Due to bad weather and road closings in our neighborhood the Halloween trick or treat holiday was postponed to this past Friday.

My younger son had decided to trick or treat in a townhouse community near our home instead of our neighborhood, not wear a costume. He told me he didn’t want to trick or treat in our neighborhood because the houses are too far apart and there were not enough houses to go to. He was going as himself.

He also told me some people might think the Halloween celebration was last week and if he wore a costume they might not answer the door. If they saw a boy without a costume ring their doorbell they would be more likely to answer the door when they looked through the door window.

When we arrived at the town house community we found that many houses were dark, no one answered the door at some of homes even those that were lighted. In other cases people came to the door and were eager to see the children trick or treating.

On the way home after three or so hours of trick or treating, I asked Adam if he had fun even though there weren’t many people home. He said he had fun, it didn’t matter how many people were not home or answered the door, because there were many that were home and gave out candy.

 

There are 7 Prospecting & Sales Lessons to learn from Adam’s Halloween experience.

1.     You need to have a large suspect pool to call on. (People or Companies that could possibly use your product or service).

2.     When you prospect go as YOU; don’t wear a sales person costume.

3.     Not everyone is going to be there when you call.

4.     Some people will be there and not answer the door or take your call.

5.     It doesn’t matter how people are not there or won’t talk with you.

6.     There are plenty of people out there that will talk with you; you just have to put in the time.

7.     If you are going to do it, HAVE FUN.

On Monday I attended an inbound marketing conference in Boston. The first session started at 8:15am. Our lunch break started at 12:30. As I came out of the meeting room looking forward to the lunch break I was met by a salesperson who had up until that time attended to her trade show booth.

As soon as she saw me, she swooped down on me and started her pitch.  She was just like a bird of prey after its' next meal. People were coming out of the room behind me; she was standing in front of me as I attempted to go to the buffet.

As I moved toward the buffet table she continued to walk and talk, block and mentally tackle. She finally had to stop or she would have been pinned between the buffet table and another exhibit table.

I don't have any idea what she was saying and quite frankly I did not care. All I could make out was her mouth was moving and noise coming out.  I believe she had said something that had to do with a Bow and Math. I wanted to have lunch and she did not care.

The Top Performing Salesperson might have attempted to join us for lunch, made an attempt to establish a relationship, and been more strategic. The Top Performer might have said, "Am I getting you at a bad time?" Or possibly, "After lunch come visit me at my booth. I may have something you might be able to use to grow your business."

Hey lady, just because it was important to you, why do you think it was important to me? Get out of my face! Do you know what common courtesy is? You were so interested in what you wanted to sell you didn't give two hoots about me or my agenda. GRRRRR!!!

Here is your chance to tell the world what you hate about unprofessional salespeople.  Register your complaint now in the comments section to the right and we will post them on the web.