I NEED STORIES. I’m looking for stories for the next edition of my college textbook (Selling: Building Partnerships 11th edition) of effective OR ineffective selling, from either a buyer’s perspective OR a seller’s perspective. I’m focusing on business to business selling situations. College students learn best by hearing stories, so, if you have a story, why not share it with me? You don’t even have to write down a single thing. You can just call my office and leave a detailed message on my voice mail with your story. It can be totally anonymous. Or I can give you credit for the story if you want to leave your contact information with me. My office number is 218-726-6314. Or you can email me at: scastleb@d.umn.edu If you want to write down your story you can share it with me via email. On behalf of the tens of thousands of college students who might read or hear your story, I sincerely say, Thank You!
There are three types of "stories" I'm looking for. I'm providing these three examples so you see how others have approached each of the three topics. Of course, there can be variations on how these are laid out, but they give an idea of what could easily work.
Audience: Mostly undergraduate students that are pursing degrees in business administration.
Target number of words: about 700 words
Permissions: If you are identified directly (not anonymously) I will need you to complete a permission form. There is no payment for these. Most people are happy to share their stories with thousands of college students.
Here's an example of a story that is from a seller's perspective.
KEEP ACCURATE DATA ON CUSTOMERS AND PROSPECTS
The saying “garbage in equals garbage out” rings true with a few of the salespeople who have worked for me over the years. For example, one salesperson who works for me made a prospecting call on a business in her new sales territory. The prospect was very busy and the business owner’s wife was not friendly and did not want to be interrupted by a salesperson. She told the salesperson to leave the premises. The salesperson asked her name and if she could give her one of her business cards with her contact information. She replied, “No, I really do not want you coming here anymore, LEAVE NOW.”
The salesperson was upset but wanted to document the call. She hoped that the prospect was just having a bad day. In order to document the call in the CRM system the salesperson simply recorded the contact person’s name as “Crabby Lady,” since she never got the woman’s name. She then described in the CRM system how the call went and to wait a long time before calling on the business again.
About a year and a half later the company sent a mailing to the potential prospects in that type of business located in the database. The letter was mailed to the business and was addressed to “Crabby Lady.” This obviously did not go over very well with the prospect and blew any opportunity of future sales.
Source: Jim Sodomka, sales and marketing manager, company name withheld upon request, used with permission.
Copyright: McGraw Hill, 2015.
Here's an example of a story from a buyer's perspective. The goal is to help students see things from the eyes of a buyer (instead of a seller).
YES, I’M A PROSPECT…SO DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE SEEING ME!
As a senior buyer in the public sector (the city of Rochester) it’s often more difficult for sellers to develop an in-depth relationship with me due to the process surrounding bids and projects. Any purchase below $5,000 can be conducted through the purchasing department, but anything over that requires a public bid opening with sealed bids, such as contracting for construction or the design behind a project. The type of buying and contracting I am involved with changes based on the time of year and weather seasons; in the spring a lot of effort goes toward construction projects. For instance, in the spring there can be trail projects, which require contracting with an organization that has a design service background to first get an estimate of costs and set of specifications; then we’ll request and eventually purchase a bid.
Although my procurement process differs, I’ve experienced many types of prospecting from sellers. Many salespeople make cold calls on me, and the sellers are just trying to push a product or service on me. Yes it sounds cliché, but salespeople can be pushy (a selling technique you will want to avoid if you’re calling on me!). From my end this comes across as lack of care. I’ll just wait for the conversation to end, hang up, and that’ll be the end of it.
For example, recently I had a pushy new salesperson, I’ll call her Julie, inquire about a project the city was planning. The problem was, after talking with Julie and informing her to touch base at a later time, she had no interest in following the timeline to respond or follow up at the date that I provided. Zero patience. When buying for the government, there are many t’s that must be crossed and i’s dotted; each “piece of the puzzle” must fit, meaning it must be in the best interest of the public and best interest politically/economically. In other words, each Rochester city department has to be totally on board. Here, a government purchase must meet certain thresholds and be signed off by multiple city council members, who happen to meet only three times a month. Julie continually called back inquiring about this particular project, which was waiting to be okayed by the city. This sales behavior is very aggressive and Julie came across as interested only in generating a revenue stream, like a car salesman seeking commission and nothing more.
Salespersons prospecting must be willing to listen for needs and be forthcoming in developing a business. They should have my best interests in mind. The most appropriate way to reach out to me is to conduct prior research, whether it’s Google or our city Web site. Only then should a seller begin to state how she believes her product or service could help my organization. I encourage you to ask for further information to be provided about a project or request of bid, and show that you care and are truly interested in mutual benefits. Prospecting successfully doesn’t just require understanding and accommodating to me as a buyer; it is all about timing as well.
In my point of view, personalities and emotional intelligence dictate how prospecting should be conducted based off the individuals involved. It’s easy to identify when that has not been done beforehand! For example, we’ll take bids for something such as a body camera for police. A requester from the city will have expertise on a certain product such as a body camera and will determine specs a good product must have and pass it along to us to bid out.
Prospecting for a project goes a long way not only to ensure a smooth and fair bidding process, but we can also do repeat business, especially with consistently low bid prices as a factor. If I find you to be assertive, with poor emotional intelligence and not understanding me and my needs, you will not do well. As a buyer I’ll always ask, why? Why your company? Why your product? What makes you unique and valuable?
Source: Anonymous. Used with permission. Names have been changed.
Copyright: McGraw Hill, 2015.
Here's an example of how technology is used by salespeople. The goal is to tell students how technology is affecting what is happening to salespeople today.
TECH-POWERED SELLING
Technology is finding new ways to have a profound effect on sales calls. Gryphon Networks, for example, is a business headquartered in Boston that helps companies analyze actual sales calls. Systems can track and evaluate everything from where the conversation left off and what appointments were made, to notifying salespeople of scheduled follow-up calls. The current status of sales leads is also documented. This advanced tech support more efficiently uses resources and bypasses manual documentation. By using such a system salespeople have more time to conduct profit-contributing activities.
Technology such as the one offered by Gryphon also evaluates the salesperson’s efforts during a sales call and offers valuable advice in future sales training activities. An example could be a salesperson using slang or informal language during communication that may hinder the effectiveness of the sales call, or empty communication that just clutters dialogue or insinuates false promissory service. Furthermore, when making sales in such an industry like financial services that is heavily regulated, if a mistake is made on the salesperson’s end (like inappropriately using a word such as promise or guarantee) a manager or oversight person can correct the individual on the misquote. All of the collected data can also be pooled together to provide an extensive report in chart or table form to better training and improve sales growth. Each system can be tailored to the business it serves or the individual it analyzes to track performance.
The systems can amass both quantitative and qualitative data to improve customer response and help build mutually beneficial business relationships. For example, Gryphon Network helped a Belmont savings bank see a 20 percent increase in its sales conversions once it got accustomed to the system provided by the partnership.
Sources: Gryphon Networks; Bryan Yurcan, “Tech Can’t Replace a Sales Call (Yet), but It Can Make One Better,” American Banker, November 23, 2016.
Copyright: McGraw Hill, 2015.