Forgetting what really counts

Are you selling or just making a sales pitch?

Our business used to have a sales rep that called on our store for many years. While we never knew what day he was going to show up, they were always mid-morning.

Being polite, we would always ask how he was doing. The answer was always along the lines of, “very busy” followed by a number, somewhere in the teens, of the number of businesses he had already called on that morning. His visit to our business was short; to the point; and we never heard from him between visits.

Even with our business being on the west coast of Florida where it was one long continuous community, it did not take long to calculate just how short the visit to each of the businesses would have been. He had previously told us his territory was the state of Florida. The drive from the southernmost community to the furthest west is about thirteen hours without stopping for a meal or fuel.

His visits were always rushed. Not that our business needed pampering; we just never felt we got the benefit of his expertise or saw the full range of the products being offered. This was in the days before the Internet so all catalogs and special product offerings were sent by mail or hand delivered by a sales rep.

Jumping forward to current day, we decided to build a house. We visited with an architect and asked many people for suggestions on items ranging from appliances to window blinds and floor covering. Working with the contractor, we selected most all the sub-contractors.

Our experience in house building had an odd resemblance to that of the sales rep. There were many businesses who gladly came to the building site and spoke with us. All looked at the plans, took measurements at the appropriate time, and sent a quote. During their visits, each told us that business was good and how much time they were spending giving quotes. With several we needed to call to ask for clarification or additional details.

Not one ever called to ask for our business. We were left to read through their information and call them to say we wanted to buy. Upon delivery we had two similar experiences with each. Not one called to ask if the installation or delivery was done correctly. There were a couple that had to be called back to take care of details. Those that were called back did not follow up after their second visit to see that everything was OK.

All of the product and service companies we did business with had one similarity; none sent a note or called to say thank you for the business. Apparently all think they have completed the job and need to get back to giving quotes and waiting for their phone to ring.

None thought about the possibility, which did occur, of a friend watching our house being built and asking who we would recommend because they were also going to build a house. There will be conversations with this friend about every vendor we did and did not choose.

None thought that as we settled into the house that we would consider making changes and additions to what we had built. We found we wanted a couple of extra electrical outlets; a connection for a grill; and a pipe moved.

Our experiences are not unique; perhaps all of us have had situations like these in our life. If the experience has been because you are the customer, you get to decide if you want to work through it or if you want to do business with someone else.

If the experience has been because you are the vendor, you may want to think about what really counts in business. It is sales. It is easier to retain a customer than it is to gain a new customer. The same goes for gaining a referral. The easiest way to sales is by taking care of a customer.

There are far too many vendors who are forgetting what really counts.

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