SalesHQ

My partner and I had finished a tough series of sales calls on a large corporate farm. The owner was taking on a complete insurance package that we were covering; I was looking at a potential commission of almost $50,000.

I was confident that a city boy like me could make good money in the country – even with minimal selling skills.

So there sat the four of us: the owner with hands folded on his desk, his accountant with hands folded atop the large leather company checkbook, my partner and me. My partner and I beamed at each other as we pulled out one last form.

“In order for us to see that you’re completely covered, we need your livestock totals.” I began to call out the animal names and receive the numbers of each herd, with babies listed separately: Beef cattle, milk cows, horses and pigs, then— E-wees? Huh? grunted the owner.

“E-wees.” I said, clearly mispronouncing the word again. “How many e-wees you got? “Let me see that form.” The farmer said.

I pointed to the word and he yelled. “That’s ewes, you idiot! Have you ever been on a farm? How are you supposed to help me with my business if you know nothing about farming? You know what? Don’t even answer that, just get out; get out of my office!”

My partner and I walked quickly to my car (not even stopping to clean our shoes) and drove away, $50,000 poorer than we thought when we got there.

Postmortem

OK, so John was a bit short on his product knowledge training. What should you do when you similarly blow it on a sales call?

Don’t be surprised if the prospect says: Hey, that’s OK. I’ve done some dumb things, too. Let’s keep going. This way, you’ll most probably make your prospect want to help you not be so hard on yourself – and thus save a sale.

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