Perhaps the Worst Sales Guy ever…..

WOW! Ever had a sales experience that leaves your head spinning? This month we did! In negotiating a sponsorship and speaking spot at an upcoming event and found:

1) What was promised verbally to us by the sales rep was never confirmed in the contract. The speaking spots we were promised did not exist, and the speaker we were told we would follow were not speaking. Everything we were promised had to be re-negotiated by someone else in the company that knew what was going on at the event.  Did the sales guy not know the event details? Did he not care? Did he not really work there?

2) After we finished our negotiation the meeting planner got involved from Marketing. She was excellent. Well versed in the art of cleaning up a sales mess. (No wonder we get such a bad rap). She was able to salvage the deal with a few extras and a chance to re-pick our location and speaking slot.  The sales guy was more of a hindrance in this case and did more to hinder the sale than enhance it. In this case the company paid dearly for this sale because it had to get two people involved. This doubled the costs of sales and dramatically reduced its profit on us. What a waste.

3) After the sale was done our guy disappeared. No thanks, no asking for referrals. Nothing. Poof! Except when it came to collecting the money. He did email us to ask for a signed contact and payment. And this was the real kicker! His email read:

“Attached is the agreement, just cross off the amount due and write in what ever you and I agreed to.”

Whatever we agreed to? He couldn’t even remember our conversations. Clearly had no notes and did not use his CRM. The owners and investors of this company should be very afraid.

So we had to try it. Negotiated one more round, gave ourselves a 20% discount and paid the bill in full. Nobody said anything. No one noticed. No one countered. Unacceptable. He left 20% on the table because he was too lazy to notice and too disorganized to take notes and send confirming emails to us throughout the process.

As sales professionals are we not paid to manage the process profitably?

Enough ranting for now. Just take note of these lessons:

1) Document all sales calls and confirm them in writing with the client so you both know what is going on. Keep notes in your CRM or at least on paper in a file so you can refer to them

2) Don’t promise stuff you know you can’t delver. Or, if you don’t know what’s available, check first. Be educated in your offerings and don’t expect that someone else will clean up after your mess.

3) Remember the price you and the customer agreed to and don’t allow a negotiation to go unchecked

4) Don’t disappear. Your job is to nurture the ongoing relationship.

Geeesh!

Colleen