The first two parts of our series on proactive sales management have been focused on foundation and structure. An experience about a year ago, sums up the crux of the problem – and the eventual fallout.

Depending on the sales scenario, product knowledge can be a foundational item that should not be compromised. Having been in a very technical environment for most of my sales career, experience says a sound product foundation is important in the sales process.

I’m not suggesting that a salesperson delve into the minutia of every last product detail. What I am suggesting is the ability to use product information and knowledge in the sales process. Attempting to blurt out everything you know as quickly as you can does not work. Having an “expert” available for later in the process is also very valuable.

So back to the experience. A sales rep goes on a call by himself. Within the first two minutes of the call, the prospect says “I only have a few minutes to discuss this. I also have to make a decision this week. My boss wants me to get this ordered and delivered by the end of the month.” The sales rep smells blood in the water and, in his excitement, takes all the foundation and structure and throws them to the wind (playing into the prospects buying game, hook, line and sinker).

When quizzed about certain capabilities and abilities of the product and the company, the response was, “Yeah, we can do that.” When asked if it could be done for a certain amount of money, the response was “Sure, we can make that work.”

The rep comes back to the office boasting about the speed and efficiency of scoring the deal. The process of allocating internal resources begins. Internal purchasing contacted suppliers to insure delivery dates. The celebration had begun.

Prematurely.

The follow up call is not returned. An email message generates no response. Additional calls and emails yield the same result. What is going on here?

To make a long and painful story short, the prospect left the meeting with serious doubts about the ability of the company and the suitability of the product to meet his needs. He also used the meeting to leverage both price and capability with the incumbent vendor.

The lesson to be learned is the importance of the foundation and process in a variety of selling situations. Bypassing or skipping these items will almost always lead to the type of disappointment and embarrassment this rep experienced not to mention the wasted time and resources.

Build the foundation. Reinforce the structure. Read the Sales Management articles.

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From perusing the morning ads I came across a company looking for a Quality Engineer.  One of the requirements is to be a “Competent technical writer.”

Unfortunately, this plastic injection-molding company misspelled their name in the listing – XYZ Platics.

That, my friends, is a perfect example of irony.

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