4 Shocking Things Salespeople Really Did During Presentations

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Do you know what your sales people are doing during presentations?

Four mistakes they should NEVER make

Friends needed a new air conditioning system in their office. They asked me and three other friends for referrals. Amazingly, we all gave them different company names. They called all four and all four made presentations to them.

My friends were amazed at the differences in the salespeople. I got the whole story of what happened and who won the bid. Here is the summation of our conversation and the mistakes you should never make:

None of the companies knew they were referred and during the presentation, none of the sales people asked how they heard about their company….Mistake #1.

One of the sales persons lied about his credentials and said he was a licensed contractor. They looked him up at the state licensing board and found that he didn’t have a license. That sales person was thrown out of consideration….Mistake #2.

The most thorough salesperson’s price was double all of the other proposal prices. And, there was no justification of price through additional work to be done, etc. Even though this person’s presentation and survey of the equipment was judged the best, they couldn’t justify the differences in prices. This salesperson never followed up and never asked why the company wasn’t awarded the job….Mistake #3.

Another salesperson was “ok” in their opinion. This salesperson was not outstanding and didn’t ask all of the questions the other three did. In addition, this salesperson rescheduled the appointment twice and was late….Mistake #4.

The salesperson who won the job was also thorough and had a price around three of the four proposals. They liked him best from a personality standpoint and went with that company even though this salesperson was not the best sales person in their opinion.

Please check on what your sales people are doing!

Don’t make these mistakes:
#1. Find out how the prospects found out about your company. If it is through referrals, thank the referrer with a note, an email, etc.

#2. Never, ever lie to a prospect. Your prospective customers will find out that the salesperson lied and as a result, your company WILL lose the job.

#3: Always follow up. The customer may not have made a decision. And, if your salesperson lost the job, find out why. In this case my friends would have told the salesperson that the price was double the other three bids they got.

#4. Be on time for appointments.

Moral of the story:

The best salesperson doesn’t always win the job. The best personality and fit with the customer will win it…as long as the price is reasonable in the customer’s mind. In this case they thought the price was reasonable because it was around three of the four quotes they got.

And, always follow up on your salespeople. Whether it is someone in the office or you as the owner following up, you need to know that your salespeople are doing their jobs properly…whether or not your company wins the work.