I was talking to one of my corporate clients who shared a true (WTF) sales story with me. Your job, reader, is to learn from their mistakes…..

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My corporate client narrowed down three different companies that they needed a specific service from, a high dollar service. They invited all three companies to come in and give a sales presentations to the entire board of directors, each one was given 45 minutes to give their pitch. They all went one right after the other.

Company #2 (yes, I’m starting out of order on purpose): This sales person took the first 15 minutes for his allotted time to talk about all the “faults” and “short comings” of Company #1 and Company #3. By the time this poor sales person had eaten up 10 minutes, the Board of Directors had already tuned him out and quit listening. He’s out.

Company #1 and Company #3 were a close race. After the presentations, my corporate client informed them that they would like to take about a week to digest all the information, talk amongst themselves and then would make a decision. After all, this project was a big investment for them.

In the end, although it was a very close decision, the Board of Directors decided to go with Company #1. The phone call was made to Company #3 to let them know the bad news. The sales person (who is also the President of said company) called my corporate client and wanted to have feedback about his presentation, why they missed the sale, etc. A tentative phone appointment was scheduled, however Company #3 (remember, the President mind you) decided to go ahead and email his questions.

Are you following so far?

My corporate client received a six page, single typed email that was a diatribe of severe bashing of Company #1. Seriously. S I X pages long, he printed it. At one point, it became completely incoherent and unreadable, certainly, not finishable.

The sad thing was that if the relationship did not end up going well with Company #1 …. my corporate client would fire them and immediately call Company #3. But by being totally unprofessional, that company is probably completely out of the running.

Never let your thoughts override your mouth. Always use restraint and judiciousness when dealing with your prospective clients. Never get angry at the clients for not choosing your services.

Congrats Company #1 … looks like you easily closed a six-figure deal.

Happy Selling!