We have had a bit of an adventure with a couple of recent business development rep hires. CRM usage and sales/business development have been my life for well over 30 years. It was in my blood and in my DNA. Not everyone is a natural salesperson but they do exist. That doesn't mean a used car type sales person or a high pressure sales person. To me a good salesperson is one that builds trust, adds value and has rapport with customers and prospects. But that is not the point of this post.
I also am a CRM process fanatic. I have been hired to review many companies all over the United States and their CRM usage. What I have found hands down is the top reps ALWAYS are the most proficient and dedicated users of CRM. I am sure some will argue and share stories that bear out the opposite of my findings. That is life. Of course there are always exceptions to most rules.
BUT, what I can tell you, is you learn a LOT about a sales rep by consistently reviewing their call notes in CRM. It reveals so much about their sales attitude (more about that later), their customer service skills and their interpersonal skills. Unfortunately with one rep, we didn't find this out until we went through an VERY nasty breakup with him. That breakup included calling the police as we were fearful for our safety. Again, a story for another day.
Here is what I found today.
Background.
In 2017 a former rep called on this prospect. An email reply from the marketing coordinator, the prospect contact, indicated that they wouldn't buy from us, because we don't use their product to build our trade show exhibits. We won't discuss (today) the elephant in the room that we may have been a prospect for their company?
The email was from a marketing coordinator. Clearly not a high level decision maker.
This company does a lot of exhibiting at events and is a very good prospect for us. You have all heard the old adage, that selling begins when you get your first no. Now, don't misunderstand me, I am not saying harass the prospect. You have to show that you have value beyond her limiting expectations.
Our sales rep? This was his note on this account.
"S/W Cindy. They are not looking for any display materials this year. See the note from xxxx above. Ouch. Too many other prospects to call. Not a fit or a good use of my resource. Closing activity."
He then proceeded to mark the prospect as dead. So here are my issues with this, in no particular order.
1. He was new, he maybe should have asked if there was a history with this account.2. He made no effort to find out how many shows this prospect exhibited at.3. "Not a good use of my resource". I have written before about me-centric language and behavior as a red flag. This shows an incredible amount of arrogance. Read about that here!4. We have other services and products that may have fit their needs. It should have at a minimum started a discussion with internal sales management before making a unilateral decision that they are a dead prospect.5. The marketing coordinator has a boss that is a VP level. It doesn't always work to go over their head, but it is worth at least one call since they are a good prospect from a size and number of shows standpoint. Besides, we should be working with decision makers, not coordinators.
Long story short or moral of the story?
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