Silence is Golden in Sales

In my career, I have had the pleasure of selling everything from analog adaptors to ZIP drives; from art supplies to zippered deposit wallets.

Whether on the road or on the phone, I made friends with whoever I worked and shared desk space with. When I was young, seasoned sales reps showed me the ropes. Today, I always try to make time for the new sales reps who are “cutting their teeth,” so to speak.

One thing that always fascinated me, and provided spectacular entertainment, was what I like to call the “White Knight”. Referring to Medieval lore, the White Knight always comes to the rescue. Among other things, the White Knight promises (and rarely delivers) to get you the following:

· Best pricing

· Free shipping

· Break the rules and supersede managerial or company directives to satisfy you

· Lauds his previous achievements and glory

· Embellishes his title

· Turn his mom into the police to get your order

The list goes on. What always stopped me in my tracks was the guy who called a customer, introduced himself, stated why he was calling (usually one or all of the aforementioned bulleted points above), gave his contact information and said goodbye. The customer said “Hello” and “Okay, thanks for calling.”

What in the world did that sales rep accomplish? Probably at most a 90-second call to pad his stats. He made himself look pretty silly and incompetent to his customer and the bottom line is, he’ll never hit his numbers and succeed at the occupation he has chosen.

Where did the White Knight fall off his horse? Well he certainly used his mouth to scare the customer into considering the competition. But the weapon he did not use was his aural complement; that is, his ears!

I would argue that the ears, and the ability to listen to your customer, is oftentimes more important than the chatting up a storm, like the wind-bag that calls and promises you the moon, the stars, and the PBX!

Consider these hints on your next call to a prospect, vendor, a partner or customer:

· Cut down on the yes or no questions like “Do you need to order any pens today?”

· Ask more open-ended questions that require more than a yes or no answer like “I’ve noticed you have purchased quite a few pens lately; what do you attribute the spike in your business to?

· Discover what they did over the weekend

· Inquire about the town they live in and tell them if you’ve had an experience in their home town

· Pose a pertinent question(s) about their business

· Offer up legitimate value that can help them on the spot or in the long term–see if they are interested

I can tell you that more often than not, you will get quality responses from your business interaction by preparing for your call and lending an ear.

The goal of course, is to not simply get the sale. You’ll get the sale, but you’ll also build a relationship. Let’s face it, if you prove yourself as adding value to your customer, you’ll satisfy their need and succeed at your profession.

And then everybody’s happy.

People always value these professions:

A good mechanic to take care of your car

A great hairstylist/barber to offer the coiffure

A fine bartender to pour and listen

A reliable sales person to listen and deliver

Garrett Smith

Garrett is the former VoIP Supply CMO.

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View Comments

steve says:

June 23, 2008 at 10:58 PM

As someone on the receiving end of sales' cold calls, I just want one person to understand that when I say "we have a local vendor we're very happy with" that's exactly what I mean.

I don't want a quote for some random item, just to compare pricing.

I don't want to purchase something to experience the ordering/shipping experience.

I don't want to be called back in another 2 months when another newbie sales rep comes on board.

Just remove me from the calling list and maybe I'll think of them fondly when we run across something our local vendor can't handle.
Philip Laurenzi, Jr. says:

June 24, 2008 at 9:53 AM

Steve,

I could not agree more. I love the fact that we have laws protecting us from cold-call telemarketing and the ability to remove ourselves from call lists.

Furthermore, I try to shop from local vendors and look to shorten the experience of dealing with door-to-door carpet cleaning sales people and the like.

To give you a great example of what I’m talking about in the blog, in February I sold four phones to a gentleman who ran a non-profit charity. He called us to place the order and was a first-time customer. While I was accumulating relevant information about his address and shipping instructions, I asked him to tell me about his organization. He spoke for 30 minutes talking about the creation, growth and mission of the group. He pointed me to his website and asked me to learn more about the crisis his non-profit is combating. He was proud of the efforts and strides his group made and I thought it was wonderful too.

Two months later, I called this customer to make sure his phones were deployed successfully and that there was a firmware upgrade to the phone which I wanted to give him. He picked up the phone and just ripped into me. “If this is a sales call, I really don’t have the time to talk and would appreciate if you took my name off of your call lists.” I did not get a chance to get my name out and say hello. I sent a confirmation e-mail that I had two purposes for my call; to make sure the product I sold him was functioning and that there was an enhancement available to make his phone work better. Most important, I respected his wishes to take his name off our list, marking the account do not call.

No problem, I figured he was having a bad day; which happens to us all. But I must say that if I got a call back from a rep who sold me something I’d be flabbergasted. Think of all the times we’ve made a purchase of some kind of hardware or service. How many times have we been called back to see if we were satisfied? Few and far between.

Steve, the local vendor you have takes care of you and you have a great “relationship” with them and probably some other vendors. That is what it is all about. I try to do that with my customers. Some of my other blogs touch on just that…taking care of your customers. Everybody wins. Thanks for your comments.

-Phil
steve says:

June 24, 2008 at 10:05 PM

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind calls from vendors that I've worked with before. Especially if it's a "touching base" call to make sure we're happy. No worries, VOIPSupply.com is a reliable and trusted vendor for us!
Jesse says:

July 17, 2008 at 12:06 PM

I think Phil really walks his talk. Sales really is about relationship. We all make mistakes whether on the sales or implementation end of things and we all get it right, but the difference is in how we deal with the successes and failures. Do we "man up" and "get'er done" or do we make excuses we screw up and are we humble when we get the best price.