OT: Sales Rep Pet Peeves

[FactoryTalktotheHand]

I get irritated with sales reps calling me trying to set up a tour of the plant, I am given new work daily, usually before I complete the last set of directives, I don't have time to be a tour guide.

Oh yes! I had a salesman do this to me, except he didn't even make an appointment. He literally showed up unannounced, then asked for a plant tour to boot. I worked in a food production facility so tours required smocks, hairnets, glasses and steel toe boots. Not to mention a tour of that facility is a good 45 minutes to 1 hour.

I told him no.

 

[ASF]

I think there should be a "ten commandments" for automation salesmen.

1. Thou shalt not show up unannounced. Call ahead and make an appointment to pitch a new product.

2. Thou shalt make thyself useful. Be a resource for your customer. Be available for technical questions. Build a relationship that isn't just based on exchanging money for products. You aren't selling refrigerators, you're selling specialized components that require engineering and integration to implement.

3. Thou shalt know thy product. Your potential customer shouldn't know more about what you're pitching than you do.

4. Thou shalt not disparage other brands to make thine own seem superior. Another product's shortcomings doesn't make yours any better.

5. Thou shalt know pricing and availability before pitching a product.

6. Thou shalt know thy customer. Understand what they do and what kind of products they need.

7. Thou shalt understand the difference between features and benefits. A feature means nothing unless it can benefit the customer somehow. What good is a processor that has half the scan time if the current controllers they're using work just fine and they don't do any precise motion control?

8. Thou shalt understand total ownership cost. A functioning automation system often costs double or more of what the materials cost. Understand that when you introduce an unfamiliar product, that product comes with a hidden cost of extra labor. There's time learning the software, extra time to program it the first few times, extra time to get everyone else in the department up to speed so they can support it. The cost of the hardware is not even close to the final cost of the project.

9. Thou shalt stay in your position long-term. If you want to build relationships with customers, that takes time. If you're a job-hopper, you aren't going to do very well, because you'll constantly be the "new" sales rep. People don't trust the new guy as much as the rep that's been coming in for 15 years.

10. Thou shalt not harass the customer. Constantly emailing them and asking to set up pitch meetings every week does not endear you in the eyes of the customer. They will see you as a time-waster, not a resource.

That sums up this thread the best I have ever seen it.

I'm saving that, and keeping a stack of copies on hand to give to cold callers, or to email to reps who ask to come in. I'll tell them not to come in until they have read and understood my rules for attempting to be my sales rep

 

[cjd1965]

The rep who says the equipment the quoted me will do the job and offers a full demo....so when I need it for a fast turn around project he is suddenly unavailable for " at least a month" .....lost the sale and lost my business in future

 

[kolyur]

Another thing that bugs me is when a manufacturer will have half a dozen vendors selling their product in one area. Square D is notorious for this. Whenever a salesman comes and pitches me the latest Telemecanique/Square D/Schneider gadget, it bores me because there are 15 other people in a 5 mile radius I could buy the same thing from for the same price.

This is a double edged sword in my opinion. I agree it can be irritating, but if you have a problem with a distributor you can at least get the same product elsewhere with minimal effort. Compare that with a company like Rockwell, which has territorial distribution. If your distributor chooses to act as nothing more than an order taker (and an unimpressive one at that) you have basically no recourse.