Being a salesperson, I am forced to contact people that I don’t know and to try and sell them my services – and to get them to say ‘yes’ (flashback to college days at O’Malley’s bar in Athens, Georgia).
And, since fate (well, the IT dot-com bust and a merger/downsizing that was beyond my control) has brought me into sales, I am now making a living trying to get people to listen to me.
The life of a salesperson shouldn’t be that difficult. If you have a great product or service (which I have), people should be beating a path to my door. But they aren’t. My service consists of the ability to save people money by reducing expenses that they already have. I am not trying to sell them a new gadget or trying to get them to sign up for a new investment scheme that my cousin just joined (he swears by it) – I honestly can save them money. They simply have to follow my (expert) advice, and then pay me a small fee instead of over-paying for the services that they already purchase from other businesses.
Yes, I do get paid a fee based upon how much money I can save them, but who wouldn’t spend $1 to save $5? Who wouldn’t spend $75,000 to save $500,000? Well, obviously, there aren’t that many takers out there.
A typical sales meeting goes like this:
Me: Mr. Jones, after careful review of your expenses in this area, I believe that we can save your company over $428,000 in the first year.
Mr. Jones: Wow, that sounds great.
Me: So, when can we get started? You ROI on this project is less than two months.
Mr. Jones: Well, we don’t have it in the budget, and it might take some effort on my part. We will call you when we are ready. Oh – and thanks for lunch. The surf-and-turf was excellent. That lobster was the size of a cat!
So, that leads me to believe that all of this hype about a bad economy is just that – hype. Companies aren’t really interested in saving money – heck, they must have tons of it. Gas prices are out of control? Nah, someone is just too lazy to increase production. Real estate prices are in the tank? People are just too tired to pay their mortgage (heck, American Idol is on!).
Even when you offer a bit of free advice to save them money, they turn you down:
Me: Mr. Jones, if you would just do these three things, you can save $30,000 – and I am even going to waive my fee. Just do these three things – I even wrote them down for you. And, here is how you do these three things, I wrote that down as well. Heck, I will even do it for you, just say the word…
Mr. Jones: Thanks, but we have it all under control. We are fine. Oh, thanks for lunch. I didn’t realize that Beluga caviar was that salty.
This leads me to believe that complacency is vital to operating a successful business. Heck, it seems to work for the multi-million dollar companies that I contact. I can understand that I am not the only one selling snake oil to these companies. But my snake oil works – it really does! I tried to be complacent, but I found it doesn’t pay the bills. My phone never rang.
You see, I believe that I have built the better mousetrap. My trap will not only kill the existing mice, but we also spread the word to the other mice, and they aren’t going anywhere near that box of gummy bears in your pantry. Honest.
I have even gone to companies where they were using the same service from my competitors. And, even after I have found mistakes that my competitors were making, they still decide to stick with what they have. Complacency rules!
Colin Powell (former Secretary of State and Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff) once said: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared. It’s an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms.”
Now, I don’t think that these prospects are arrogant or scared, but I do believe that it is an excuse for inaction. The main reason is probably because they have been approached a thousand times by other companies with the same claim as mine – and were probably burned by a few of them.
But I don’t get paid until I have caught the mice. And I can even point out where the mice live, where they eat, and how they are managing to get into their desk where they keep their Raman noodles. But it appears that there are tons of mice-loving, happy-go-lucky people out there.
I guess I need to ask my prospects if they are cat-lovers first…
Tony Darnell is President and CEO of WideVision LLC.
WideVision is a wireless consulting firm, specializing in invoice analysis and complete wireless lifecycle management – visit widevision.com
AccessGPS is a free GPS tracking application for your Nextel phone – visit accessgps.com
Filed under: Wireless | Tagged: account management, accounting, AT&T, Barack Obama, Blackberry, business, cell phone, cellular, expenses, finance, George Bush, GPS, increase profits, information technology, mobility, Neal Boortz, Nextel, rate plan analysis, reduce expenses, Sprint, T-Mobile, telecom expense management, tony darnell, Verizon, Wireless |
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