Don’t make this STUPID sales mistake!

It’s the end of the year, and as always, sales reps are scrambling to make their year-end quotas, and companies are scrambling to finish big to make their stockholders happy.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that I’m getting the usual barrage of sales calls, all while I’m trying to work hard and make MY numbers great before Christmas arrives!

But there’s one sales rep in particular who is driving me nuts, because I most likely WANT to buy from him, but he won’t LET me buy.

Here’s what I mean:

He’s my rep at an existing vendor I’ve already done business with. I received an email from him over a week ago telling me that they’re running a hot year-end special but I’d have to purchase before December 31st to get in on it.

I wrote back and said, “Great, shoot me the info and pricing.” His response? “Let’s schedule a call tomorrow.”

Being buried in year-end work myself I never got around to setting up a time with him. But if he’d just sent me the info, pricing, and how to order, I most likely would have bought.

Fast forward a week: I got the same email. “Frank, we need to talk SOON or you’ll miss out!”

At the time I was in a tire shop getting a new tire for my car – a huge nasty pothole destroyed one of mine – so I quickly wrote back from my iPhone, “Don’t have time. Send pricing and info. I want it.”

Nope. That’s too difficult for him. He wants to play phone games instead. And with family arriving for the holidays in two days and staying through the 30th, guess what? I’m not going to get in on this year-end special. Oh well. I won’t miss it.

But him? He just lost a sale! I wonder how many other sales he’s lost?

And the worst part is he didn’t even have to “sell” me – I basically said, “Yeah I’ll buy, send the info,” but noooooooo… that would be too easy. He’s insistent on doing the whole “steps of a sale” garbage and that just cost him a sale. (I used to work with someone who did this all the time, as you may remember from a previous email.)

People are busy this time of year. In fact, most decision makers are always busy. That’s just a fact of life. So when someone wants to buy, let them buy! Don’t botch the sale by insisting and demanding on a meeting when none is necessary.