Are you ok?
Jeff: “My best salespeople have been discounting my services to current customers for 2 years.”
Me: “Why?”
Jeff: “Hell if I know. Trying to maintain a good relationship and keep the business, I guess.”
Me: “How much do you think that’s cost you?”
Jeff: “Almost $600,000 over 2 years. Easy.”
I challenged him on the number. “It couldn’t be that much,” I commented with disbelief.
Jeff: “It’s probably more than that.” he said with a sigh.
(This led to a much longer discussion about his business. At the end, he asked what I suggested he do.)
Me: “Let’s do an assessment of the sales skills and mindsets that your team has right now. The results will give us a benchmark and tell us where we need to focus training and coaching.”
(I explained it was like an MRI - we needed to know what was really going on inside his peoples’ heads to be able to suggest a proper training and coaching regimen.)
Jeff: “That’s exactly what we need. Let’s do it.”
Here’s where this story goes sideways….
I sent him the invoice that day with the understanding that he would pay it by the end of the week.
I could see he’d opened the invoice the day I sent it, but hadn’t touched it since.
Friday passed...no payment.
Monday comes...I left him a voicemail asking him to call me.
(He promptly did NOT return my phone call and did NOT pay the invoice.)
Wednesday comes...I left a second voicemail suggesting maybe he'd chosen a different direction or had another issue become a higher priority. I offered to close his file and said I hoped we'd cross paths again another time.
And still, no response…
If you know anything about me, I DO NOT send invoices casually.
This guy was fully qualified, had passed all my “tests,” and I knew I could help him. We were ready to go.
So what went wrong?
I kept going over our conversation in my head:
If he wanted to sell the company and make enough money to retire as he had planned, he needed to fix the sales problem.
He wanted to stop working so many hours.
He wanted out in the next couple of years.
He wanted this fixed ASAP.
He was willing to do what it took to make it better.
He knew my price.
He was ready to get started.
And then... he ghosted me.
I assumed that 24 hours after I closed the file it was “over.”
“Some will. Some won’t. So what? Who's next?” I told myself over and over to keep from getting even more pissed off.
But I couldn't get over it. I had to be missing something...
One afternoon, about a week later I texted him. (Old Walker might have sent an angry “How dare you!” message).
“Are you ok?” I asked instead.
He responded almost immediately.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “My wife and son were in a horrific car crash the afternoon we talked. We spent a couple of days in the hospital, and the doctor just told us today that they're going to be ok. They’re coming home today.”
He thanked me so much for understanding.
I was once again reminded that we have absolutely no idea what’s going on in other people’s lives.
None.
It’s so easy to assume the worst about your prospects. To believe that they have some character flaw. That maybe they’re out to get you. That they get some joy from wasting your time.
What would happen though, if you assumed that most people were truthful and had good intentions despite not doing what you expected them to do?
You might be more empathetic. You might be more human in your approach. You might even give someone the benefit of the doubt that just because they can’t make you or your solution a priority right now, you won’t take it as a personal slight.
Even better, you’ll feel the freedom to be more genuine, transparent, and human in all your interactions with prospects.
Which is a helluva lot better way to live.
And a pretty effective way to sell, too.
Oh yeah... Jeff paid the invoice the very next day.
Bringing Honesty, Transparency, and Selflessness to Business.
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