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SAVVY
SELLING - DECEMBER
1, 2006
Dealing
with Sales Disasters
by Michelle Nichols
EXECUTIVE
OVERVIEW
Playing
good defense on sales calls
means being able to quickly
recover from a mistake and close
the deal
Just as in the rest of life,
things go wrong in sales. No
matter how well prepared you
are, mistakes and mishaps are
inevitable. But don't give up!
The times of seeming disaster
can be opportunities to show
your customers what you're made
of, and believe it or not, can
help you close the sale.
Start by preparing thoroughly
before a sales call. Preparation
is like playing sales offense.
And since sales disasters are
inevitable, you also need to
have some strategies for a successful
sales defense ready. Depending
on the circumstances, you can
apologize, joke, or leverage
the mistake—or maybe combine
all three strategies.
If you are even 1% responsible
for the mistake, I suggest you
apologize quickly, sincerely,
and profusely. I know a saleswoman
whose customer's order got messed
up. She called the customer
right away and announced, "I
just heard what happened. I'm
on my way over so you can shoot
me." She then brought her
customer a box of her favorite
doughnuts. Her quick thinking,
humility, and the sweets softened
the blow and got the relationship
rolling again.
Open Mouth, Insert
Foot
Joking is another worthwhile
defense tool. After messing
up, you can acknowledge what
happened with a line such as,
"They say that comedy is
tragedy, plus time. Well, I
guess someday we are really
going to laugh about this."
You could also say "Boy,
I must be the poster girl of
bad timing," or "Excuse
me while I take my entire leg
out of my mouth."
If you mistakenly cross two
polite words and come up with
an embarrassing phrase, you
might say, "Now that I
have your complete attention…"
or mention that your company
doesn't let you work with electrical
wires so you don't cross them,
too.
Leveraging an error to help
you close the sale requires
creativity and chutzpah. In
this case, you don't just make
a joke about what went wrong,
you actually use it as a reason
your customer should buy from
you.
All Seriousness Aside
For instance, we have all accidentally
said the wrong word. You might
then use the same wrong word
several more times during the
rest of your presentation. Or
if someone falls off his chair
during your presentation, you
might humorously stress the
safety aspect of your offering
for the rest of the talk.
I started thinking about playing
sales defense when I read Dan
Seidman's book Sales Autopsy:
50 Postmortems Reveal What Killed
the Sale (and What Might Have
Saved It) (Kaplan Business,
2006). He has collected more
than 600 sales horror stories
and included the 50 most painful
ones in this book. Reading it
is like rubbernecking at sales
crashes. Here are four colorful
examples from Seidman's book
paired with what I might have
done in the unlucky seller's
situation:
No Doze. Kevin
had a 4:30 p.m. appointment
with a customer. He'd worked
late the night before and hard
all day long. During the sales
call, the sun was directly in
Kevin's eyes, so he had to squint.
While Kevin was squinting, he
ended up falling asleep in front
of the customer.
I think I'd have claimed it
was a power nap, or that I had
a reaction to some new medicine,
or perhaps suffered from narcolepsy.
Clowning Around.
Scott and his sales partner
were early to a sales appointment
on a hot day, so they stopped
and bought large frozen drinks.
Scott got cherry and his partner
got lime.
When they finished their drinks,
they realized their mouths,
lips, teeth, and tongues were
now bright red and green. They
unsuccessfully tried to rub
off the coloring. The receptionist
and the president of the company
they were calling on treated
them as if they were the clowns
they looked like.
I would have called and rescheduled
the appointment, even if it
was for a month later. If it
was for that same day, I'd have
gone to a store and bought some
cleaning wipes and kept scrubbing
until the dye was off. Seidman
had a different suggestion:
Buy more frozen drinks and offer
them to the receptionist and
the prospective customer.
Go with the Flow. During
a sales call in an office at
a manufacturing company, a salesman
named Jim noticed the customer's
dog had left a big steaming
pile of poop on the floor. Seidman
suggests Jim could have begun
to clean up the mess or made
a joke about it and then continued
the sale.
I would have laughed and leveraged
it to close the sale.
Learn the Lingo.
A salesman named John was new
on the job and in front of a
customer who was a farmer, mispronounced
"ewes," the word for
female sheep as "e-wees"
(rhymes with kiwis). The farmer
wondered aloud how John could
possibly help him if he didn't
know such a basic farming word.
Seidman recommended that John
ask for sympathy and say, "You
must think I'm my company's
village idiot. I'm so sorry.
If you don't want to do business
with me, I completely understand."
I think the farmer might have
taken pity on John and let him
continue the sale if he had
tried that.
Want to hear more examples
of sales disasters and how to
play defense to recover from
them? Check out the Savvy
Selling podcast interview with
Dan Seidman. You can play
it on your computer or MP3 device.
Happy selling!
Michelle Nichols is a
professional sales speaker and
consultant based in Reno, Nevada.
She welcomes your questions
and comments. You can visit
her web site at www.savvyselling.com
or contact her at michelle.nichols@savvyselling.com.
Her toll-free number is (877)
352-9684.
Copyright 2000-2006. All rights
reserved.
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