\u201cWell,\u201d<\/em> Arnie responded, \u201cI understand that your business has used Sure-Fire Pest Control Company for the last few years. As you know, I represent Ultimate Protection Pest Control. This seemed like a good time for me to come and talk with you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cWhy now especially?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cOh, because I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve read the newspaper stories about the lawsuit a local restaurant filed against Sure-Fire Pest Control. Radio and TV covered the story too, so it\u2019s unlikely you missed it. The restaurant lost its sanitation rating because customers complained of rats and roaches running under the tables. I\u2019m sure you don\u2019t want to do business with Sure-Fire any longer.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nI believe it is Emeril Lagasse who likes to say \u201cBam!\u201d\u00a0 Here is the Bam! from the author:<\/p>\n
Not only is mistake number five more common than you\u2019d guess, it is also a colossal blunder. Citing bad news about your competitor will not gain positive ground for you. The opposite happens. Why? It appears that your company has no clear advantages to offer, because you haven\u2019t mentioned them yet. If your only benefit is that someone else is worse, you\u2019re doomed to lose the sale.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nAbsolutely right.\u00a0 The prospect\u2019s first thought is that you do not have anything better to offer.\u00a0 I call it a vulture move \u2013 you are slowly circling a carcass hoping for an easy meal.\u00a0 If your salespeople are incorporating any aspect of this move, you need to put an end to it immediately.\u00a0 I observed a sales call where a salesperson in a highly-competitive market attempted just such a move.\u00a0 I instantly observed the prospect turning on their mental screensaver as they simply waited out the remainder of the time allotted to the call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Part of what I do in our company is ride around with sales reps on sales calls.\u00a0 The goal is to get market information that isn\u2019t easily discovered \u2013 how the prospects view the solution, what degree of buzz words are incorporated, what stalls and objections occur most frequently, etc.\u00a0 You never learn more about a sales position than when you are in the trenches with the salespeople. That being said, I came across this article in SalesHQ.com.\u00a0 The format is a theoretical construction of a mistake-ridden sales call.\u00a0 The article is a bit exaggerated, but not by much.\u00a0 The concluding exchange is priceless: \u201cWell,\u201d Arnie responded, \u201cI understand that… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[1434,1435,1431,1433,1432,1033],"class_list":["post-2161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sales-techniques","tag-bad-qualifying","tag-bad-sale","tag-bad-sales-call","tag-qualifying-mistake","tag-sales-error","tag-sales-mistake"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-yR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2105,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/09\/q-is-for-qualifying-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":2161,"position":0},"title":"Q Is For Qualifying Questions","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"September 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I come across this often \u2013 a company wants to hire a superstar salesperson and the hiring manager\u2019s first instinct is to find a loquacious talker.\u00a0 Perhaps you have seen this approach too?\u00a0 Clearly no readers of the Hire Sense would administer this approach in their hiring. Right? Ok, maybe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring Salespeople"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1472,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/03\/candidates-that-do-not-wow\/","url_meta":{"origin":2161,"position":1},"title":"Candidates That Do Not Wow","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"March 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We've been on this topic a bit lately, but it is mission-critical to successful selling.\u00a0 Asking questions...asking the right questions is tantamount to qualifying prospects.\u00a0 Most sales managers know this, yet we often see them displaying selective amnesia when it comes to interviewing sales candidates. Case in point:\u00a0 Lee often\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring Salespeople"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2478,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2011\/03\/conventional-wisdom-about-sales-managers\/","url_meta":{"origin":2161,"position":2},"title":"Conventional Wisdom About Sales Managers","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"March 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is an article from Eye on Sales that addresses a common sales management topic \u2013 should you promote your top salesperson into the sales manager role?\u00a0 I would argue that the conventional wisdom is to avoid making this mistake. From the article: Sales management mistake #1: Promoting top performers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Assessing"","block_context":{"text":"Assessing","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1775,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/11\/quoting-is-not-qualifying\/","url_meta":{"origin":2161,"position":3},"title":"Quoting Is Not Qualifying","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"November 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I run into this topic often and it is one worth defining.\u00a0 Many companies value quotes as strong sales activity.\u00a0 Now don't get me wrong, quotes are a step in the sales process and typically one that occurs before a close.\u00a0 However, companies that have under-defined sales processes often choose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Management"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2354,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/06\/social-skills-vs-sales-skills\/","url_meta":{"origin":2161,"position":4},"title":"Social Skills vs. Sales Skills","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"If you\u2019re talking you\u2019re not selling.\u00a0 That is an old axiom I learned early in my sales career and it is always true.\u00a0 Talking does not equal selling. Unfortunately, people not experienced in sales hiring often have the opposite view.\u00a0 Their stereotypical belief is that the best salespeople are the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring Salespeople"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":465,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/11\/sales-time-wasters\/","url_meta":{"origin":2161,"position":5},"title":"Sales Time-Wasters","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"November 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Sales & Marketing Management has a short article about what holds back sales reps - Companies Hamper Their Sales Reps. Some of the findings from the study: * Salespeople spend just 8 percent of their time prospecting and qualifying new customers. Yet they spend 23 percent of their time dealing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Management"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2161"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2162,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161\/revisions\/2162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}