Articles - Don’t Phone Me, I’ll Phone You

We have all been there haven’t we, you know the situation we have had a great call, agreed next steps, and go back to the ranch feeling very happy and contented. The next day we sit there quite happily with it’s going to be great to hear from Mr xyz today when they ring us as agreed.

Unfortunately when this doesn’t happen we start to feel a little less secure that all is well in our world. The next day we hear nothing again and in reality then it starts, the BIG WAIT !! When will they actually phone me as promised ?, is the sentence that goes through our minds.

We then start replay the appointment again and for the life of us we cannot understand what has gone wrong, but something has fundamentally gone wrong, and it is the killer for any sale !!

By, letting the customer agree to phone us we have effectively handed over the control of the sale to them, the key thing in selling is to maintain the control and momentum of the sale at all times, in the great game of chess this is what’s known as maintaining “Tempo”.

So why is control important ? The answer is very simple as our customers are very busy, professional people doing the very best for their company and for their business. So as such what seemed like a good idea at the time of the appointment i.e. coming straight back to us, often gets sidelined or gazumped by other issues within seconds of you leaving that appointment.

They haven’t necessarily misled you or indeed gone back on their original ideas, they have just been sidetracked and diverted by other issues. The main danger of course is by the time they do come back they have forgotten he real value in your product or service and probably lost some of the initial impetus.

If you want to keep in the forefront of your customers thinking and stay in control then the simple solution is you agree to get in touch with them i.e. you take charge of the communications.

By Martin Driver