Don’t waste your time.
I cringed.
As he told me this story, I felt every fiber in me, from my toes to my face, drawing up as if I were trying to make myself so small I would disappear.
Sales guy: "I told the guy I didn’t want to waste my time. If he wasn’t ready to buy, I wasn’t going to spend a bunch of time creating a proposal for him,” he proudly told me when I asked him about the most recent sales call he'd gone on.
Me: How’d that work out?
Sales guy: Well, it wasn’t great. He was pissed.
Me: And you never have to see him again, right?
Sales guy: Actually I do. They buy $10k of stuff from us every month, or they used to.
Me: What happened?
Prospect: They quit ordering from us.
2 words, the awkward turn of a phrase, had cost his company $100k per year in existing business and maybe more than that in future business.
OUCH!
I beg you, please don’t make the same mistake. Please ban the words “my time” from your vocabulary.
I get the sentiment. I love that you’re protecting your time and not giving away your information to prospects who aren’t ready to make a decision.
Whenever you're thinking “my time,” replace it with “your time.”
“I really don’t want to waste your time.”
It means the same thing, but you won’t sound like an arrogant asshat.
Professional selling is always about your prospect.
It’s never about you. EVER.
Make that one change. It could make all the difference.
Bringing Honesty, Transparency, and Selflessness to Business.
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