Prospects When You Least Expect Them

My Sales Call Blunder

It was after 7:00pm on a Friday, and most everyone had left for the weekend. I was still sitting at my desk, finishing up a project I was determined to bring to a close. The Principal of our consulting firm was still working on a proposal in his office, as well.

The phone rang. Who could be calling now? It's 7pm on a Friday! I answered the phone.

"Wellesley Hills Group, this is Rebecca Gould, can I help you?" Nothing. There was some crackling in the background. "Hello?" I repeated, only to hear further amounts of static. I was about to hang up when finally a woman's voice emerged from the white noise.

"Yes, hello," she started. "My name is Susan and I'm calling from Costa Rica. I'm calling about an event we're having in Boston..." Susan from Costa Rica said something about looking at our website. Since it was 7pm on a Friday, I might have wanted to be on a beach in Costa Rica, but I didn't want to hear about any events about Costa Rica.

"I'm sorry, I can't talk now. Thank you for the call and have a great night." I said.

Whoever calls, I'm happy to listen to them to hear what they have to say. You never know when someone will have something interesting to talk about. I just didn't have time so I gave the standard, "No, thank you" line because I made commitments to get something done. And I wasn't leaving until I met those commitments.