Message left at 10 a.m.
"Hello, this is Eileen Kent and I’m in town today. My understanding is that you’re responsible for continuity of operations. I was hoping to touch base with you or even visit with you personally regarding our special emergency service to help you set up your office in the event of a sudden need for furniture. Since I am on a limited time schedule, I’ll only take a few minutes of your time today. My number is 312-636-5381..."
Call back at 10:30 a.m.
"Hello Eileen. I am responsible for emergency office situations. I understand you’re in town today. I can’t meet this morning, but I do have a 3:30 p.m. opening. I only have a few minutes because I’m leaving the office at 4 p.m. See me in room 300."
I bet you don’t believe me that this strategy works...but it works at a higher percentage than the typical, "Hello, this is Eileen Kent and I’ll be in town next week. I was hoping you could set some time aside to visit with me..."
You know they’ll push it off until the next visit.
As the national sales manager for a company, I have been responsible for traveling to our seven key distribution areas and I had to become very close with the key contacts in those areas. While it is always a good idea to set appointments ahead of time, there is nothing like being in the field and dropping in on perspective clients.
I found that as I called on people in the field, they were more and more open to meeting with me rather than the area executives. The appointments with the local executives were always easier to "blow off" because the client knew they could easily reschedule, but if a "national executive" was coming to see them, they’ll even change their schedule to accommodate you.
So what if you’re the only person in your company in sales and you’re responsible for every market and every territory. Create a business card specifically for the government and create a position that shows commitment to the government:
- "GSA Project Manager"
- "Government Account Executive"
- "National Government Sales"
- "National Government Customer Service Director"
- "GSA Specialist"
If you feel this is a little aggressive for your taste, then try this approach:
"Hello, this is _________, and I’m new to selling to the government. This is my first time in this territory and I was hoping you could point me in the right direction. I’m in town only for the next couple of days and will be in your building tomorrow meeting with another agency. If you’re not the person, could you please get me in touch with the person who makes decisions about my product /service? If so, then I could have a simple preliminary information meeting with them tomorrow. Please call me back by 2 p.m. today because my appointment schedule is filling up."
If they don’t call you by 2 p.m. call them again and if you’re in their building the following day, go visit them. They’ll not only see you, they’ll apologize to you for not calling you back. The government executive is there to help you so don’t be intimidated by them. They are friendly people willing to at least point you in the proper direction.
If they tell you that you’ve been "too persistent" then you can easily disarm them by saying, "I’m sorry, I’m new to selling to the government and I’m still learning. Could you please explain what your proper protocol is at your agency so that I can handle this better next time?"
Of course they’ll tell you that you’ve been too pushy...apologize...and tell them you’re just doing your job. If they’re not the right person you should be seeing, who is? Tell them they’ve been especially helpful and offer that you’ll write a thank you note to their boss. That’ll get them on your team in a moment’s notice!
Remember, they’re humans who need respect and recognition. If you can convey that along with a little urgency, they’ll see you right away.
