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Don't let today's disappointments cast a shadow on tomorrow's dreams
 
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Institute of IT Trainers - Freelance Trainer of the Year 2006 & 2009
Liverpool Business Connect Member
  Maximum Impact Solutions Limited - Reporting Solutions, Creating Answers
Reporting Solutions - Creating Answers, Crystal Reports, Dashboarding (Xcelsius) & SQL Reporting Services

The Maximum Impact Solutions Blog Feed ME!!!!

03
April

A lesson in sales - The follow up call.......

I am a trainer by trade, but I know that sales is the real driver of my business.  The follow up call is a chance to get a second bite of the cherry.  If done right this can be an opportunity to get a new client.

It is said that in business people buy people before they buy products and services.

So the story so far, is that I decided to use my Linkedin network to buy a particular service.

To see how this turned out click here.

Anyway it's been a couple of months since I sent the "Thanks but no thanks" email.

I got a phone call from another sales guy from the same company, who started by introducing himself, and telling me that he had found my profile on Linkedin, and that his business had the ideal and perfect solution to increase my sales.

After 5 minutes of his sales pitch which showed no end in sight in the immediate future, I had to interrupt, and told him that I had initially contacted his company, earlier in the year, and had decided not to use them, and had sent an email to that effect.

To which his response was to state "yes he had my email infront of him", and proceeded to read the email back to me.

He apologised for wasting my time and put down the phone.



So what did I learn from this experience?

When making follow up calls, where your original propostion has been rejected:

  • Do not lie about the reason for calling

  • Ask them why they made this decision, and really listen to their answers

  • Be interested in your client, rather than interesting

  • Be flexible, be prepared to offer a different proposition, that is more in line with what they want

  • Follow up calls should not be sales call, but a consultative call, be the "aspirin to their headache"

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