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February 17, 2006
Google your prospects or lose them
I continue to be amazed that people will show up for a job interview not having visited our company web site. I don't want to hire anyone without the sense and initiative to read everything they can about the company they are interviewing with. Still, I can almost understand it when someone is interviewing for an entry level job. Maybe they do not have a computer at home. Maybe they couldn't get to the library this week. Maybe they know nothing about how the world works.
But when a salesperson calls to sell a business-to-business service and knows nothing about our company, I get upset. Not only are they wasting my time, they are wasting their time, their employer's resources, telecommunications bandwidth, oxygen, space on the planet earth...
This week a salesperson called to introduce her firm. Her firm helps small software companies by developing customer leads and contacts inside large companies. Apparently, you hire them to run your sales operation when you can't.
She was completely unaware that my company sells a consumer software product and doesn't sell into large companies at all. She told me (when I asked) that she had not visited our web site.
"We're not a potential client for you. But just a tip: it kind of hurts your credibility as a 'big-game-hunting' sales company if you don’t even visit a company’s web site before calling to sell your own services!" I screamed.
Okay, I didn't scream. I said it quietly and she thanked me for my time. I wanted to scream, though.
If you don’t visit the web site of every sales prospect and Google every contact, you don't deserve the sale.
Posted by Bob Pritchett at February 17, 2006 9:46 AM
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