A question for sales people...And a bit of a rant.
 

For some reason, people seem to have a problem giving straight answers in this business and then following through with them.

Example: Somebody contacts you about your product/service. You tell them what you have available.

Now, at this point the other party knows damn good and well if they are interested or not. They also more than likely know if they are capable of closing a deal.

If you do not close a deal then more often than not you get the run around. Why can't people just be honest and tell you that they are not really interested?

Price is too high.
Product/Service is not a good match

Whatever the reason is. Instead, people tell you shit like:

"I've go to run it by so and so." Then when you follow up, you get told "Yeah, were are about to have a meeting on that issue today.' But they never follow up with you.

Fuck the bullshit and come clean with us. Be straight forward instead of wasting my time. If you tell me that you are meeting about it today then I expect to hear back from you later today or tomorrow. If I don't hear back from you then you can expect me to follow up with you which just wastes both of our time since you already know if you are interested or not.

WTF?

So here's my question now that I am done with my rant:

How long do you pursue a business lead before saying "fuck it" and throwing in the towel AND will the run around from that person/company have any impact on how you handle them the next time they try to contact you?

Did I come across too agressive?

ill get back to you on tuesday Aaron, i have to run this post post by so and so ...

Too aggressive to me is when I tell you that I am not currently interested and people keep pushing. The truth is that most people don't have the balls to tell you that they are not interested.

Quite often when people don't close a deal, it's based on a price issue. Because of this, I will notify them if the price drops or if I am able to cut a better deal.

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a fairly well known and decent sized program to shoot solo girls sites. I quoted them the basic rate per site for the 4 sites they were interested in. They came back and asked if that rate was for all 4 sites. The rate quoted would not even cover my model expenses for the 4 sites.

The person in question then basically said they had to think about it. Now, we both know tha the price was WAY more than he was expecting and that there is no way that he is considering the offer. So.....I've not bothered following up with him.

I know what you mean Aaron and it can be really frustrating. I usually keep following up until I get a straight answer. :2 cents:

That is another thing mainstream has the upper hand on us. I have done some mainstream work, and they are upfront with you. They are alla bout yes or no, and then go from there. I understamd where you are coming from Aaron.

I think you can tell if someone is truly interested or not when you talk to them. I would follow up based on your gut feeling that they are real or not. If you get a BS excuse put them in the pile that may call you back. The leads you like follow up with appropriately. You'll find you have more time to pursue profitable endeavors than chasing BS artists around. May you lose a sale ot two? Maybe. Will you make more than two in the time you didn't waste on the whole pile of BS artists? I bet you do so in the end you did better by letting them go.

Aaron, I've been selling since I was 12 years old. You and I both know that people will never answer you honestly because that gives you the ultimate chance to close. If they give you a straight answer, you can answer all their questions, overcome their objections and ask for the sale. Then, they have to either buy it or be the asshole that says no, with no good reason to say it. Most people are not comfortable being the asshole.

Evasive answers leave questions floating, give them other people to blame or simply allowing them to avoid the issue entirely by simply ignoring your phone calls and emails.

I always say that they get a week's worth of follow-up. Then, they go into the "to be continued" pile. Of course, everything's flexible. Bigger deals, more follow-up. But, a week's worth is a few calls/emails and if they haven't answered by then, there's a reason and it's on them to do it. Then, you do that big follow-up day every couple months to try and re-jeuvanate some old stuff. But, you know how that goes.

I couldn't agree anymore with you. Well said. :thumbsup

I think that a lot of people say that you have to hit the customer at least 3 times in sales before they will purchase.

We contacted a potential client in reference to advertising in our print magazine, and she told us flat out, that she did not have the money to advertise this month. Since we have been in business with her for almost a year, and she pays us for other services, we ran the ad for free. But we did it because she was honest. The run around costs more in the long run.

So Aaron, I would say to give them the baseball routine. 3 strikes and they are out.

Leads come in Hot, Medium and Cold. Handle your hot shit, follow up with mediums, leave the colds till you have nothing left.

But I agree with you as far as being upfront goes. Do people like being contacted more then once for something they are NOT interested in??? huh?....do you, you mutherfuckers?!?!

You need to go for the close. Each no or excuse they make brings you one step closer to the closing the deal. Listen to the objection overcome it and go for the close again. Don't expect them to make up there mind you need to do it for them.

In the event they truly need to think it over or run your proposition by always follow up later. You never want to let a potential sale go. Sometimes the person that seems the least likely to buy will be your biggest sale.

I would like to add to this that you must assume the close. The power of assumption goes a long way....

Dont assume the close. Make them assume the close. if you do it, break that word down.

The seller need to assume the close. They will buy if you are confident and know you will close the deal. If you are uncertain, using open ended questions, and simply don't sound confident a buyer is less likely to purchase from you.

Assume, Ask for the close, Overcome Objection, Go for the close, Continue to assume, Overcome objection, Go for the close repeat..

good point. but what do you mean break that word down?

a sales warrior will close no matter how long it takes

Zig Ziglar school of thought. I love it.

ass/u/me

break the word down. Be careful when you assume. Make them assume.

Thanx pornguy :thumbsup

We should have more sales oriented threads, it helps.

Zig is the MAN! My Dad used to be a trainer for him and I got my nickname, "Z" at birth because of him.

play the game

Zig4life

Another piece of the puzzle falls into place.... :)

I deal with this every day on a slightly different level of business..but people skirting the issue and trying to keep my interest just make me want to cut their fucking hands off so they cant annoy anyone else .

No kidding that is cool. Back before Al Gore invented the internet my nickname was Zig because of my closing skills. Good times.

That doesn't apply to sales. You always assume the sale.

You know what I agree with you Aaron 100% there are very few business people in this biz- just a bunch of wannabe's

I for one will persist and perservere-
It's what's written on Ray Kroc's grave

"Persistence and Perserverence"

If I can't get people to call me back I will just keep on contacting them until they have the balls to say NO.

Let this be a lesson to those who can't make decisions- either get me your decision maker or a straight answer or die with my follow up emails and calls.

Not Mr. Ziglar?

I have you beat- they called me "Tom"
and it wasn't because I wore a wig
:-))

http://www.tomhopkins.com/

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

I give it about 20-minutes of my time, if after that they seem to be a fucktard I wouldn't give them the time of day if they were to shower me with $100 bills. :winkwink:

http://www.texasdreams.com/bananaaron.gif http://www.texasdreams.com/bananaaron.gif http://www.texasdreams.com/bananaaron.gif http://www.texasdreams.com/bananaaron.gif http://www.texasdreams.com/bananaaron.gif

This is the reason why I don't do follow ups with most people (1st time customers) in the industry ... it's too much time wasted . 9/10 don't fucking tell you waht they think

It's been my experience that if someone "wants" to do business with you - they "will" do business with you. If they start hee-hawing around....then they haven't yet made a decision to work with you. I'm happy to just tell them to contact me when they are ready to move forward with things.....and then I move on. I see no sense in continuing to call, email or ICQ people if they haven't yet committed to a working relationship.

I've had people ask me for a quote for this and that and after I email them I don't hear back for a month. I may make one follow up but if I don't hear back from them - I move on. They'll contact me "if and when" they are ready to do business with me. Its' funny how many people totally fall off the face of earth once you quote them a price for something.

I was having an ICQ convo with someone a couple of weeks ago about doing some video editing for their company. They wanted me to charge them "per minidv tape" instead of "per scene" which is how I was quoting. So I asked the guy...."you want me to charge you the same price if it's 2 scenes or 10 scenes on a minidv tape....is that what your saying"? He replied..."yes"! Each scene would have different music and a header, footer and a watermark. I thought this was rediculous....but of course I didn't tell the guy that I thought it was rediculous...but as I was trying to explain to him my thoughts on it - he told me his last editor was charging $120 to edit a whole minidv tape. I told the guy that I couldn't be tied to my computer editing 10 clips for only $120 and I think the guy died. He never replied to me again and as of today ...he hasn't made contact with me yet. Even though I see him on ICQ right now - he would rather just totally avoid me then to tell me that he's simply not interested. My point is....that I'm not going to waste time contacting people who have no interest in doing business with me. If and when people are ready to do business with you - they will contact you. No need to bug them :thumbsup

:winkwink:

Forever....ALWAYS follow up and keep in touch at least occasionally.