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You Don't Ask...you Don't Get!
As I write this, I really am in shock! How many of you have ever gone to buy something only to find out that the person selling doesn't want to sell to you? That’s exactly what happened to me on 3 different occasions within the last 2 weeks! You see I’m getting married in October this year and so as you can imagine there are a few things I need to arrange, like the wedding ring, my suit etc. Anyway, 2 weeks ago I called up a coach company to hire a small coach to transport me and my family to Kent for the wedding. As expected the phone was answered by a polite woman. She introduced herself and the company name. I introduced myself and proceeded to tell her about my requirements. She then asked me to hold the line while she got me a price. After about 30 seconds she returned with what seemed to be a fair quote. The next thing that happened completely baffled me… Once the lady had given me the quote, she thanked me for calling and ended the call! I couldn’t believe it! I’m a customer with decision making authority and very ready to spend my money, and the girl ended the call! Now if that’s not a sure way of losing customers then I don’t know what is! The next incident followed a couple of days later. Similar to the first, I called another company, this time to enquire about a self-drive minibus. Again I was greeted pleasantly this time by a foreign sounding woman, and again I introduced myself and proceeded to tell her about my requirements. Guess what happened next...that’s right...she gave me a price and then didn’t attempt to close me and ended the call! By now I really was astonished. When I had some quiet time later that day, I began to think that maybe I should help these coach companies realise their mistake seeing as I had had 2 out of 2 that hadn’t even tried to get a sale out of me. I began to think it must be an industry thing...but it wasn’t… A week later I went to a very well known department store in Birmingham to look for a wedding suit. I walked in to the busy store and up the escalator stairs to the Mens Formal Department. I knew exactly what I wanted and so I started looking around, but unfortunately couldn’t find anything. I then decided that I’d ask one of the sales staff...What sales staff!? There weren’t any around! I eventually turned a corner to find three of them huddled by one cash desk chatting away. Again I was shocked but decided to stay quiet This time I thought I’d run my own little experiment. So before I walked away I made sure that they knew I was there. I then walked around and came back to the same spot and looked at the same suits again. Guess what...they didn't budge! They even looked up at me and carried on as if I wasn’t there! Do you know what the worse thing is? I had the money in my pocket and I was ready to make a purchase. Sad. My point? Had any of the people mentioned above asked me for the sale, they probably would have got it. There is NO reason why you shouldn’t ask a potential customer to buy. Jez Pankhania Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com www.maverick-telemarketing.co.uk |
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