I Failed Sales 101
Thirty years in the hotel business and 10+ years in my current utility auditing business, and I thought I knew all about sales and sales psychology. I was wrong. Very wrong.
Sales Case Study
Together with an ECS Business Services associate, I presented the ECS utility cost reduction model to the President of a condominium association. The President was all in favor, and indeed he said that the Board of Directors usually goes along with what he recommends.
At the next scheduled board meeting, without an ECS representative being present, and with no quorum, the Treasurer shot us down. I was extremely disappointed and befuddled as I was actually expecting to pick up a signed proposal of engagement the next day.
Assuming the President needed assistance to close the engagement, the associate and I embarked on a campaign to make the deal happen.
Although we believed we could save money for this client, we made a horrible error in judgement. That error, of being way too aggressive with our client in closing the engagement, totally backfired.. A huge mistake on our part.
As a result of this determined and aggressive approach, the President and the board now wants nothing to do with our company. We crossed the line. And this time there were severe consequences.
After much introspection, I now have learned to limit and eliminate this type of sales methodology. Controlled perseverance and patience are now the official ECS standard of sales.
I have learned from my mistake. I hope you learn from my mistake as well.
I think we can never say we know everything about something or claim we are expert. I learn new things every single day and sometimes I’m amazed at the people that teach me valuable lessons. Today I might learn something precious from an elder, tomorrow from a child, and the day after that from a homeless person. We never know what form or shape our teacher will have and that’s why we need to have an open mind all the time or we may miss something of value.
Absolutely. There is something to learn from everyone – we simply must be humble enough to recognize what we can learn from each individual.
Sometimes we have to learn by making costly mistakes but I guess that’s the way life is. And if we don’t learn from a mistake I’m pretty sure we will (sooner or later) repeat that mistake. And we’ll do so until we finally learn the lesson. I’m trying to see the mistakes I make as stepping stones to a better me. Thanks for sharing your story, Michael! I appreciate your honesty and I’m sure you’ll do great now that you’ve learned from this mistake!
Cassandra, after learning from this mistake I am certainly doing better!!