The Perfect Pitch - or is it?

The story below is excerpted from Sales Autopsy, by Dan Seidman. Unfortunately, I feel uniquely qualified to testify to its truthfulness. Also, check out the special promotion from 22 sales experts if you order Sales Autopsy today on Barnes & Noble today.

Jill's Presentation is Music, Except to Her Prospect's Ears
Jill was excited to start her sales career at Xerox - the big copier company had the best sales training in their industry and was known as an organization that gave great support to its reps.

There was this one particular rule that her manager enforced: Nobody goes on a sales call alone until they have MEMORIZED their presentation, word for word.

She stayed up late at night and read that script over and over and over. During the day she would ride with experienced reps or her manager to learn from the selling skills of the pros in action. Repeatedly, Jill would stand before her sales manager and practice that pitch.

She'd blow some part of it and be told, "Keep working on it. See you later." One day this starting sales rep finally nailed it. Her manager smiled and said, "Looks like you're ready to solo!"

That day she was as nervous as if on a blind date (which seems to be a perfect description of most first sales calls). Standing before a businessman, Jill began to speak. The memorized script was perfectly burned into her brain.

But something was wrong and she couldn’t quite figure it out until it hit her. Throughout the presentation she had been calling him - just as the script read - "Mr. Prospect."

Jill felt both humiliated and stupid when she realized what she’s done.

POSTMORTEM: Jill's blunder should help you think about how you look at, and treat, your prospects. Do you respect them as individuals? You show respect by working to discover their exact needs and to address those specific needs before switching on your autopilot pitch. By contrast, do prospects view you as an individual? How do you strive to be memorable, standing out from thousands of sales animals badgering buyers each day? You actions and attitude should be a beautiful reflection of the uniqueness of the looks and personalities on this planet.

Learn more about the Sales Autopsy special promotion. Dan's book is a real hoot! It's a great gift for your favorite sales executive or sale rep.

Also, I just talked to Dan because many of you who read this blog don't get notified till the day after it's posted. He will honor book purchases on BN.com through October 18th  - even though it says it expired yesterday. 

Comments

[Bob VL]

Jill, Great Story !
Names changed to protect the innocent ? lol
Bob