Mr. CloserQ. I respect what you are doing here and enjoy reading your sales blog. I am writing as a somewhat seasoned Sales professional, recently entering a new industry and market. The Company I am representing has a 13 yr track record in this market -- which also means there is some history w/competition and local prospects. I work for an Engineer and one of my primary objectives is to convince other Engineers to specify our solution as an option for their customer. Below is an excerpt of an email I received tonight:
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Regarding the X Beach Condo project, in the last three days alone you have:- emailed me- called my office several times- were on-site, disturbing my clients at their home- called my client, several times, on both their home phone numbers and on their cell phones- emailed my client directlyI don’t know what else you have been doing besides the list above … but I do not often have time in my busy day to entertain unsolicited sales pitches, and my clients do not want them either. Be advised that the protocol on this Project is that any Contractors that visit the property uninvited, or that attempt to contact an Owner directly, will be automatically and summarily disqualified from consideration. You were perhaps unaware of that fact but you are certainly aware now, so I would advise you to back off and cease these incessant attempts to sell your products. As you can probably ascertain from the tone of this letter, these high-pressure sales tactics that you have been employing are NOT appreciated. We will contact you about your system if and when we are inclined and ready to do so.
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More information on my sales process. Engineers specify the solution -- but that doesn't mean that I can't influence the BOD/Homeowner on why they need to look at and buy our solution. The Engineer works for the BOD/Homeowner and they can certainly get rid of him if they see fit. In the end, the Homeowner is the decision maker but they are heavily influenced by the Engineer. Now, I don't consider myself a pushy salesman and I really need to win both sides of this relationship. It is evident the BOD members I spoke with over the last couple days are loyal to this Engineer. My ego want's to blast the Engineer, leverage his out-of-line email against him and just try to infiltrate the BOD -- maybe even get him canned. BUT -- then I lose the Engineer forever, which means no future jobs w/him. How do you think I should handle this situation?
Anonymous, thanks for the detail and sharing the e-mail. My first comment is good job. As a proactive sales person, you should get ‘leave me alone message’ every couple of months, or you are not making enough calls. As a senior sales person you have lots of options in a delicate situation. You need to do your research on why the engineer doesn’t like your solution, your company, and / or you. As usual I have some questions: How many opportunities a year will you work with this engineer? Have you worked with this engineer in the past? Has this engineer recommended your company in the past? Have you spoken with other sales people about this engineer? What do you know about his company? Which companies and solutions does this guy recommend? How many deals a year do you need to make quota? Has your engineer spoken with them? How often will the decision makers go against the recommendation of the Engineer? Are you above quota? Do you believe he truly understands your solution? Is he or his company incented to pick an alternate solution?
First, you need to decide how important this guy is to your future success. I would find out how many times your company has competed for deals with this engineer involved. If this is the first one, thank him for his follow up and continue to follow up with the decision makers. If you see him in a couple of deals a year and he has never recommended your solution, ignore him and move on. If he has recommended you find out what happened, there could be a history. If you find out he is an okay guy and has recommended in the past, fall on your sword, apologize and tell him your proactive follow is based on your enthuiasm for the project. In any case do not send a ‘scorched earth e-mail’ to make the situation worse, even though it would make you feel better. At some point, it will bite you and is unprofessional.
If this guy is involved in a enough deals a year to affect you making quota you got your work cut out for you. I would get as much history as possible. My resources would include your company, the web, your clients, his clients, prospects, etc. I would built a strategy based on this information. I will give you three high-level options.
One, is completely ignoring the guy, and working on a strategy to sell around him. If he always recommends the same company, I would say to your prospect, “Mr. Prospect with Mr. Engineer involved in your project,we are not going to bid because he always selects Acme Company.” Then I would add, “I assume you already wanted Acme too because you selected Mr. Engineer for your project.” If recommends multiple companies but not yours, “Mr. Prospect to be direct we have been in business 13 Years and Mr. Engineer never recommends us. It doesn’t make sense form me to bid if you are simply going to go with his recommendation.”
Two, assuming he works at an engineering firm, go around him. Find out if other engineers at the firm have successful recommended your company. Set up a meet with his manager to talk about your company.
Three, is to work hard on repairing the relationship. Thank him for the follow up. Say something good to him, “You are so respected in the industry and I really wanted to do this project with you.” Apologize in a letter and send him tickets to an event. If this deal is not urgent, tell him you will not follow up on this account without his okay. Have your boss call him to apologize for you (put the guy on speaker phone or silently conference you in, so you can hear what he says and coach your manager). Set up a meeting with just him on your solution versus working on a specific deal.
Good Selling and let us know how it goes! Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give additional information on 'Sniper’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun P
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Regarding the X Beach Condo project, in the last three days alone you have:- emailed me- called my office several times- were on-site, disturbing my clients at their home- called my client, several times, on both their home phone numbers and on their cell phones- emailed my client directlyI don’t know what else you have been doing besides the list above … but I do not often have time in my busy day to entertain unsolicited sales pitches, and my clients do not want them either. Be advised that the protocol on this Project is that any Contractors that visit the property uninvited, or that attempt to contact an Owner directly, will be automatically and summarily disqualified from consideration. You were perhaps unaware of that fact but you are certainly aware now, so I would advise you to back off and cease these incessant attempts to sell your products. As you can probably ascertain from the tone of this letter, these high-pressure sales tactics that you have been employing are NOT appreciated. We will contact you about your system if and when we are inclined and ready to do so.
=========
More information on my sales process. Engineers specify the solution -- but that doesn't mean that I can't influence the BOD/Homeowner on why they need to look at and buy our solution. The Engineer works for the BOD/Homeowner and they can certainly get rid of him if they see fit. In the end, the Homeowner is the decision maker but they are heavily influenced by the Engineer. Now, I don't consider myself a pushy salesman and I really need to win both sides of this relationship. It is evident the BOD members I spoke with over the last couple days are loyal to this Engineer. My ego want's to blast the Engineer, leverage his out-of-line email against him and just try to infiltrate the BOD -- maybe even get him canned. BUT -- then I lose the Engineer forever, which means no future jobs w/him. How do you think I should handle this situation?
Anonymous, thanks for the detail and sharing the e-mail. My first comment is good job. As a proactive sales person, you should get ‘leave me alone message’ every couple of months, or you are not making enough calls. As a senior sales person you have lots of options in a delicate situation. You need to do your research on why the engineer doesn’t like your solution, your company, and / or you. As usual I have some questions: How many opportunities a year will you work with this engineer? Have you worked with this engineer in the past? Has this engineer recommended your company in the past? Have you spoken with other sales people about this engineer? What do you know about his company? Which companies and solutions does this guy recommend? How many deals a year do you need to make quota? Has your engineer spoken with them? How often will the decision makers go against the recommendation of the Engineer? Are you above quota? Do you believe he truly understands your solution? Is he or his company incented to pick an alternate solution?
First, you need to decide how important this guy is to your future success. I would find out how many times your company has competed for deals with this engineer involved. If this is the first one, thank him for his follow up and continue to follow up with the decision makers. If you see him in a couple of deals a year and he has never recommended your solution, ignore him and move on. If he has recommended you find out what happened, there could be a history. If you find out he is an okay guy and has recommended in the past, fall on your sword, apologize and tell him your proactive follow is based on your enthuiasm for the project. In any case do not send a ‘scorched earth e-mail’ to make the situation worse, even though it would make you feel better. At some point, it will bite you and is unprofessional.
If this guy is involved in a enough deals a year to affect you making quota you got your work cut out for you. I would get as much history as possible. My resources would include your company, the web, your clients, his clients, prospects, etc. I would built a strategy based on this information. I will give you three high-level options.
One, is completely ignoring the guy, and working on a strategy to sell around him. If he always recommends the same company, I would say to your prospect, “Mr. Prospect with Mr. Engineer involved in your project,we are not going to bid because he always selects Acme Company.” Then I would add, “I assume you already wanted Acme too because you selected Mr. Engineer for your project.” If recommends multiple companies but not yours, “Mr. Prospect to be direct we have been in business 13 Years and Mr. Engineer never recommends us. It doesn’t make sense form me to bid if you are simply going to go with his recommendation.”
Two, assuming he works at an engineering firm, go around him. Find out if other engineers at the firm have successful recommended your company. Set up a meet with his manager to talk about your company.
Three, is to work hard on repairing the relationship. Thank him for the follow up. Say something good to him, “You are so respected in the industry and I really wanted to do this project with you.” Apologize in a letter and send him tickets to an event. If this deal is not urgent, tell him you will not follow up on this account without his okay. Have your boss call him to apologize for you (put the guy on speaker phone or silently conference you in, so you can hear what he says and coach your manager). Set up a meeting with just him on your solution versus working on a specific deal.
Good Selling and let us know how it goes! Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give additional information on 'Sniper’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun P
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