Recently, I had to purchase a rather expensive piece of medical equipment. And I needed it quickly.
So, I researched online, and within a day I’d determined what I needed, how much I was going to have to spend, and was prepared to make a purchase.
I contacted one company through their website. They wouldn’t give me ordering information online, I had to fill out a form and have someone contact me.
Ok, fine, I’ll roll with that for now.
The company got back to me quickly enough; I’d put through my inquiry on a weekend and got a phone call on Monday morning.
I spoke with the rep about my needs, my urgency (I was very careful to indicate that this was something I needed sooner rather than later), and my clarity about what I wanted. I also indicated that I’d be willing to make the purchase up front myself and submit to the insurance company for reimbursement rather than waiting for lots of pre-approvals. I also told him I had also verified in advance with my insurance company that this was an acceptable arrangement.
So, he tells me that he’s going to:
- Email me pricing and purchase information
- Check with their billing department about insurance
- Get back to me quickly.
I didn’t hear from him for over a week.
Over a week.
He never emailed anything. He certainly didn’t hear any sense of urgency nor respond to it. He was bound and determined to wait and call me, on his terms, and have the typical sales call, treating me like an uneducated customer who needed him to sort out all of the important details.
In the time it took him to get back to me (I pretty much wrote him off after about 48 hours), I had managed to:
- Complete the research on the product I needed
- Verify everything with my insurance company
- Find a reputable supplier online
- Purchase the product
- Have it shipped 2-day air to my house.
- Start using the product
I got a call from him yesterday, over a week later with zero communication in the meantime. His voicemail message to me?
“Great news! I got the go-ahead from your insurance company and we can chat about pricing and how to go ahead and get this wrapped up for you this week. Give me a call.”
Ha.
The moral of the story?
Sales doesn’t work like it used to. Your customers are empowered with information, with resources, and with the speed of the web. We don’t have to wait for a salesperson anymore to guide our decisions or trickle-feed us information, we have access to everything we could need on the other side of our keyboard, including the power to circumvent you altogether.
And we don’t ever have to pick up a phone.
If you’re a professional working in a connected world, you have to find a way to demonstrate your value differently than you used to.
Responsiveness and speed. Personal attention. Making someones life or job easier. Providing inside information, hints, resources or expertise. Leveraging the web and all of its resources – like, uh, email – to make communication fluid, fast, and convenient.
Stewarding a transaction was never enough, but now it’s pretty much a liability.
So, sorry medical sales guy. Hope you catch up soon. Because the internet is going to have your lunch, and your business right along with it.
Oh my goodness, I recently wrote a post about how “sorry for the inconvenience”…an apology without a solution and/or lack of responsiveness and interest by a business perplexes me. In a supposedly global, transparent, seamless world, how can this still happen?! Boggles my mind. Glad you were able to solve your problem. Can’t believe these situations still exist. Cheers! Kaarina
Sadly I think they’re more the norm than the exception. But definitely, if you’re going to tell me something is amiss without a suggestion for how it can be fixed (even if the solution is not with you), that’s not useful, nor do I feel valued whatsoever as your customer.
Ditto that!
An entire week? Wow. Sounds like this individual missed the memo about the shift in power and that fact that the buyer is now in control. I hope this is an isolated incident, but I fear that it’s not. Great post.
Jason
Totally! I can’t imagine anyone in sales taking this long, very odd and he probably won’t be in business long either.
Yep. An entire week, when I expressed specifically that time was of the essence. He’s the kind of guy that just figures I’m going to wait for HIM because I don’t have other options. Not happening!
We did that same song and dance with a car salesman one time. Guy #1 wanted to do the whole “let me go talk to my manager” thing, so we walked across the street and bought from Guy #2. Got a followup call a week later from Guy #1 saying he got a deal for us. We told him how much we loved our car from Guy #2.
I am a *ruthless* car negotiator after a terrible experience buying my first one. Or rather, I don’t negotiate anymore. Last time I bought a car I did a ton of research. I emailed several dealerships with the car I wanted, the option package, my color choices, and my offer (and I had a high point in mind that I didn’t disclose). First guy who met the offer gets the business.
I had three responses, two who tried to tell me those cars were “selling at sticker”. One gentleman emailed me that he had the car with slightly different options but he made me a great offer, and I drove out that night to sign the papers and purchase the car.
It really can be that simple. The manipulative song and dance BS just doesn’t fly anymore for an educated customer. There will always be suckers to prey on, I suppose, but that hardly seems like a sustainable model.
Love it – great example. I am working with the insurance industry to help them understand. Some get it… many don’t.
I’ve had nothing but excellent experiences so far with BlueCross Blue Shield of IL. They’re helpful and responsive, so that’s a plus for your industry.
You’re lucky he even gave you the time of day. Medical sales people are the worst, they never listen, and they don’t get that their customer might have already done the research. I did the same thing as you, researched, knew what I wanted, was ready to pay up front…then he proceeded to tell me why I was wrong about the equipment, and here’s why I really wanted to buy X, and that he would just go ahead and submit that to my insurance for me like some patronizing father figure. Annoying. If I ever met a good medical sales person I would pay to keep them as much as they wanted – they are a rare commodity indeed!
My first experience in this industry and he sure seems to fit that mold. Patronizing your customer is a really shitty sales strategy. Good to know that they’re a segment to watch out for.
for the benefit of the doubt let’s assume that the sales person is a) less educated than the consumer about the actual uses of the product but just familiar with sales materiel b) working on a bunch of accounts tossed in his lap from some third party hit gathering system and c) trained on the product side not the people side because most of the “salespeople” today are college grads that get a 28-day training having nothing to do with the industry before in their lives… not defending salespeople against your very salient arguments.. but the problem is institutional, not individual
I couldn’t disagree more with this. There *are* some institutional issues with sales as a whole, but this guy was a veteran and made sure to tell me so. He was well versed in the product, and was very personable, and clearly was polished with experience. He just felt ZERO sense of urgency. And that’s on him. Some kind of “institutional” issue is simply an excuse.
I find this particularly annoying when dealing with “online technology” companies that force me to get on the phone with a rep and do a demo before seeing price or buying. Let’s me know right away that they don’t get it.
I’m with you on that. When I worked at R6 it was actually something I advocated for changing for a LONG time (the “no demo without a salesperson” thing). I understand that some platforms like that are complex and that it can be challenging to see and understand the real value and use cases without someone to help point you in the right direction, and I understand that not all technology can or should lend itself to a super simplified UI.
HOWEVER. Inherently, I’m bothered by the implication that “our prospects aren’t smart enough to a) figure this out without us or b) recognize when they need more help and ask us for it”.
Even as a consultant, ideally I’d love everyone to call me and let me talk them through what we offer and what’s best for them based on a customized value prop. But clients don’t always have the luxury of that kind of time, so I look at it as my job to keep articulating our value and offerings in a way that presents that case up front and provides clarity in offerings that make it obvious what we do (and don’t).
It’s a tough balance, but I’m largely with you. I think the era of forcing your prospects into your mapped sales process is slowly eroding and will change very much in the next 5 years.
Great storytelling post about the state (or not) of sales and Ecommerce today. When you have Amazon talking about same day deliveries, this guy must have been kidding!
Sadly I couldn’t get what I needed on Amazon, but philosophically, that’s exactly the point.
I see this all the time in B2B. We are so strict with our cadences and processes that we dont let the buyer tell us where they are at in the purchase process – we tell them. We assume that first call and first ‘touch’ is the same for everyone and that’s just not so. Lots of people have done their homework and want to jump into a demo. We should let them do that! If we dont, our competitor just might take the bait and give them what they want.
We have to make education and purchase easy, as much as we can, no matter how complex the product or service. It’s not always realistic to stick something in a cart and go, but what IS realistic is gearing the entire experience to put the customer in the driver’s seat, and being responsive to what they tell you.
It’s not rocket surgery, but man do we try to make it hard sometimes.