How not to treat a prospect
Way off topic, but funny for a Friday. A pest control guy showed up at my door this afternoon. He tells me he "just wants me to know" that he's in the area doing some work for my neighbors. (I know he's here to sell me, but fine.) He says my neighbors are concerned about the pests in the neighborhood. (My kids, I'm guessing.) They've seen - gasp - ants. Wasps, too. Silverfish. Earwigs, for heaven's sake! (Had to look that one up. Did you know they don't actually go in your ear?) He engages me in this conversation for a few minutes. Then he moves in for the sale. Normally, it's $280, but because my neighbors are all using him, it's $160.
"Thank you, that's a very generous offer," I say. "But I have an insect control guy I use, and I don't have any ants or earwigs."
"What's his name?" the salesman asks.
"That's a private matter," I tell him, not seeing where that's his business.
"Well you could have told me that before!" he says, impertinently.
"You didn't ask," I respond, as I thank him for his time and he walks away, steamed.
I can't think of a better example of how not to sell someone. Imagine - the onus was on me to interrupt him and tell him, before he asked, that I wasn't going to buy.
Now, about my damn neighbors and their earwigs...
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