I can’t stress enough when a salesperson refers to my blog or my experience when on a sales call with me. In an instant, it shows the salesperson has done their homework, cared enough to remember something I said or I did, and easily makes that person stand out in the crowd.
I don’t blog simply for fun, although I find it fun. I do it because I find I’m often making presentations or speaking to an intimate audience about industry trends and felt like it might have some value if I allowed the masses in on it. Often I’m called upon to write articles for industry publications and the ongoing blog leaves me no shortage of topics with which to use. But most valuable, perhaps, is that it allows my clients and suppliers alike to get to know me even better, even if we don’t have the benefit of a constant face to face meeting.
Doing your homework doesn’t just mean reading my blog. It’s important for suppliers to read industry news and to do research on their customers before doing calls. It’s critical to research where meeting planners are holding their meetings before making the call to ask. Almost all of this information is available on line. Or how about checking first to see what business you have already done with the planner. I think one of the more embarrassing scenarios I come across rather regularly is when a hotel calls to solicit business from me not realizing I have a group checking into that hotel one week later. A simple check of their systems would have easily caught this. Now their eager solicitation call has resulted in shaking my confidence that this hotel can perform for my group! Oh no!
With the unfathomable quantity of information that’s out there, there’s no excuse to put in the brief time it would take to both appear highly knowledgeable and avoid unnecessary lapses.