I had the interesting experience of doing a mock sales call in class the other day. I had prepared ahead of time and anticipated a few different conversation threads and how to approach each of them. Unfortunately I was met with a prospect persona that I did not plan for and really truly did not know exactly how to approach the scenario.
I was met with an unenthusiastic, dispassionate, and honestly a bit rude prospect. The conversation went nothing like I had planned but it served to offer quite the learning moment. I think that the worst kind of person to sell to is someone who is unwilling to even have a conversation with you about what you’re offering. The trickiest part of that is that you can’t get to know your prospect and they likewise have no opportunity to get to know you or the product or service that you have to offer. What I will say is that my sales conversation taught me that you need to stay professional and keep trying.
As the conversation progressed I realized the value in continuing to treat a prospect with respect and consideration even if they are not doing the same for you. My Teacher’s Assistant, Lindy who was playing the prospect, really threw me for a loop in the best kind of way. Looking back now I can laugh at some parts of the conversation and also see how to approach a very realistic situation of a prospect who isn’t looking to engage. Through my persistence I was able to get some useful information from her and move the conversation along despite some initial awkwardness. Ultimately it was a great learning experience and I’m glad that it was a part of the class.
BoweryJE22
Great post, Maria! You had to sell to quite a challenging prospect but did a great job. It was amazing to see how your demeanor did not change based on the prospects’ lack of professionalism. You are so right when you remind us of how important respect is in those situations.
This is so true. If someone does not want to be in the sales conversation it can really be hard want to stay in it yourself, but persevering and going down the pain funnel could potentially help you satisfy needs in other ways you had not expected.
Well said! It’s always smart to prepare for the customer you are talking to and can really throw you off when the customer is not as expected. It is huge to stay motivated and make sure you could do everything you could on your end to make it work.
You definitely had one of the hardest prospects to try to sell to. However, I think you handled it really well. You started out asking Lindy questions and trying to figure out more about her and her team and their pain, but when you learned that she really didn’t care at all and she wasn’t really doing this because she felt any pain, I think you responded really well and asked more questions about what the team was looking for. You did a great job responding to a difficult situation.
Yes you did have a pretty tough prospect. But it was helpful for everyone in the class to learn. Like you said, staying professional is important. You will run into people like that every once in a while, and you need to stay calm and act like you would with other sales calls. It is not easy, but that sales call could be just as important as any other one in terms of making the sale, and also in terms of having the learning experience.
In sales there will always be rude prospects and having the ability to keep a professional attitude and have respect for them even if it’s not reciprocated is a super valuable skill. Good job handling the situation well and learning from it!