In the last post I referenced MRE’s – Minimum Required Employees. These are the insidious employees that linger inside an organization and survive by doing just enough to stay off the performance management radar.
They can’t read the map, never mind find the extra mile.
The post before that was about misleading prospects.
I guess it’s September Sales Screw-ups this month.
What would you do with an employee that blows off a solid lead?
Friday September 4th I had breakfast with a great friend who was in town seeing clients.
As a member of our financial services community, and someone who I have known and respected for almost 20 years, we were discussing business development ideas for the new Wholesaler Masterminds business.
During that discussion he suggested that I look into advertising on MutualFundWire.com as it is a widely read publication that produces daily content targeted at my core prospect.
That afternoon I called their offices in NY and spoke to a representative about advertising on the site.
Here’s my evaluation:
- Upon hearing that I was interested in spending any money at all I was immediately pitched the up-sell to a conference sponsorship costing a minimum of $10,000.
- The rep had no information regarding the reach of the publication or the success of the existing web advertisers.
Not potentially proprietary information such as conversions from clicks.
Simply data that addressed the number of site visitors per day and how many click through the existing ads.
- There was no information available about any ad rates.
None.
She indicated that it was ‘almost 5 pm on a Friday’ and that the information she needed to get was not available currently.
- After taking my name and number she offered a return call the following business day, Monday.
Folks, today is September 21.
It has been eleven business days.
Not one word from this rep/company.
What wins the most egregious error award as you see it?
Was it the up-sell without properly profiling a prospect?
The fact that the call was handled by an unqualified rep that had no information to provide?
How about the notion that at 4:50 pm on a Friday business comes to a screeching halt?
All fine candidates for the award.
The biggest, baddest, most insane error of all is the fact that this employee blew off a lead.
She chose to misplace, forget, pass along, or otherwise neglect a perfectly qualified prospect with money to spend.
Her management did not get the ‘we’re in a recession’ memo and that the extra mile is the smartest (only?) route to take.
Or, alternately, they trust that their sales personal are doing the right thing.
Interestingly I receive their email updates daily and can’t help but notice that their ad space is not sold.
Does that come as a surprise?
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Best way to lose a sale?
There isn’t one!
A lost sale is bad – not good, better or best………….
I hope that makes sense, the question doesn’t.