#52 - More Things You Shouldn't Do On A Sales Call

 📍 Hi, it's another episode of Let's Chat Sales. In this time, we're talking about things that Bob says not to do. 

So various stuff that you shouldn't do on a sales call. These are from Bob's perspective. 

Of course, I happen to agree with a lot of them. So let's dive in.  

Okay. Bob, another episode of Let's Chat Sales. 

Hey Bob, guess what? It is. Another episode of Let's Chat Sales.

Let's Chat Sales.

And this time we're doing the other, we're going to go the other way.

And we're going to let you talk about your don't do list for want to be salespeople. 

Yes. So I love it. Your list was really insightful. I liked some of those. 

They were new to me. So I'm hoping I, I hit you with some things that are new to you. 

Hit me, man!

All right, I'm going to hit you. First of all, 

don't avoid anyone. Pay attention to everyone. Everyone from the guard out at the gate, 

to the receptionist, to every single person that you interact with.

Say hi. Wave being nice. Don't be like, I'm a sales guy and I don't talk to these people. Because those people are the ones that make the decision. Yup. Yup. 

I totally agree. When I was calling on enterprise sales accounts, I always the receptionist 

and the people at the front gate, because they're the ones that can get you in the building.

They're most valuable people. 

 Yeah. Administrative assistants. It is almost more important to be on the right side with the administrative assistant than their boss. 

It can be, it can be huge. So yes! Totally agree. 

I had two administrative assistants today say to me, Bob, shouldn't do this, but I'm going to put you through.

Good. 

I know about the woman's winery visits. I've done the legwork and it makes the difference. The next one is don't get names wrong. 

Which means learn names. You got to know names. If you go in and meet the receptionist, you need to figure out a way to know her name.

Also like to ask their name, Hey Denise. Do you spell it with a C or an S? Yeah. Right. I like to have that discussion

. I think it helps build that rapport. 

And I think it's people say I'm terrible with. I've never been really great with names, but it's funny... 

if I want to remember a name a really good at it.

Yeah. All right. What else? 

Um, next one, if you're in a meeting address everyone. 

Even if the CEO is the key decision maker, you gotta at least look at everyone in the room a couple of times. 

You can't do what when I taught presentations and speeches in college, the student would focus 

on the teacher and there'd be like 30 people and it's just

laser focus. And doesn't work.

Next one... you're going to love this one. Avoid PowerPoint slides at all costs. 

Yeah. Oh, I love this. I love this. 

Yeah. And if you're going to use PowerPoint slides, cause I know some people have to...

less is more. 

I have a variation on this theme.  In the way you say... don't use PowerPoint or use as little  PowerPoint as possible... 

try to avoid a demo. 

If you can sell without doing a demo,  you're usually better off.

And the way to do a demo is... you can use slides instead of a live demo...

and even better is can you talk to the problem?

And maybe refer to a slide if you know, it's a technical product and you have to show the user interface... you have to show a certain process so forth.

And it just helped to have some sort of a graphic. But if you can talk through...

the demos tend to be a crutch...

so in the same way that PowerPoints are a crutch.

So yeah, alright, I'll buy 

that one. That's a good one. Okay. 

 then the last one I've got for you is, um,  don't complain about how much time you took to do whatever you had to do. 

They don't care. If it took you 47 hours to write the proposal, so be it.

If they tell you they're not interested in working with you, don't say, but I spent 253 hours and $40,000. How could you let me go? 

And I see that happen a lot. I've gotten those emails from people, like really after all that we did for you, 

you're not going to work with us. And it's like, but at that point you have no hope of ever working with me.

And often what happens is the timing's just wrong. 

So I think being gracious when someone says no is really important. And also when someone says, 

I just, I don't understand, or I had someone today... I know I sent him the email, three times, 

he says he didn't get the email. I could say, dude, are you incapable of getting your email?

Or I could say, okay, Earl, I'll send it to you again. No problem. Can I take a half hour because I'm in the middle of the meeting. 

And he was like sure, so I sent it to him. I called and he was fine. I could have really lit him up and said, Earl, I'm really sorry. 

Clearly the problem is at your end. And I think we as salespeople, especially non-traditional salespeople, 

want to be affirmed for all the things we're doing that are outside our comfort zone.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh, 

what I got another one for you, and that is, don't send a final proposal... the first time. 

So whenever you send a proposal, the first time you send it, it should say draft on it.

 Somehow or another, it should be incomplete in a way. And communicate that.

So they don't expect something final, um, and say, Hey, here's a draft version. I want to get your feedback on it. 

I'm going to send it to you. And we're going to talk about it.

And in fact, I think you should book that call before you send the draft over. So you got it scheduled.

And so you're going to go through. 

I think it's unfair to the customer to drop it in their lap Sight unseen. I think customers 

they're adult enough that you should assume that they should have a chance to read it beforehand, and then you can discuss it and go forward.

And as a result, I think it's important not to send a final. Because you've sent a final, it's cast in stone. 

Now you've got a backpedal. Where if it's draft and you can, 

you and you lose out because they're going to, this is not what we were looking, right. Clearly this guy doesn't understand us. We need to look elsewhere.

All right, which is the worst thing that can happen. Yup. That's right. I'd rather them say, 

Hey Bob, you misunderstood exactly what we're looking for. Can you rewrite this? 

I'd be happy to. Tell me where I went wrong. 

I will. I've also shared portions of it in advance. Like before I even put it into a draft form, just like, Hey, I'm trying to describe the situation that you guys have right now.

Did I get my numbers right? Yeah. Yeah. That's cause they throw a lot at ya. 

What you're doing then is you're, you're turning it into a collaboration and that's what you want. 

You want a back and forth. You want it to be, a collaboration, a partnership. And by doing it that way, you get feedback. You get to learn more.

Hello. I'm done. That's my list. All right. Very 

good. Well, we should do this again sometime we should. I love Let's 

Chat Sales! Right? All right.   

Okay. So that's another episode of Let's Chat Sales. I hope you liked it. 

And by all means, feel free to share it or hit like, and subscribe and all that. And look for another one.

Let me see if I can do this. I'm traveling today. Right here. There should be one right here. So we'll see. You never know. 

All right. Thanks for listening.