Sales and marketing exist to drive business, create business and grow business.  So why is it we let them get in the way. More often than not, we create the “sales prevention” department.

David Brock posted a great example of what happens when we loose site of the selling process and everything becomes a race for leads.

I struggled to find the information about the changes in this software.  Then the, “Do You Want To Chat” pop-up came up.

I decided to go for it.  It asked for my name, email address.  Having been through this before, I knew I would be inundated with unwelcome calls and emails trying to get me to order.  I ignored filling those in, just putting in my first name.  “Kyle” responded to my chat request.  After the welcome message, he started to try to get my contact information.  He’d type in “What’s the name of your company?”  I’d respond, “I just am looking for information.”

He’d respond, “What is your email?”  I’d respond, “I’m trying to understand if these features are part of the standard upgrade or if they are in the optional modules that I have to pay more for?”  Kyle said, “I’m not sure, can I get your information?  How many licenses are you interested in?”  “I responded, “The product data sheet says these are in the standard product upgrade, can you verify that for me?”  Kyle responded, “No you have to upgrade to our enterprise packaging, would you give me your email so we can contact you further?”

Kyle really didn’t want to answer my questions.  He was insistent on getting as much of my contact information as possible.  Finally, in frustration, I replied, “Look, I am not prepared to give you my contact information yet.  I just want some clarification on what’s in the product upgrade, and what’s not.  The data sheets on your site are saying one thing, you are saying something completely different.  Have you looked at the data sheets?  Can you tell me the answer?”

Kyle sent me a final message, “Thank you for contacting us, we hope we’ve answered your questions in a satisfactory manner.  If you have any other questions, please email me at….  We appreciate your business.”

He then terminated the session.

I love the “He then terminated the session.”  Classic!

I’m a little bummed that Dave didn’t mention the company. As a business owner this is the type of feedback I love. It allows me to address it.

This company is on it’s way to lose about 15k. I don’t know if that’s a lot or a little to them, but there is a customer attached and that is priceless. How much does your sales prevention department cost you?  Hopefully not that much!

Go read the rest of David’s post here, it’s a great one.