Last year myself and a couple of colleagues were taken out for lunch by a supplier’s territory manager. Unfortunately she displayed all the hallmarks of a bad salesperson. What should have been a pleasant lunch talking shop wasn’t. In fact I couldn’t wait to get out of there. I want to share this with you because it is a text book example of what not to do. If instead this person had approached the meeting from a service or learning perspective it would have been a very different experience.
A Bad Salesperson Does All the Talking
It all started very pleasantly at the café. However, it soon became apparent that we were at lunch with a bad salesperson. After the introductions our host proceeded to talk. Really talk. She talked about herself. How she got her job. Who she did and didn’t like in her organization. How she was planning to leave in 18 months.
Her oversharing wasn’t painting her organization in a particularly pleasant light.
Next we heard about how great she was at sales and how much revenue she was earning. On top of this she made it very clear that her boss should just stop hassling her and leave her to do her thing. For those of you have read the Challenger Sale this is classic lone wolf behavior. I couldn’t get a word in. At all. None of us could.
No questions, no listening, all talk.
A Bad Salesperson Doesn’t Add Value
Hoping to get some value out of the meeting I managed to squeeze a question into the conversation. Did she see any trends in the current product sales? This was met with silence and the following confession.
“I don’t know any of the products. My clients give me the codes and I facilitate the order.”
This was an interesting development which strongly suggested that this sales manager was not really being proactive but rather acted as an order taker waiting for the call to come in.
Now I had been trying to give her an opening to discuss new or exciting products with us. A chance to add some value to the lunch. Unfortunately for all of us the opportunity was ignored.
Additionally she really didn’t seem to know what we did or what products we might be interested in, and showed no interest in finding out. Afterwards I learned that her company had two new products that would have been a good fit for us. Making me realize what a wasted opportunity the entire experience had been.
In fact it felt like a complete waste of time for both parties and I’m not keen to meet with again. Not the outcome that was intended.
What would our experience have been if she had approached the meeting differently?
Use a Learning Mindset Instead
Why am I telling you this? This individual was nice enough, just misguided in their approach. But I feel that my experience is worth sharing so that we can learn from it. This meeting would have gone so much better if this particular professional had done a few things a little differently.
A little research into who we are and what we do would have allowed her to formulate some relevant questions. Doing so would allow her to understand where our pain points are. She could then respond appropriately. Perhaps there were some new market insights or product information that could be shared.
The experience could have been one of learning for all of us.
Stop talking. The oversharing really detracted from our conversation. I didn’t want to hear about the internal politics and behaviors of the other staff of her organization. Or about how great she was at her job. I wanted to know how she could help us. Was there any way in which we could collaborate?
Remember instead of talking about yourself, ask questions and really listen to the answers. Then respond appropriately. Make sure your meeting adds value to your prospective customer, otherwise they are unlikely to give you their time again.
Knowing your services and product lines is key here. How can you offer your customers help if you have no understanding of how you can actually help them. This is where your understanding comes in. You don’t have to be the expert, but you do have to know enough to be useful.
Basically good customer meetings come down to engagement. That is asking questions, listening, responding and most of all adding value.
I challenge you to think about your own customer meetings. Are there ways you can improve?
Bad Salesperson
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Bad salesperson.
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