Making
Promises You Can’t Keep
“He that
promises too much means nothing.”
- Thomas Fuller, M.D. Gnomologia
(1732)
All sorts of
promises
are made to customer at the end of the sales quarter or when
individual target numbers are seemingly
impossible to reach. Some of these promises can be awfully damaging
to a salesperson’s career:
Salesperson: “The
pricing has been adjusted based on our last conversation and,
as you can see in the proposal,
we’ve modified the quantity as well.”
Customer: “This looks great. I think we can do
this today… so long as you can have all of the product delivered
and installed by the end of this month. Can you do that?”
Salesperson: “Consider it done.”
Later, in the office…
Salesperson: “I just confirmed the sale
of two hundred units of the Airfiltrator 2500 with Senterior.”
Installation Manager: “Congratulations! That’s
a big order.”
Salesperson:
“You bet it is. There’s only one thing. I promised the client
we would have all two hundred units installed by the end of this
month.”
Installation Manager: “You did what? That’s
impossible. We already have four installations taking place
throughout the rest of this month, one of them to Deltacorp, our
largest customer. My staff is already working overtime to try to
meet the aggressive schedule
and I’m not sure we’ll get those installed in time.”
Salesperson: “But, you have to!? I promised my
customer they would be installed.”
Installation Manager: “I don’t have to do
anything. It is physically impossible for the team to get them
installed this month. You’ll just have to tell
your customer.”
Yikes! That’s
a terrible situation to be in. How did it happen? The main issue
that one can point to is that the sales professional was too anxious
to make the sale and ended up making
a promise he couldn’t keep. That’s a tough situation – one that
can damage or even ruin a customer relationship. Imagine what that
phone call will be like. Will the customer
be happy? Why not? Well, there’s a word that some people use
for those who make promises they can’t keep. Liars.
The
salesperson could have easily avoided the situation by being aware
what was truly
possible and not possible. In the rush to have
a sales order signed in time, the sales person reacted hastily
without checking first with the installation manager. A simple call
could’ve avoided a great deal of misunderstanding and future conflict.
We always warn
people to not make promises they can’t keep. If you don’t know whether
a promise can be kept or know there isn’t a way to keep it, don’t
make it. Pushing the potential
conflict until a later date in the hopes that everything can
be smoothed out is an unwise idea. It may win you some short-term
sales but will hurt you in the long run. A
customer may even let you get away with it once but don’t bank
on it.
Perhaps, the better way to have approached
the situation was as follows:
Salesperson: “The pricing has been adjusted
based on our last conversation and, as you can see in the proposal,
we’ve modified the quantity as well.”
Customer: “This looks great. I think we can do
this today… so long as you can have all of the product delivered
and installed by the end of this month. Can you do that?”
Salesperson: “I checked with our installation manager
earlier this morning and the earliest I can have all two hundred
units installed is by the middle of next month. We’ll have the
crew out to get them up and running by the 15th.”
Customer: “I see. I really would prefer them sooner.”
Salesperson: “I understand. I could promise them
by the end of this month to have you sign our contract but we would
end up not meeting the schedule and would fail in our promise to
you. I would rather be straightforward
with you and set a deadline we can meet and that will be acceptable
to you.”
Customer: “I appreciate that. I’d rather have it
done right and not rushed. I believe we have a deal.”
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