Yesterday, I picked up this voicemail left for me on July 4th.  The caller is trying to sell BzzAgent on his firm’s collection services (listen closely to his name dropping and you’ll hear him say ‘Bill Clinton’ as he trails off; Bill, I’m sure, is happy to be serving as a reference).

I have no interest in their services, but why let a great opportunity go to waste?  I sent this to our sales staff – because the guy pretty much writes the book on how NOT to sell people.  Here’s a quick list of the easy-to-catch mistakes:

1. He calls on July 4th, a day when all he can do is leave voicemail.
2. He actually leaves a voicemail.  Any salesperson worth their salt knows you never leave a voicemail (you can’t call back if it’s someone you know; and if it’s someone you don’t, you just pre-screened yourself)
3. He’s reading from a script (obviously)…
4. And he’s speedreading (which makes it clear I’m just ‘on the list’)
5. He sounds as if he’d rather be out lighting sparklers somewhere (personality and being a ‘real person’ is critical for a rep to start a relationship)
6. He name drops one of my venture investors without approval (that means he’s lowered my trust bar)
7. He doesn’t leave a website (in case I wanted to check them out) and my spam filter will likely catch his email
8. He is calling the wrong person.  I agree you should always start at the top, but CEOs at our stage of company will just delete this voicemail.  He should call the top of the finance department.

For those of you in sales, it’s worth giving a listen and picking up some pointers.  If you’re the guy who left the voicemail, thank you for helping educate my staff – and I hope you find a gig you really enjoy someday.

Want to know why $1.3 billion was spent on WOM initiatives in 2007?

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