Southwestern Sales Talk
It’s hard to imagine a worse sales experience than I had at Sprint some months ago. (See blog post 11-19-09). But…this time it occurred at a different Sprint retail store. My experience with bad salespeople is always brought into stark contrast with the great salespeople at The Southwestern Company whom I get to work with.
Anyway, I walked in, not too keen on the prospect of being a prospect, and saw a young female sales rep sitting behind the desk. After not being greeted, I wandered around, looking at the array of phones for a few minutes. I glanced over at my would-be ”salesperson.” She and her other Sprint associate were having a chat in low tones (probably not a discussion on advanced sales tips).
I approached her, and said, “Hey. How’s it going?” She said, “Fine.” No smile. I’ve blogged about the critical nature of the first 2 seconds of a human encounter, and she did not inspire me to want to do business with her. No “What brings you here today?” Nothing–she sat in bovine silence, looking at me. I felt I was imposing on her.
I continued with my approach, sharing my point of dissatisfaction: “My phone is getting old and I’m looking at an upgrade.” I showed her my phone. She glanced at the model, got up and walked me over to the new & improved HTC Touch Pro2. She turned it on, said, “Here you go,” and walked back to her station.
“Here you go.” That was her intro/demo/close…three words! There were no questions to determine my need, no demonstration of features, no rapport of any kind. I played with the phone for a few minutes, then looked over to see if my “salesperson” would return. No such luck, she was sitting at her desk again.
It dawned on me that I had already received the full measure of service I was to get there, so I headed for the door. As I left, I said, audibly, ”Thanks for shopping at Sprint!”
How much business is Sprint losing because of crappy salespeople? I realize my sample is small, but we all tend to generalize about a company based on our encounters with just one or two of their reps, right?
I just bought a new car. Would the transaction have happened if my salesperson had just said, “Here you go,” and pointed at a car in the showroom? I think not.
Can you top this story? Have you met a Salesperson In Name Only (a SINO)? Share your tales of woe. I look forward to better encounters.
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Wow, That is ridiculous! I never for a minute take for granted the skills I learned in Sales School and on the bookfield. They are great because they work but only if they are applied! I remember meeting SW kids before I did the internship….its a mentality that can be learned by anyone and has the ability to change and achieve great things! That is why we are successful.
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Hey Lee, I just stumbled upon your blog. I really like it! I hope to use some of this information in my morning meetings! Your story reminds me of a time I went to McDonald’s and got poor service. At first I felt critical of the person for their lack of customer service. Then I took a step back and remembered that I was at McDonald’s. I tell myself now, that if I get bad service somewhere, its likely the corporations fault as much as the persons. What I mean is, until McDonald’s decides to pay people to be great hostess we should expect the people that work there might not feel very appreciative. Corporations like Sprint, McDonald’s etc.. Want and need their employees to give great customer service. But they operate more for their shareholders than fore their employees. If I get bad service at McDonald’s now, I just shrug my shoulders, quietly eat my food, and have some empathy for the people who work in these thankless, low paying jobs. I also count my blessings that I am appreciated and compensated according to my abilities in my career at Tom James!
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
September 28th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Great comment, Robert! There are always to sides to the coin…the corporation does need to train (or retrain) employees to represent the company’s public face. Sadly, many companies see Customer Service as a department where they can cut costs and save money.
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