Derrick had blown it on a red herring
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2025 7:11 am
Sales Growth Question: How are you helping your team to broaden their vision and look at alternative ways to communicate a value message to your clients and prospects?
Sales Growth Lesson: Explore how to turn failures into successes through creative brainstorming.On a Wednesday morning my executive team at Sales Gravy gathered in our conference room in front of a big wall-mounted flat-screen TV. We were there for a video call and online demo of a SaaS platform.
After the basic introductions and pleasantries, Derrick, the account executive, asked if we had any questions before he began the demo. I chimed in with the one question we had not yet asked:
“Before we get started, I think it is important for you to know that we are on a very tight budget. We aren’t a big company, so we can’t afford to pay what you are charging those big company logos that you have on the screen right now [referring to the brag slide where he’d listed a “who’s who” of his company’s clients]. I really don’t want to waste your time if this is outside of our budget. So why don’t you walk us through the costs we can expect.”
Then BAM – like a bass hitting a lure—he took the bait and ran. He stuttered through a vague and non-committal answer that sounded defensive. That’s when the demo and the sales call unraveled.
My Vice President of Learning and Development hit him with, “We’re going to need you to be more specific than that. Sounds like you aren’t giving us the whole story.”
More stuttering and sputtering. The AE was talking cambodia telegram data in circles, sounding more defensive each time he opened his mouth. His defensiveness and argumentativeness served only to create more resistance.
My team pushed him harder. It turned into a feeding frenzy. They challenged him about the stability of his company, getting references, why he wasn’t showing us logos of companies that were our size, and on and on.
He attempted to gain control and get back to the demo, but it was too late. We were exasperated with his defensiveness, had lost trust, and were bumping up against other scheduled meetings. We politely declined and moved on with our day.
DO NOT CHASE RED HERRINGS
Sales Growth Lesson: Explore how to turn failures into successes through creative brainstorming.On a Wednesday morning my executive team at Sales Gravy gathered in our conference room in front of a big wall-mounted flat-screen TV. We were there for a video call and online demo of a SaaS platform.
After the basic introductions and pleasantries, Derrick, the account executive, asked if we had any questions before he began the demo. I chimed in with the one question we had not yet asked:
“Before we get started, I think it is important for you to know that we are on a very tight budget. We aren’t a big company, so we can’t afford to pay what you are charging those big company logos that you have on the screen right now [referring to the brag slide where he’d listed a “who’s who” of his company’s clients]. I really don’t want to waste your time if this is outside of our budget. So why don’t you walk us through the costs we can expect.”
Then BAM – like a bass hitting a lure—he took the bait and ran. He stuttered through a vague and non-committal answer that sounded defensive. That’s when the demo and the sales call unraveled.
My Vice President of Learning and Development hit him with, “We’re going to need you to be more specific than that. Sounds like you aren’t giving us the whole story.”
More stuttering and sputtering. The AE was talking cambodia telegram data in circles, sounding more defensive each time he opened his mouth. His defensiveness and argumentativeness served only to create more resistance.
My team pushed him harder. It turned into a feeding frenzy. They challenged him about the stability of his company, getting references, why he wasn’t showing us logos of companies that were our size, and on and on.
He attempted to gain control and get back to the demo, but it was too late. We were exasperated with his defensiveness, had lost trust, and were bumping up against other scheduled meetings. We politely declined and moved on with our day.
DO NOT CHASE RED HERRINGS