Close But No Cigar….

This ‘did the job’ so well that I emailed the guy (let’s call him ‘Bill) who sends it out and more-or-less said that I received his newsletter and in the near future I would need a company who could supply his product and would he mind if I popped into their premises to collect one of his product packs? (We’ve had one before. They are very good and contain product samples, prices, lead-times etc.) I even gave him the dedicated website of the event we needed the products for.

Anyway I thought nothing of it until a couple of day later until I got a call saying that Bill was here to see me with some samples and prices.

As you can imagine, probably like yourself I have a diary so I know from day-to-day where I am going to be and who I am going to be seeing. I look in my diary (Outlook) and see that there is no trace of any Bill anywhere. I’m snowed under at the time and immediately begin to worry, as organisation from an admin point of view is far from my greatest strength. I envisage that I’ve agreed to see Bill and forgot to put it in the diary.

“Damn (well, another four letter word), I’m so unorganised”, I tell myself as I’m trudge down to see my appointment, trying to perfect the ‘I’ve been expecting you’ look.

What makes me more disappointed with myself is that I would HATE it if that happened to me (i.e. a prospect forgot they were seeing me, although I’d blame myself for not making a good enough impression when we organised the appointment or Mr/Ms. Prospect wouldn’t have forgot about me in the first place. They would be waiting with great anticipation……I hope)

So, I walk towards Bill and hold out my hand to shake his (I realise I’ve never met him previously). Before I say anything he grabs my hand and says, “Hi I’m Bill from The Company. You emailed me requesting the Product Catalogue so I thought I’d pop in to see you and drop it off personally.”

I say thanks to Bill, apologise that I can’t see him due to my work load, duly accept his wares and trudge back to get on with whatever I’m doing at the time.

So, what was the ‘golden opportunity’ and why did Bill blow it? Why am I so important that he cocked up so badly? Why is my money so much better than anyone else’s? How much money did Bill actually lose?

Well in no order, I’m not important, my money is no better than anyone else’s and Bill could have lost only a couple of hundred quid as a potential order.

My point is that Bill got it so right at the start. His permission marketing was working so well that he’d actually got me ASKING him if I could come to HIS premises to see him and basically, be sold.

What Bill actually achieved in the end was turning the epitome of permission marketing into highest level of disturbance marketing I can think of.

• Email back and thank me for the interest.
• Ask me when I was coming in so he could be there, see me personally and discuss any potential requirements, as I can’t ask a brochure questions.
• He could have even asked what beverage I liked and said he’d have a cup/glass of whatever waiting for me on arrival.
• He could have even asked what biscuits I liked for the same reason.
• Offered if it was more convenient, for him to come over to see me.

So, what was the golden opportunity?

It wasn’t about losing an order as the value could have been a couple of hundred quid. Simply, it was to serve the (potential) customer how they wanted to be served and learn more about them in order to make his service more personal to them and create a long term bond.

By doing this he scuppered any chance of creating a long term relationship which would have stretched to us using Bill whenever we needed his service in whatever location we were in because he’d taken the time to work how the customer wanted him to. He’d done all the hard work by getting my attention with the email. Everything else should have been easy but he made it difficult.

When selling, always look to the long term benefits of any order. If there aren’t any then you cannot find what is not there, but in close to 100% of any customer/supplier relationship, there are always long term benefits. You’ve just got to find them……and that’s what makes the great salesperson.

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