One of the unintended consequences of the rapid shift to sales force automation tools, CRM systems and large-scale lead generation campaigns is that things only work well when you target prospects and they respond to your promotions. It’s an outbound world now. Pity the poor prospect who unprompted calls you to buy something!
I have recently been in that position, having to make sales inquiries to data companies on behalf of clients. At first, I simply bemoaned the quality of salespeople these days. But then I realized it wasn’t the salespeople who were the problem; it was me! None of these companies had put any thought into how to handle an unsolicited lead, probably because they assumed it was a non-issue. But it’s a big issue. I consistently fell through the cracks because none of these companies had made any provision to deal with me. I didn’t fit their workflow.
The first thing you learn about being a buyer in this situation is that you better not be in a hurry. Callbacks to unsolicited leads in my recent experiences ranged from two to four days. And when I did get a response, it was often by a screener, charged with determining if my business was worth a salesperson’s time. Indeed, after being screened by one major data provider, I received a surprisingly curt email informing me that the size of my potential order didn’t merit their attention, but that my name had been passed along to one of their distributors, and I would hear from them in due course. I’m still waiting after three weeks.
I’ve also learned that using the phone doesn’t accelerate the buying process at all. In fact, it makes things worse. Two of the data companies I contacted had automated attendants that would helpfully connect me … but only if I already knew who I wanted to talk to. In one case, I actually reached a live person who answered the company’s main number. When I asked to speak to someone in Sales, I got the response I hear nearly 100% of the time: there are no salespeople in the office. When I asked to leave a message for someone in Sales, I got a long pause, followed by a very hesitant and somewhat dubious “sure, if you really want to.” One receptionist actually made the mistake of connecting me to someone in the sales department. I say “mistake” because the person answering the phone said he “wasn’t allowed to talk to me,” but he’d have someone call me back. When I said I needed some basic product information first, he did in fact provide it, after swearing me to secrecy because “I could get in a lot of trouble for doing this.”
Since companies have clearly abandoned the telephone as means of inbound contact, you think they would pay close attention to incoming leads by email. If only that was true! After submitting my sales inquiries to three companies via the ever popular “contact us” form, proving that I was not a robot, and in some cases being asked the size of my budget (required field), I sat back and waited. And then waited some more. One company responded fairly quickly, but the salesperson was apparently so incredulous that a sales lead would be unsolicited that I had to submit to a grilling via email to confirm my interest and my bona fides.
The second company responded three days later, and apologetically asked for lots of information about my product requirements and me so that he could “get me in the system.” Once properly in the company’s lead stream, I had a satisfactory buying experience.
The third company? Three weeks and I am still waiting on a response.
You surely know where I am going with this: with so much technology and so many resources being devoted to lead cultivation, generation and management, we seem to have forgotten about the most valuable sales lead of all: the unsolicited inquiry. There is apparently no place for them in our automated workflows.
Not your problem? I challenge you: complete the form on your own company’s “contact us” page and sit back and wait, not with a stopwatch but with a calendar. If you want an even more dismal experience, call your own company’s main number and ask to speak to a salesperson. Yeah, it’s that bad ... which means the opportunity for quick increased revenue is that good!