08-18-2016, 09:29 AM
Yeah that is frustrating, I could probably write a book about crazy / frustrating stories about sales situations I've experienced over the years. I had one executive pissed that I had stronger relationships with his field directors than he did. He was new to the org and decided on a whim to drop our services and go with a competitor, disrupting a long-time relationship with a LOT of documented success and productivity. When his field teams called and asked me for their services I had to inform them that they no longer had access to use us anymore. He got about 16 different firey emails from his peers because they weren't consulted in this change and he blasted me on an email like a pussy, ccing my boss and our CEO. I lost the business but needless to say that douchenozzle lost his job about a year later and now they are back to doing business with us again. And because of poor management across the chain, they got snapped up by a private equity firm and their CEO backed out of his family business.
I had another instance with my biggest account, a new CHRO was hired in from our website and for whatever reason had a grudge against our company. That seems odd that you would use us to get your new job but wouldn't implement our services to help people get new ones at your new company. But whatever it was the same story, massive documented success, saved them over $10M in 12 months time, I actually had a seat at their dang office I was there so much. She was super old school and refused any of our meetings, flat out denied all of the successes we had compiled both on our end and the client side...testimonials etc. She stymied a $1.5M deal, changed things back to how business used to be there and quite literally set their teams back a good 12-18 months. I got a call from one of my closest contacts there a few months ago who left the company (along with many others due to this chick) and he informed me that they fired her.
It's kind of a problem I have now with the way the sales world is evolving. Yeah yeah, I get you get tired of talking to these second rate used-car salesmen selling software or services or whatever, and there are a lot of them. But for better or for worse, the e-commerce revolution has changed the way a lot of people view the act of buying things and unfortunately in the business world when you are dealing with big problems with complex solutions and large price tags, you cannot remove the expert / SME element and personal connection with a salesperson / trusted advisor. As much as you would love to one-click shop for a complex data tool or a piece of advanced tracking or marketing software, this is where the one-on-one relationships are actually important.
Jon, if we get up sometime we'll have to share more war stories :lol:
I had another instance with my biggest account, a new CHRO was hired in from our website and for whatever reason had a grudge against our company. That seems odd that you would use us to get your new job but wouldn't implement our services to help people get new ones at your new company. But whatever it was the same story, massive documented success, saved them over $10M in 12 months time, I actually had a seat at their dang office I was there so much. She was super old school and refused any of our meetings, flat out denied all of the successes we had compiled both on our end and the client side...testimonials etc. She stymied a $1.5M deal, changed things back to how business used to be there and quite literally set their teams back a good 12-18 months. I got a call from one of my closest contacts there a few months ago who left the company (along with many others due to this chick) and he informed me that they fired her.
It's kind of a problem I have now with the way the sales world is evolving. Yeah yeah, I get you get tired of talking to these second rate used-car salesmen selling software or services or whatever, and there are a lot of them. But for better or for worse, the e-commerce revolution has changed the way a lot of people view the act of buying things and unfortunately in the business world when you are dealing with big problems with complex solutions and large price tags, you cannot remove the expert / SME element and personal connection with a salesperson / trusted advisor. As much as you would love to one-click shop for a complex data tool or a piece of advanced tracking or marketing software, this is where the one-on-one relationships are actually important.
Jon, if we get up sometime we'll have to share more war stories :lol:
Posting in the banalist of threads since 2004
2017 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD Premium
Past: 2016 GMC Canyon All Terrain Crew Cab / 2010 Jaguar XFR / 2012 Acura RDX AWD Tech / 2008 Cadillac CTS / 2007 Acura TL-S / 1966 5.0 HO Mustang Coupe
2001 Lexus IS300 / 2004 2.8L big turbo WRX STI / 2004 Subaru WRX / A couple of old trucks
2017 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD Premium
Past: 2016 GMC Canyon All Terrain Crew Cab / 2010 Jaguar XFR / 2012 Acura RDX AWD Tech / 2008 Cadillac CTS / 2007 Acura TL-S / 1966 5.0 HO Mustang Coupe
2001 Lexus IS300 / 2004 2.8L big turbo WRX STI / 2004 Subaru WRX / A couple of old trucks