Sales Call “What-Not-to-Do”
I recently received a sales call from a vendor that we have an account with for the products we purchase. They are a 4th or 5th tier vendor that we use when our 1-3rd are out of product (which isn’t that often). Needless to say, we don’t put as much volume into purchasing with them and they are well aware of how much we spend a year with a our 1-3rd options. They want a piece of that pie because there is a major difference in the dollar amount.
This sales call was from a girl we’ll call Summer, and she started the call by telling me we would no longer receive free shipping for orders over $200 because our amount of spend annually didn’t warrant it. She then followed that information by asking me what she could do to get more of my business. I graciously accepted the information and nicely got off the phone by sidestepping the question of how she could get more business. Summer called me back a few weeks later to check in and I took the opportunity to help her by telling her how I perceived the last phone call. I described it as she slapping me in the face and then wanting me to apologize for it. I did this jokingly, so the mood was light and I never try the tough guy role (don’t believe in it).
She then wanted to argue with me that we agreed to buy more with the free shipping on orders of more than $200 and she didn’t see enough of an increase to continue offering that incentive. I had to stop her mid sentence to remind her why she was calling me. You see…she was calling to get more business and she apparently forgot about the big picture. She had now called me twice and bombed by doing two things:
- Calling me with bad news in a sales call
- Following that call and trying to argue with me about how I felt when she is the one who asked how I felt.
I do believe Summer is probably good at her job and I know that she works for a good company. I have been very polite with her throughout this whole dialogue and still plan to do so. I wanted to give her a chance because we do need them as an alternative and they are very good at filling that role for us. I asked her if she had a money back rebate or a product sample rebate based on the amount of annual spend that we do (these are things their competitors do).
She said no to both. I know that her hands on tied on a program like that because I am sure that decision is made by the top brass. We basically had to end the conversation with the conclusion that - “it is what it is”. No hard feelings on my side and hopefully none on theirs. All I can figure is, if you don’t do the things necessary to grow……..don’t expect growth.