A desperate salesperson won’t land the sale

Over the last ten to twelve years I’ve been subject to salespeople, predominantly men, trying to convince me that their product is the best thing since sliced bread, sometimes to overbearing persistence.

In a previous role, one such man used to turn up outside my office first thing in the morning, sometimes he got there before I did and waited for me to arrive.  Then he would follow me, uninvited into my office, and start talking.  So many things wrong with that: 1) its first thing in the morning, I don’t talk to anyone until I’ve had my second coffee, 2) its first thing in the morning, I need to assess my service and anything that may have happened overnight that would affect us during the day, 3) he did not book an appointment, 4) I had told him multiple times to make an appointment, 5) he was a total jerk.  He really overstepped boundaries, telling me all about his home life and how his wife didn’t understand him, how he needed these sales to survive and so on.  Totally inappropriate conversations, unsolicited.  It got to the point where I would deliberately avoid him at conferences, and employ friends from other companies to help me escape him.  He may have had the best product under the sun but given his behaviour I would never have bought it in a million years. 

A different supplier turned up unannounced once, on his way to another customer and thought he’d pop in to say hello and asked whether I had time for him, I explained that I didn’t as I had to go to a meeting.  He wasn’t offended, he appreciated that I had other priorities at that time.  We arranged a better time for him to return so that we could have a conversation about his product which meant I could give him my full attention.  He understood it.  I bought his product.

I have some suppliers at the moment who phone, or email on a very regular basis, despite the fact that I’ve told them we are not currently in a position to engage with them.  They talk, and talk, and explain their service / product again, despite the fact that I am well aware of it and what they can offer.  I tried to tell them politely that I will get in touch with them when we are ready to engage but they end up saying that they’ll diarise another call in a few weeks’ time, even when I tell them that nothing it likely to change within that timescale, and repeating that I will contact them.

These all seem to be the actions of a desperate salesperson. They show classic signs of excessively cold calling, talking too much and not listening to the customer, making themselves too available to attend calls or meetings, and offering free trials like they were giving away candy.

In both personal and professional life, I will engage with salespeople as and when I need something.  The more a company badgers me, the less likely I am to want to listen, even if they do have the best offer, or product. 

For me, customer services after the sale is almost more important than the actual sale itself.  How you support me as a customer, help develop wider engagement and integrate the product or service, how they respond to requests for information or support.  These things will keep me coming back asking for news of what else they have to offer.

Dear salespeople, I recognise you have a job to do and sometimes your take home pay depends on landing a sale, but have some dignity, appreciate that I have other options, you are not the only supplier in the world … of anything.  If I say don’t call me back within the next two weeks, don’t call me. Oh, and don’t patronise me, I’ve done my homework on your, your company and your product.