Can you hear me now?

"Every choice you make has an end result." - Zig Ziglar


A colleague of mine called me earlier this week. She was very upset from a phone call and wanted to discuss it.

A salesman called her to let her know her name came up at least a dozen times at a recent NSA Conference. The salesman went on to ask if my colleague would like to purchase a booth at the National Convention. Then the salesman proceeded to ask her if she had any experience working with professional speakers.....3 times.

I find this amazing. Why would her name be mentioned at professional speaker's conference if she didn't work with speakers? Why would she be interested in a booth at the conference if she didn't work with speakers? And why.....oh why.....wouldn't the salesman take a few minutes to look her up on line and find out BEFORE calling and asking her to spend money?

There is no excuse for a cold sales call these days. Thanks to Google, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, you can find out more than you ever needed to know about most people. At the very least you can find out what service is listed on their web site.

Nothing makes a better impression with a potential new client than knowing about them and what they do. It leads to better questions, which get better answers and more sales. So in this day and time, why wouldn't you do your research before picking up the phone? My colleague was so offended by this salesman's line of questions and lack of knowledge, she would never buy anything from him. If he had taken the time to even glance at her web site he would know she has an impressive (and lengthy) list of professional speaker clients.

NSA has amazing conferences and there is tremendous potential there for speaker vendors. Too bad this negative experience might keep others from having a positive one at the next conference.