I Broke a Golden Rule of Sales! Now What?
I Broke a Golden Rule of Sales! Now What?
I broke one of Jeffrey Gitomer's Golden Rules: Thou Shalt Qualify the Buyer!
His rule, my words. Anyway, I sell high quality security cameras. My installer gave me a lead at a tire distributor. They apparently needed security cameras for a location that was starting a night shift. The facility held 100,000 tires at a time. Despite the fact the real world was just entering Spring, the tire distributor was already stocking snow tires for the next winter season.
I was very excited about this prospect! If I could get our security cameras into one location I had a legitimate shot at a national account. So, we booked an appointment with the facility General Manager.
On the day of the site visit all went well until it came to objections.I was told the GM would present our security product to his board of directors for approval. To myself I thought, "What! You don't make the decision?" I was furious with myself! How could I have put myself into this position?
Actually, it was quite simple:
So, what have I done about it? I did more more research and found out who the CEO and CFO are. I'll be sure to qualify them first!
I broke one of Jeffrey Gitomer's Golden Rules: Thou Shalt Qualify the Buyer!
His rule, my words. Anyway, I sell high quality security cameras. My installer gave me a lead at a tire distributor. They apparently needed security cameras for a location that was starting a night shift. The facility held 100,000 tires at a time. Despite the fact the real world was just entering Spring, the tire distributor was already stocking snow tires for the next winter season.
I was very excited about this prospect! If I could get our security cameras into one location I had a legitimate shot at a national account. So, we booked an appointment with the facility General Manager.
On the day of the site visit all went well until it came to objections.I was told the GM would present our security product to his board of directors for approval. To myself I thought, "What! You don't make the decision?" I was furious with myself! How could I have put myself into this position?
Actually, it was quite simple:
- I did not qualify the buyer well enough! The lead was a relative of my installer.
- I was looking past my immediate goal, qualify the buyer, and picturing our security cameras in all locations.
- I did not qualify the buyer properly before and during our presentation. I assumed he was the decision maker.
- I did not follow-up the GM's desire to present our products to his board with a suggestion that "we" should approach the board together. He loved the product and could have been an ally!
- To this date, despite my best efforts to follow-up, I have heard nothing.
So, what have I done about it? I did more more research and found out who the CEO and CFO are. I'll be sure to qualify them first!
Comments