Introduction Chapter 1 ship wrecked
Chapter 2 proposal
Chapter 3 trap
Chapter 4 game
Chapter 5 simplest things
Chapter 6 open house
Chapter 7 think
Chapter 8 picture this
Chapter 9 the work has just...
Table of Conents
Joe whirls around when he hears the clicking of heels on the polished tile floor. Ms. Opportern is of medium build with a professional blue pinstriped suit on. She warmly extends her hand and introduces herself. "Hi, I am Kelsey Opportern. I'm glad you could make it."
Joe enthusiastically shakes Kelsey's hand and responds, "Thanks for seeing me, Kelsey. You seem to have a nice place here."
"Thank you. I hope it was no trouble getting here?" she inquires.
"No, not at all. I actually live only a couple of miles from here.
Do you know where Brier Homes are?" Joe continues to talk about his house and neighborhood until they reach the conference room. Kelsey seems very personable and Joe thinks he's established a rapport with her.
My name is Joe and I am your Acme sales executive. Acme is an office equipment company that focuses on integrating the best copiers from our partners, to give you the solutions that you need. We compete very aggressively with the industry leaders." A short time later his inquisition begins, "What type of equipment do you use today? Is it on lease or do you prefer to buy it outright? Do you have any special requirements like - going digital? In my professional opinion," grouses Joe, "you'd be stupid NOT to go digital."
After more than an hour of similar questions Joe has captured three pages of notes about their copiers and faxes. It seems to be a great first call. Joe's sitting in his car and its almost 2:30. He is mentally reviewing the call and calculating if he can ultimately win this one. He's sure he can. They hate their current vendor. Well, they didn't actually say they hated them. They said they were looking at alternatives. To Joe, that means that the other guy blew it and now it's his turn.
Dick Olenych is the Owner of Spectrum Printing and author of these articles. Mr. Olenych is the author of Joe Sails, a business-behavior novel.