To stay in business requires the ongoing ability to increase sales. One would think small business owners and sales professionals would leverage this desire at every opportunity.
What I am learning is many salespeople truly do not want to increase sales. Their sales process is all about “me” and not about the sales leads or potential customers. I wrote just last week about phone calls not being answered, voicemails not being returned or emails being ignored.
This demonstrated inattention clearly conflicts with the desire to increase sales.
As a professional salesperson for more than 25 years, I am astonished by this attitude. I personally have lost track of the number of times I have made sales referrals and the small business owners did not respond.
Then I would hear from my contact about the lack of response. For those in business, this lack of response reflects on the credibility and reputation that made the sales referral.
My next two actions would be to apologize and to stop making sales referrals to that specific owner. I would think this person or business clearly does not really want to increase sales.
People buy from people they know and trust. Not returning phone calls is foolhardy because you have created a negative experience with that potential buyer.
Customer service and sales research continue to suggest a negative experience will be shared far greater by 82 percent compared with a positive one of 55 percent, according to Cognito.
Remember those percentages the next time you fail to return a phone call or make demands on a sales lead.
Leanne Hoagland-Smith is an author, speaker and executive coach. Her weekly column explores issues that impact the bottom line of firms with fewer than 100 employees. She can be reached at 219-508-2859.