Share what you know with millions of people
Focus is the best place to turn what you know into remarkable content
0
Is it standard practice for sales reps to ask for your contact information at the start of a call?
I've called a few companies this week to check pricing for a service, and two companies have started the call asking for my phone number AND email address before transferring me to the correct rep. I understand they want me in their system, but it's a big turnoff. Is this standard nowadays?
Events
- Dos and Don'ts of Small Business Marketing May 29 @ 11 am PT
- Lead Nurturing 202: The Next Generation May 31 @ 11 am PT
- The Tricks to Paid Media June 6 @ 11 am PT
- Display Advertising for Brand Awareness June 20 @ 11 am PT
Related Activity
4 Answers
Lori, what's happening here is that the sales reps you are speaking with want to make sure they have the 'right' to pursue your account before investing time and effort into evaluating your needs and chasing the deal. If your contact information is already in the CRM system and assigned to a different sales person from a previous inquiry, then your call will be passed along to the only person with a monetary interest in helping you out. In a perfect world, sales reps would handle all inquiries with the same level of interest and sales execution, but we're coin-operated by nature and very sensitive to 'wasting' effort on somebody else's prospect, or worse, screwing up their sale (real or imagined).
Still, top sales organizations will stick to the simple questions of "Have you ever spoken with anybody at our company previously?' and/or "Can I just have your name and company so I can make sure you don't already have a file?", which are less off-putting and not so invasive as requesting contact information right out of the gate. They can collect contact info at the end of the call when they've earned your trust and need to send a proposal or some other confirmation of next step.
Hi Lori! Probably not standard practice, but not uncommon either.
That you were “turned off” likely means your request was poorly handled … perhaps with an officious or non-welcoming tone. This can happen when companies worship their CRM systems and consider inquirers merely cogs in the CRM machine.
Among best-practice organizations, the more appropriate first response is to do what you request. They may need to ask your phone number or e-mail (not both) in order to dispatch/assign your call correctly. Once connected, the sales rep would solicit your contact information when and where it makes sense in the conversation.
Lori, interesting question. I tend to agree with Michael--while it's not standard, it's not unusual, and, as Michael says, it's poorly executed.
I tend to be a little less forgiving though. With current phone, computer systems, there is no reason why they can't route you to the right person before the phone is even picked up. Even without a "fancy" system, with caller ID, you can do a lot "right" at the outset.
I would recommend tend to recommend that answering your question/addressing you needs need to be the first priority, then collecting information about contacting you.
There are some interesting issues around asking for your email address at the outset. Clearly they are list building. Responding with your email address should not be confused with opting in.
It's too bad this isn't an unsusual experience, it demonstrates the decline of concern about the cusomter interaction from the very outset.
If a sales rep is asking for your contact information at the beginning of the call, there's number of things wrong. Before a call is made, a sales rep should be armed with knowledge about the contact and the company, and a plan.
1. Identify who the right person to speak with before calling.
2. Research the contact on the company website, social networks like LinkedIn to learn something about the prospect.
3. Search for press releases, corporate news, YouTube videos, etc. to link your products and services to current trends at their organization.
4. Have a call plan that gains the prospects attention and maintains it.
Prospects have no time invest, or, desire to educate an unprepared sales rep. Prospects want a personal, compelling, unique, empathetic, and authentic message. More elbow grease upfront and fewer calls will net greater results.
Answer This Question