What Problems Do You See with Stone’s First Sales Call?
1. What problems do you see with Stone’s first sales call?
Stone may have been very much prepared with her presentation regarding Plastico plastic’s edges and strengths but coming late on a meeting is improper and for some, they consider it being unprofessional. Whatever may be the reason for getting late in an appointment, you should never brought it up as an excuse to cover the elapsed time, perhaps, the wasted time.
She should not have blurted out her disappointment to the receptionist because in the first place, she was the one late for the meeting. Businessmen use their time efficiently. They won’t be wasting ten minutes of their precious time just to wait for a late product presenter to arrive. However, Stone should have called and informed Mr. Kline’s office to let them know that she is on her way. That might be the proper thing to do.
Stone was right when she thought that building customer rapport should be established first. She won the interest of Mr. Kline by merely observing his office. Mr. Kline is a fan of sports, basketball and football. The problem here now is how she is going to redirect the discussion from sports to a refrigerator. She discussed well the benefits and strengths of her product. What went wrong was that she did not have any sample product with her because she unintentionally left them at home while rushing to Mr. Kline’s office for the meeting. She also conveyed deceiving information when she told the client that the turnaround time from the point of order to delivery will be about four weeks, where in fact, it will take about five. Giving a deadline that you know you cannot meet just to win a sale is a formula for an unhappy client, no chance of repeat business transactions, and no chance of any recommendations to other potential clients.
2. If you were Stone’s sales manager, what would you recommend she do to improve