How We Handle Sales Calls

As a business with public contact information, we are inundated with sales calls. The process generally runs roughly like this:

  1. We get a phone call from a number that is often “blocked” for caller ID. We’ve learned to screen those calls. Some leave a voicemail, some do not. If they aren’t blocked, we’ll answer the call, and we’ll generally get blasted with a run on sentence. If it’s a short introduction, I’ll politely decline. If it’s a long monologue, I’ll hang up.
  2. We get a followup email from the caller describing their service. They will ask for a 15-30 minute introductory discussion/presentation. Depending on how good the email is (in terms of grammar and presentation), I’ll drop a reply saying that we’re not interested or ignore it entirely.
  3. I’ll often get a 2nd email saying something like, “when would be a good time to follow up with you. How about I drop you a line in 3 months to see how things are going?” Um, no thank you.
  4. The really well-trained salesfolks will often also say, “Do you know of anyone else who might be looking for our services?” The answer to this is always no. I’m not going to make an introduction (which is often tantamount to an endorsement).

  5. I don’t want to be a jerk to salesfolks. I’m sure they are by and large good folks and are just trying to do their job. But we NEVER BUY ANYTHING THIS WAY. Between a few Google queries and a few “lazyweb tweets or emails”, I can drum up a short list of vendors who are thought well of by SOMEONE, and perhaps can get a list that are actually recommended by people that I know and trust. Why would I ever buy from the salesperson who happens to be calling me? Even if they were introducing me to a class of software/service that I wasn’t aware of and really wanted, the first thing I’d do is thank them for the info and start googling.

    As people get smarter about searching and social networking (and thus social recommendations) go mainstream, I continue to wonder at the future of outbound lead generation via phone/email.

    So, I’ve got a new canned response in Gmail:

    Thanks for your inquiry.

    RescueTime does not respond to unsolicited sales requests and we’d prefer to not receive them.

    When we’re interested in software or services, we prefer to do some combination of searching on the Internet and asking trusted people in our network for their recommendations.

    If you’re interested in earning our business, your best bet is to serve the customers you have well so that when we ARE looking for what you offer, you’ll be highly recommended in our network and across the web.

    Thanks for your understanding.

    Cheers,

    -Tony Wright, founder of http://rescuetime.com

    http://blog.rescuetime.com (company blog)
    http://tonywright.com (personal blog)

  • yolfer

    Hmmm, I smell a web 2.0 app here. Something like Jobster but for vendors. Venderster? “Great people know great vendors”

  • http://www.rescuetime.com webwright

    Heheh. You mean something like Recruiting.com?! Jobster is no more!

    That is an interesting idea, tho. There is a wealth of recommendation/vendor insights in mailing lists, forums, twitter, yelp, etc.

    An UrbanSpoon for vendors might be kinda neat! Of course, these things get gamed (which is why I trust friends more than I trust stuff like CitySearch or Yelp).

  • http://www.marinamartin.com MarinaMartin

    Okay, but what if they're a new company trying to establish initial clients?

    I'm no fan of picking up the phone (compared to email), though I've seen first-hand some clients have great success with it in less-tech-savvy industries… but they've got to start somewhere. What if they emailed you and asked to send more information (no calls)?

  • http://www.rescuetime.com webwright

    That's a very them-centric question. Just because they are new or trying to grow doesn't mean they deserve special treatment in my eyes (as a buyer). Unsolicited emails get the same treatment as unsolicited phone calls. That's not how we buy.

    Telesales WORKS. It's a numbers game– dial enough numbers and you'll find a buyer. Send enough email spam and you'll sell some viagra. I'm just saying I'm immune to it and annoyed by it.

    In the new company situation, there's a strong argument for a differentiated offering that solves a pain in a unique way that's worth talking/blogging/tweeting about. I think a young company better have a pretty damn good story as to why a customer ought to take a bet on an untested player if there are solid incumbents out there. Thankfully, incumbents often suck. ;-)

  • http://www.kudosworks.com Herbert Ong

    Tony,

    I am in complete agreement with your sentiment. Companies today are better served spending more of their establishing their reputation and asking their happy clients to spread the word. This is exactly the kind of solution we offer at KudosWorks (http://www.kudosworks.com). Our tool lets businesses capture testimonials then enable those happy clients to post and share their testimonials on sites like Yelp, FaceBook, Google Local etc.

    Long time no speak.

    Thanks
    Herbert

  • Greg C

    I like that e-mail response. I recently had a thing called “privacy manager” added to my phone service that forces anyone calling from an unidentified number to identify themselves before they can get through, then the service rings me and gives me the option to accept, reject, send to voicemail or request removal from their call list. Another tactic that works pretty well when getting an unsolicited sales call was just to ask “Is this a sales call?” That interrupts them for a second and they usually say “yes” which puts you in a nice position to say “No, thanks” and hang up.

  • Yonica

    Very strong points, I like your straight forward approach. You're right, why would you purchase something from a complete stranger when you already have access to at least 10,000 people within your social networks who could get you in touch with someone who offers the same product or service.

  • http://www.wrightplacetv.com Dr Wright

    that is a great canned response! I dont know why I did not think of something similar. I often get solicits from 'video companies” who want to become the production company for the Wright Place TV Show. I have never gotten good video from someone I had to pick off the street and was not familiar with their work. I have my A team, my B team and my C teams ( to work around schedules) and I never buy that way either!

    Dr. Letitia Wright
    The Wright Place TV Show
    http://wrightplacetv.com
    http://www.twitter.com/drwright1

  • http://www.servicecallsoftware.net/ service_call_software

    That's the great article! I just pass 'n read it, two thumbs up! ;)

  • Arleen144

    I prefer to Buy Viagra via cell phone rather than online