If you’re going to sell a product, whether it’s something you created or are pitching on behalf of your employer, you better know everything about it. The other day, a representative from a USDA certified meat & fish distributor came to my house and without even figuring out what I wanted, he immediately went in for the sale.
I recorded the majority of the conversation, missing the first minute or so. To listen/watch – click here.
As a person who’s interested in eating healthy, and takes interest in the quality and care of food, I really wanted to hear what these guys were trying to sell me on. Grass-fed beef? Go on. Quality fish? Go on. However, things didn’t go exactly as they had planned…
There are a plethora of things that went wrong, and that if they actually knew what they were talking about, could’ve prevented a lot of misleading or lack of information.
First, they made the assumption that I knew about their company. They assumed that because of my location that I would’ve seen their trucks riding around. They even dropped a line that a couple famous athletes who live in the area eat their product and were shocked that I didn’t know this information.
Second, they completely ignored basic rapport building. Not even a simple “hello, what’s your name” until about two minutes into the conversation.
Third, they didn’t listen until I drilled questions related to their products, in which they had very little information on. They couldn’t answer where their meat/fish came from, what else is in their ingredients and they had mentioned that their products are “all natural” when in fact, I looked at the ingredients and there were about 15 things listed that were all manufactured crap.
I had and have no intention of ever purchasing from them, not so much because their food isn't something that I would eat, but because their front line doesn’t even know the product.
When asked where can I find more information about them, they mentioned their website and immediately got defensive and said – ignore the comments that are mainly about the drivers. If you have bad service or are aggressive to the point where it’s offensive, regardless of your product, it’s going to be a tough to get through to your customer to have them buy.
Better luck next time.