An Epic Sales Call Fail

Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from Kristin Zhivago's book Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy.

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While I was writing this chapter, I was called by a salesperson I'd met at an Inbound Marketing Summit conference. Her company provides search-engine-friendly content for companies. She sells an Intense Scrutiny service. I have clients who need that kind of content. I am always looking for vendors who can provide it. In other words, this salesperson had reached someone who was very interested in what she had to sell.

Incredibly, she made me do all the work—and I still couldn't get to the next step in my buying process. The call failed. She actually prevented me from buying. Not because she was irritating or rude, but because she was completely unable to help me proceed with my buying process.

She called and introduced herself. Then she asked me if she could help me with anything—before giving me any reason to believe that she could. She was making the classic mistake that so many salespeople make when attempting to sell an Intense Scrutiny service. She approached me, a perfect stranger, and said, "Hi, my name is Betsy. Do you want to buy what I'm selling?"

I tried asking questions about her services, but she didn't have any answers. I gave up on that approach. I asked her to send me more information, but instead she promised to send me an email inviting me to attend one of the monthly webinars her company puts on. Then she invited me to call her any time with questions. So far, I knew what kind of service she sells, I knew I might be interested, and all I got for the time on the phone was an invitation to attend a webinar and a promise to answer more questions—even though she hadn't answered any questions so far.