by Catherine Brown, President Initial Call

I was purchasing some equipment at a medical supply store in town yesterday when I overheard a salesman make an in-person cold call that didn’t go very well. This was a painful interaction to overhear. It went like this:

First, the salesman walked in to the store asked who the right person would be to talk to about his (blah blah blah…) supply chain assessment service.

The person behind the desk stated that probably the owner of the store, whom I’ll call John, was the right person but said, “What is this about?”

In painful detail and full of logistics and supply chain technical jargon, the salesman explained the ins and outs of the consulting service that his company offers.  I was trying to have my own conversation about the product I was buying but could see out of my peripheral vision that the store employee was starting to shut down and “glaze over” while the salesman was talking.  The salesman then went for the big push: he asked if the employee, who was not the decision maker, would agree to schedule a meeting for the store owner for them to “explore further if it makes sense for us to talk further.” 

The employee refused to commit his boss’s time, and the salesman left stating the he would call again Friday. No meeting was scheduled.

When the salesman was safely out of earshot, I asked the store employee why he didn’t agree to speak to his boss on behalf of the salesman. The employee replied that he didn’t believe that their company needed this service and that they “get solicitations all the time.”

So, what went wrong? How did this salesman fail to differentiate himself?

The salesman didn’t give the store employees any reason to believe it was worth talking for more than two minutes.  I can’t help but think how much more meaningful it would have been if the salesman had walked in and shared some real facts about what his firm had done for other companies.  Share real numbers, like, “We’ve saved companies like X, Y, and Z  10% on their …”  or “We helped companies like A, B and C, reduce their inventory by 15%.”  Case study data would have added to this salesman’s credibility.

It’s a shame that the call wasn’t more productive, because it takes time and costs money to walk in and cold call in person…and rejection has a way of spiraling.  With a better planned approach this gentleman could have experienced a positive outcome.