term view – the fact that cancellations and customer churn rates go through the ceiling when poor sales techniques are used is ignored
- They tolerate ‘white lies’ and rudeness as part of the sale process – it isn’t
- They view sales of their products / services as an ‘us and them’ battle – the fact that I want to think over my options is an afront
I could go on, and on, and on. The reason this gets me so wound up is that I have been involved in managing and training direct sales teams for over a decade.
The fact is that shoddy, aggressive sales techniques actually lead to fewer sales (through aggravated and wary customers) whereas blunt honesty and well-trained reps improve sales revenues both in the short term and the long.
Someone actually taught that caller to say, “I know you are, what’s that have to do with anything?” – what are the chances that that has ever actually worked?
Rant over.
