Guy calls me to sell me something and won't

[Papa Deuce]

give me even a clue about cost on the phone. He wanted me to advertise at a restaurant around the corner from me. He wouldn't really explain it ( said it was to hard to describe accurately on the phone ). And when I asked for a general idea of pricing he said "Well, I'm not a telephone salesman. All I need is 5 - 10 minutes of your time, in person."

Maybe that is the way sales people work. But it isn't the way I work. If you can't at least give a fair description of your product, and a ballpark estimate of the cost, it's "see ya later time" for me.

How about you?

 

[Jeff Romard]

Did you ever call a DJ :sqerr:

 

[Papa Deuce]

Did you ever call a DJ :sqerr:

Yes, but I have always been able to get what I want over the phone, even if it takes a bit of time.

 

[Fred Wright]

I agree, Papa. It comes across as shady.

If it were legit, he'd be able to answer your questions on the phone. He initiated the call, he shouldn't have to hem and haw about details.

 

[Discount DJs]

Sounds like someone might have been trying to get you out of the house so they could go shopping in it.

 

[jokerswild]

Sounds like someone might have been trying to get you out of the house so they could go shopping in it.

That's a good possiblity assumeing they know he has valuables inside....

 

[Papa Deuce]

That's a good possiblity assumeing they know he has valuables inside....

Could be... but very few do. I know I advertise on my car, but I advertise kid's events, mostly.... nothing that indicates I have any real high value stuff in my home.

And they would have to get past my alarm system, and 2 really large dogs. Even when I take everything out of my garage to clean it, I keep it covered in blankets so nobody can see what it is.

 

[rickryan.com]

Advertising in a restaurant. Hmm. You mean you don't want people thinking of your service at the same time they're taking a whiz?

 

[Scott Hanna]

I can certainly understand why he would want to talk to you in person. A good salesman wants to be able to show the VALUE in what they are offering.

I can also understand why someone getting cold called would want to know a price.


If I was him, I would probably say something like,

"Chuck, I can certainly understand why you feel price would be an important question to you. Most of my clients felt the same way. What they found was that the return on the investment was overwhelmingly better than most other marketing they invest in.

It would be much easier to show you in person. I'm sure your clients have found that using the cheapest DJ is not always the best value. Same goes for marketing. The cheapest marketing typically doesn't give the best return. We have a wide range of options for you to choose from, so to just throw out a number without finding out what would give you the best return isn't really benefiting you.

But, to answer your question, we have packages for as little as $99 total."

 

[directsound]

Scott Nice reply !

 

[Jon Tuck]

Thanks Scott this gave me a new idea

obviously its reworded for this particular instance but would work incredibly well selling on cold call or a customer who is inquiring. Anyone having a hard time closing due to cost etc could implement some of this statement provided by the honorable Mr Hanna.

I can certainly understand why he would want to talk to you in person. A good salesman wants to be able to show the VALUE in what they are offering.

I can also understand why someone getting cold called would want to know a price.


If I was him, I would probably say something like,

 

[Papa Deuce]

Scott you could be right, but I don't see many ways to get value from advertising in an "old folks" restaurant ( $1.99, 2 eggs and toast place ) unless it is free. I'm still pretty PO'd about the money my wife INSISTED I use to buy an ad in the church newsletter. 52 weeks and one inquiry.

 

[Jon Tuck]

oh come now Papa how much did it cut into your allowance? I found that giving money to family or church or any kind of charity was simply charity and knowing this allowed it to be given with good conscience. Gaining a lead or even a gig an Unexpected blessing.

 

[Papa Deuce]

oh come now Papa how much did it cut into your allowance? I found that giving money to family or church or any kind of charity was simply charity and knowing this allowed it to be given with good conscience. Gaining a lead or even a gig an Unexpected blessing.

$600 a year for one lead. Not even a good one.

And I'm not a religious person. I don't even like organized religions. So, yeah, it bothered me.

 

[Scott Hanna]

Scott you could be right, but I don't see many ways to get value from advertising in an "old folks" restaurant ( $1.99, 2 eggs and toast place ) unless it is free. I'm still pretty PO'd about the money my wife INSISTED I use to buy an ad in the church newsletter. 52 weeks and one inquiry.

I don't either. The person calling seems to be wasting his time calling places that are not a target for the eyeballs in that restaurant.


I guess I should have qualified that by saying if you don't do any pre-work before calling to make sure you can back that statement up and be confident that the target market should be what the client is looking for, then all of that stuff is just good sounding BS

 

[Jon Tuck]

so was it a peace offering? Your wife seems to want to steer you to charity including cheap low pricing for friends or family. Grow the nads lol.

 

[Fred Wright]

so was it a peace offering? Your wife seems to want to steer you to charity including cheap low pricing for friends or family. Grow the nads lol.

Easy for you to say, Jon. You ain't married.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Easy for you to say, Jon. You ain't married.

Yep. I was thinking exactly that. You gotta pick your battles.

 

[Scott Hanna]

Sometimes $600 is a good price to pay for peace and quiet.

 

[So Cal Hugh]

Rarely do I get to witness a debate where I agree with both sides.

Thanks Gentlemen!