A friend who sold ball bearings told me the following:
He was visiting clients and decided to ‘cold’ called on the Purchasing Manager of a large organisation, as he was aware their Account could mean millions in sales to his Company.
The Manager was very busy but would see him a couple of minutes. He arrived and listened to my friend for two minutes, took his pamphlets and asked him to get a packet of 75mm s/s counter-sunk screws. Then walked back into his office.
My friend?s firstreaction was the call was a waste of time and screws had nothing to do with ball bearings and decided to cross him off his list at this time.
After second thoughts, he went to the local hardware store and purchased a packet of screws and returned to the Manager’s office. When the Receptionist saw my friend with the screws and showed him into the Manager?s office, where my friend handed over the screws.
That action was the start of a long & successful business relationship. Apparently the Manager?s main problem was SERVICE and he used the ?screw? exercise to determine the commitment individual sales people had to client service. My friend was the first salesman to pass the test.
My friend discovered that the majority of suppliers had no idea how important service was to the Manager?s company when their equipment broke down. He said that breakdowns normally happened at the most inconvenient time such as 1.00am in the morning. He wanted a supplier who would get out of bedTHEN and get the parts to him as soon as possible, for time was money.
My friend?s point was, no matter what you’re selling, commitment to SERVICE will ALWAYS get you the business.