379 words
"Salesperson who cover chair instead of territory, always on bottom."
-found in fortune cookie
Many salespeople feel they don't need continuing sales training. When I was
a pension sales rep, I felt that way. Many years ago I'd been working for a
pension administration company for about 2 years. I'd been doing well helping
small companies set up retirement plans as a tax write off.
Bob, the president of our company, was coming from Los Angeles to Northern California to accompany each sales rep for a day. I secured an appointment with a prospect I was sure I would close in front of the president. Boy, would that look good.
During the hour drive from our Santa Cruz office to Carmel, Bob asked me about this prospect. "Mr. Fritz is an older man, a small motel owner in Carmel, whom I'd met with 3 months ago. He's having a great year, so wants to put away some of his profits in a retirement plan. When I looked at his financial statements then, it was clear he would be perfect for us. "
Soon after we sat down with Mr. Fritz, Bob asked him what his profit picture was looking like so we'd know how to design his retirement plan. Mr. Fritz said "It looks bleak-the last 3 months were some of my slowest ever." The profit he'd made from the first 9 months was getting him through these last few. I saw Bob's face fall. We quickly abbreviated our conversation, and got out of there as quickly as possible.
Returning to the car, Bob asked, "When was the last time you checked this guy's financial picture?" "Uh, uh, I guess I hadn't really spoken to him much in the last 3 months, other than to make this appointment."
The hour ride back to Santa Cruz was painful. Imagine being cooped up in a car with a boss who isn't quite Genghis Khan, but certainly isn't Mr. Rogers. I learned several valuable lessons from him during that hour...and one of them was next time chose a client whose office was across the street!
I also learned that I needed to requalify my prospects because situations change. Luckily, I continued to get sales training to learn the techniques I thought I knew, but wasn't using. Is there anything that you'd better brush up on?
© 1996 Morgan Seminar Group
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Rebecca L. Morgan, CSP, is a dynamic speaker and seminarist. She is the author of four books, TurboTime: Maximizing Your Results Through Technology, Calming Upset Customers, Life's Lessons: Insights and Information for a Richer Life, and Professional Selling. For information on her speaking services, books, and tapes contact her at 1440 Newport Ave., San Jose, CA 95125, 408/998-7977, 800/247-9662, fax: 408/998-1742, rebecca@RebeccaMorgan.com, www.RebeccaMorgan.com. Please contact Rebecca for permission to reprint or repost this item.
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