This is a story of missed opportunities.
Some time ago I attended a trade show. This event was poorly attended and so there was little traffic on the show floor. Perhaps you have had the pleasure (ha) of attending one of these shows that are so dead that the sales reps outnumber the prospects. Trying to kill the boredom, reps sit and stare into their laptops playing solitaire or browsing the web. So while at this particular show, I walked the aisles to see what the vendors were offering and then stopped by one booth that caught my attention. The rep told me about a very cool software program that his company developed. He gave me his fairly compelling elevator speech, asked me some qualifying questions, and we had a nice chat for about ten minutes about my needs and his solution. He gave me ballpark pricing, which, at $5,000 wasn’t cheap but I thought it was worth the price given its capabilities. So I said, “I’m interested,” and we exchanged business cards. He told me he would follow up with me personally as he would be the rep handling my account. We were both pleased: me because I found an exciting software product that would fill a latent need, and him because he just got a hot prospect at a dead trade show and he would soon be $5,000 closer to his quota.
Little did I know that would be the last time I would talk to that rep. One week, two weeks, and four weeks went by and he never called me to pursue the order. What the heck?
I suppose there could be some acceptable reasons why this rep didn’t follow up with me, but I can’t think of them. I can only think of the unacceptable ones: Maybe he lost my card. Maybe he changed position or sales territories. Maybe he figured I didn’t want to be bothered by another sales rep and that I would call him when I was really interested. Maybe he didn’t think I was serious when I said I was interested. Maybe he didn’t take notes about our conversation and can’t remember the details so he is embarrassed to call me and ask me the same questions again. Maybe he is just nervous about selling and is subconsciously delaying his call to me.
No, none of these would be acceptable reasons for this rep to fail to follow up. Some of them are more likely and believable than others and if any of them are real, this sales representative may be damaging his company without knowing it (or without his manager knowing). His company probably spent a lot of money on that trade show exhibit and if the rep failed to follow up with a hot prospect like me, how could he have possibly closed any other sales from that show? Thousands of dollars were invested and not a single dollar in profit was likely generated from it – largely because this rep did not follow through properly. In addition to the hard costs of the show and the soft costs of time and labor, there is the hidden soft cost of the company’s diminished credibility and reputation with prospects like me.
If any of those listed above are the real reason this rep failed to follow up with me, then there a problem and someone needs to fix it. That someone is the rep and his manager. The potential “reasons” above can be considered as disorganization, poor management, or sales call reluctance. Losing a prospect’s card before recording into his contact information system is symptom of a disorganized rep. A territory or position change after a trade show and before following up prospects from the show is a symptom of poor management. Most of those other reasons are a symptom of sales call reluctance and should be addressed through sales training and sales management.
Sales opportunities don’t present themselves to reps often enough. When they do come around, don’t let them slip away before you’ve even had the chance to start selling. Do your job and follow through on a prospect’s interest in your offering – there’s no good reason not to.
