I recently had a passionate conversation with a potential customer that I still find very interesting. I had been given his name by a customer of mine when I asked for a few referrals. As you know a happy customer that refers you to another company is solid gold. When you have a unique offering such as our vManager platform, that introduction is even better.
The conversation started off well there was a lot of chatter about the telecom business etc. He was anxious to look at options to lower his telecom spend. I assured him that we would be able to offer significant savings and things were really starting to gel. I got to the part of the conversation where I explained that we are a telecom management provider and we offer a solution to our customers that not only lowers their hard costs but has a dramatic effect on their soft costs. That is where I lost him. He replied back to me that he was not interested in handing over the management of his telecom to us. The implication, of course, was that he could do it better than we could.
Now, I have been in sales for many years and don’t need to be reminded that the last thing you want to do is get into a conflict with a prospective customer. Here was the problem: He was wrong! I am sure that he is great at what he does and his IT staff of 2 seasoned telecom veterans works very hard to keep things in tip top shape. That being said, he was still wrong.
Realizing that the potential for a sale was rapidly fading; I made a decision that one day he will thank me for. I decided to stand my ground at any cost and show him that he was wrong. You can’t pay your bills with moral victories but it had been a long day and I was determined to passionately vocalize my point.
He began telling me about the voice mail box that all of his branches leave messages regarding problems with lines and circuits. He told me how the mailbox pages him to let him know there is trouble. He explained that he has every piece of information regarding his circuits in a spreadsheet so he can manage the carriers. Smelling a little blood in the water, I asked him to bear with me as we did a test. I asked him to think about how he is currently managing his carriers as I explain what my customers do. I gave him 5 questions to find the answers to while I did the same in the software that my customers use. I asked him to find the following information on one of his remote offices.
What is the Circuit ID (from the LEC) of the PRI installed at that facility?
What are all of the DID numbers assigned to that circuit?
When does the contract expire on that circuit?
Get a copy of the paperwork that was signed to have that circuit installed?
What cost center is that circuit assigned to?
I was able to complete all of the items above in the time that it took him to write them down. I could have gone on a lot longer with many more examples but I knew I was pushing it a bit. At this point, one of two things could have happened. I was either going to hear dial tone in my ear or he was going to admit that there is a better way to manage the carriers. He didn’t hang up on me but he also didn’t tell me that I was right. He did say, however, that there may be some value to the accounting department and he would forward my information. Change is very difficult for many and the way our customers manage their telecom IS different. It is not only different, it is better. My prospect realized that after our test but was not going to admit it. I expect to be talking with him again soon.
