The Poetry of First-Time Customer Visits

Over the past couple of weeks, I have spoken with several folks about best practices for a

first-time sales call.  This group was more than just rookie sellers launching their careers.  It included a couple of experienced sellers, a sales manager doing a “sanity check” on his gut-level feelings, as well as a seller in an expansion territory.  Based on this phone traffic, I would guess many others are also wondering about first-time sales calls.  With this thought in mind, I decided to weigh in on the topic personally.

Quoting one of these conversations, “Years ago my first boss insisted we all carry a line card and present it to every new customer or new contact at an existing customer.  The line card was his baby; printed on high-quality (and laminated) card stock.  He even made us practice presenting it through role-play exercises in his office.”

This gentleman’s comment about his boss’ pride and devotion to the line card caused me to recall my early days of joint-call prospecting with distributors.  Looking back to 1975, boxer “Smoking” Joe Frazier led with his powerful left hook and distributors led with a line card.  Alas, Smoking Joe is no more, the line card is punch-drunk and stumbling but still refuses to “take the count.”

This morning the conversations made me recall a poem I created for my soon-to-be-published book for new salespeople.  Without further delay or fanfare, here is a sneak peek:

The Line Card

In the days of old, when sellers were bold,
before the internet was a passion.

Line cards flew, and customers grew.

but Model Ts were in fashion…

 

Why not use a line card on the first meeting?

While there are a plethora of reasons to wait, let’s start with these three:

1.     The first meeting should focus on the customer.  People like to talk about themselves.  If you as the seller are listening to the customer’s background and company details, you will also discover their issues and get a better idea as to how you might help.

2.     The internet.  If the customer has one drop of professionalism percolating through their blood veins, they have already researched what you sell.  If it’s important to them, they also read the illustrious history of your organization.

3.     Everyone distributes line cards.  Why not step outside the box and approach the customer like a person who cares about more than just selling?

 

“But I want to make sure the customer knows what we offer…”

While this might be a valid point, the question remains, will a line card do the trick?  Before the internet, the line card was the key selling tool capable of informing the customer of your product offering.  Today is different.  Everyone, including the customer across the conference room table, has been exposed to the endless opportunities presented by a well-designed webpage.  If the customer sees a product that interests them, they click the mouse and drill down into greater detail.  Hopefully, your company’s website offers an enticing, informative, and user-friendly purchasing experience.

 

If you believe the potential customer staring at the long list of your products and suppliers will magically generate business, why not give the customer a business card with a QR code printed on the back? 

 

This little QR code can link to the place on your website that outlines a complete list of both products and services.  Further, once the customer is on your website, they might see your webshop and, lord help us, buy something. 

 

The QR code can be used to measure customer interest.  Many distributors can create special landing pages to measure and track the productivity of salespeople based on the number of customers coming onto their online product/service page.  My guess is the “old boss” mentioned before would love this.  Not only could he constantly tweak the line card, but he could also see how many customers each seller convinced to look at it.

 

Now back to the poetry stylings of Frank Hurtte

Edgar Allan Poe was my father’s favorite poet.  As I rode along with him to make sales calls, he would recite every word of Poe’s poem, “The Raven.” 

 

While only a few lines of this famous poem remain in my memory, I will always remember how the words apply to our industry.

 

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-

 

Think twice when considering the use of the line card as the centerpiece of your first sales call.  Are you still not convinced?  Call or email me and I will talk you out of it!

 

“Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore.’”

 

Frank Hurtte, Founding Partner of River Heights Consulting, shares his personal experiences with 28 years of "in the trenches" training and 17 years as a consultant.  He serves as a personal coach to industry leaders across many lines of distribution.  He has authored 5.5 books (one is almost done) and has written hundreds of articles for national trade magazines, including Industrial Supply Magazine.

 Frank is also a sought-after copywriter of marketing materials for technology companies.  His charismatic, yet laid-back, easy-to-follow manner makes him a favorite among public speakers.

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