Posted on: July 19, 2017
Recently, I attended a conference and met a vendor whose services interested me. The vendor’s sales representative said to me,
“Here, I’ll give you my card, and you can send me your email address, then I’ll send you some information.”
Hmm, I thought. I wonder how much money this company is investing to have this sales person at this show.
I was totally flabbergasted that he didn’t just offer to take my card and send me a follow-up message. He left me “holding the monkey” and I was so surprised that I decided not to follow up. I just felt that the onus should not be on me as the prospect to do the work that the sales rep should be doing.
If you are trying to sell something to someone, it’s a good idea if you hold on to the monkey.
Don’t assume that your prospect is going to follow up.
You need to carry the responsibility to get the appropriate information to the prospect and then hopefully close the sale.
I don’t know whether this sales person was lazy, inept, or just dumb, but in any case, he lost the opportunity to do business with my company at any time in the future.
If you want to make a sale, you need to hold on to the monkey.
Nice to be back on the list Nancy. BTW…this automatically types in caps and you told me years ago that’s ‘screaming’. good point on the sales pitch. amazing how so many people don’t get it. maybe another topic to consider would be ‘making i contact’. so many customer service folks do not make eye contact. esp millenials. or people that are to busy. that ‘eye’ contact is truly an expression of ‘i want you to know “i” care about you’. toss in a smile, and you’re building a relationship. add the person’s name and it’s a triple play home run. cost? nothing. just a thought.
YES, I NOTICE THAT NOW, MIKE. AND YOU ARE RIGHT, IT IS LIKE SCREAMING! YOU HAVE A GREAT MEMORY. NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU. I AM GOING TO ASK DIANNE ON MY STAFF TO LOOK INTO THE CAPS ISSUE.