Today, I received a call from a telemarketer who interrupted my day to try to sell me something.  I had a few minutes to spare between meetings and am intensely curious about sales tactics both good and bad.  So, I let it play.

Here is a paraphrase of the call.

RING…. Hello, this is Richard.

“May I speak to the business owner or decision maker.”

“Speaking,” I said.

I am calling the first (1st) sales foul in this call.  Cold calling is bad enough.  If you don’t even know who you are calling, it just sends the wrong signal.  A name is not hard to find these days.

“My name is Sales Dude (name obfuscated).  I am calling to make sure that you are entered properly into our directory and that you are getting the most value possible so that your business can grow.”

I won’t call a foul here but, could this be more vague? Yuck!

“What directory? Who is this exactly?”, I said in a pleasant tone.

“My name is Sales Dude with DexMedia we have a nationally recognized directory and internet offering to help you with Google, Yahoo SEM, SEO.

“Oh ok, How can I help you?”

“What does your company do currently?” he says in a pleasant voice.

Ok up to this point this cold call is progressing.  I don’t like it that he has yet to clearly articulate what he is selling, why I should care, and how much it is going to cost.  However, I appreciate a cycle so, playing along is fine. Especially since I am conducting selfish experiments.

I will call my second (2nd) sales foul.  This is basically the same foul as above but worse.  If this sales person has no idea who the company is before calling, how can he possibly develop any kind of thoughtful conversation?  Answer, he can’t.

I decided to invest some time to see where he would go.  I described the company, our business model, and our high level go-to-market plan.  Basically, I gave him the 2 minute elevator pitch of our company.  After this monologue, I paused to see if he had any questions and then I waited for the value propositions and closing maneuvers to ensue.

“No I don’t have any questions.” He said politely.  “However, I would like to set up a time to go over your needs in more detail.”  “Can we set up a time on Wednesday to go over it?” he asked.

This is the third (3rd) sales foul.  We were at a point in the conversation where Sales Dude could turn the conversation to his agenda.  I set him up perfectly.  Unfortunately, he did not see it and missed his opportunity to continue the conversation.

I tell him, “I will take a meeting on Wednesday.  However, I need you first to send me some information on products you think I might be interested in.  I will review them and get back to you.”  This was his last chance to show me that he was listening to me.

Shortly thereafter, I received an email with basically a pricelist.  No value add.  Here is his email….

Richard,

Good talking to you.

Here’s a few products to review.

I’ll call you on Wednesday 6/10 at 11am.

Sales Dude

Shortly after I received that email, I cancelled the meeting with him on Wednesday via email.  I am sure we have all had this experience.

Lesson learned here:

• Do your homework!
• Listen for buying signals and react
• Do your homework!