Every once in a while I hear a story about a sales situation that just blows me away. This is one of those stories. It could happen to anybody, and here’s how it goes.
I met with one of my sales rainmakers recently, and he started telling me about one of his new customers. He said the relationship started when he got a call from an executive who asked him to come to his office. When the salesperson arrived at the executive’s office, he was amazed at how many of his competitor’s products were installed in this company’s workspace. (I’m being vague to keep my client’s confidence.)
Looking around, my salesperson was pretty confused. But in keeping with Corsini’s Authentic Selling approach, he went ahead and asked the big, awkward question: “So why did you call me here?”
Now this is where the story gets real interesting.
The executive said he’d sent an emailed request to his current supplier’s salesperson (my guy’s competitor) and copied several of the salesperson’s support staff. Emails were going back and forth, but nothing much was happening. Pretty soon the executive began to get irritated, and his request became a demand. That’s when the competitor’s salesperson made a major mistake.
Thinking he was only replying internally to the most recent email, the competitor’s salesperson blasted the executive. He even dropped the “F bomb” in this email that he thought was only going to his staff. He was frustrated and shared exactly what he thought of this executive—unfortunately, he included the executive on the email distribution list.
That same day the competitor was fired. That’s how my client was hired.
My point today is obvious, but circumstances like this make it worth repeating: Be very, very, very careful with emails in general—especially when discussing a client- or an employee-related issue.
Here are a few important takeaways from this story.
1. Remember the 24-hour rule. When angry—really angry—wait 24 hours before responding to a customer, an employee, a vendor, your neighbor, etc.
2. Don’t curse—especially in writing! No matter how you feel, never say a #&@%# word. Cursing someone makes it way too personal.
3. Assume that all emails are forwarded to the person you do NOT want to read them. This one tip will really help you tone down the tone of your message.
Now feel free to forward this email to everyone! I hope you find this to be just one more way to do what you do better.