The phone rang as I was trying to finish up a little project before a 1:30 appointment. It was the salesman scheduled by the regional office to visit my home the next day. He needed to reschedule.

Unfortunately, that is not what he told me. Instead, he told me about his son’s flight time and how he couldn’t get to the airport from here fast enough. He listed every town he was scheduled to visit all over New England on Wednesday and then did the same for Thursday. There were no openings on Wednesday or Thursday anyway. He never let my response regarding best times dampen his enthusiastic narrative, nor influence his suggested times. I was watching the clock tick down to 1:30 as I heard about surgery appointments, more towns, and his frustrations with the regional office. Maybe I would like to just place an order over the phone now if I knew what I wanted? I repeated for the fourth time that a late afternoon or evening was needed. I was about to suggest he call me back when he finally found one in the evening that was just fine, thank you. 

Nice enough guy. Friendly. But now I wonder if I will ever be able to get him to shut up and leave if I let him into my house. I am not predisposed to listen to him, never mind to buy from him. (Maybe this is why the regional office does the scheduling!)

What was he picturing on the other end of the line? Someone with nothing to do, no one to talk to, and impervious to dysfunction and disorder? Or was it all about him with no thought given to the other end of the line at all? This is not the way to sell anything!

And if YOU have sales people like him, that is not the way to run your business! Do you know if you do? What kind of face are you presenting to potential customers? Do you know why your best sales people out-sell the others? Do you know why sales calls fail? If not, you’ve got some work to do!