Two true stories that make a point…
Story#1
Last week, a media property I work with was being pitched a service from a major web company — a company you’ve probably used today. We were fairly sure we wanted the service even before the pitch. We just had a few questions. During the presentation, the WebEx went a little screwy and we couldn’t see the guy’s Powerpoint. No big deal for us as our questions had been answered on the call. We were ready to sign a contract.
But the guy didn’t want us to sign a contract. He wanted to show us a Powerpoint. In fact, he said he needed to FedEx the printout of the slides before he sent us the contract. Nothing striking on those slides — just a bunch of screenshots.
Story#2
My wife is working on a project for the Commonwealth (come experience our unbridled whatever). A part of this project involved a two-day training session earlier this month. But because of a snowstorm, she as unable to make it to the training that was 2.5 hours away. No problem. Someone from the state was in town last week and she went over everything that my wife needed to know in about an hour. In other words, two-days condensed down to an hour.
The Point
A part of these two stories can be attributed to the fact that most organizations are in love with unnecessary meetings and powerpoints. But the bigger point is something you’ve probably noticed in individuals already. People love to hear themselves talk. And they love it even more when it’s formalized in a ppt file or a meeting that can be stretched for a few days.
And it’s even worse when it comes to marketing. From the local car dealer and mattress salesman who throw away ad dollars just for ego-inflation to the CEO who’s convinced he’s the only one that can talk to the consumer, people see the MESSAGE of the marketing rather than the RESULTS.
Just because you see motion doesn’t mean something is moving.
Read this post a few days after listening to a salesman drone on for 90+ minutes on a WebEx call, refusing to be derailed from his list of talking points and ignoring our specific questions. As it happens, we may actually buy his product, but his pitch was so annoying he almost drove us away from it with that presentation alone.
So I say, Right On.
Oh man, does this ever resonate with me. Just today, I had a guy talk himself out of a sale.
He set up the appointment last week, which gave me plenty of time to research his product online, figure out who else was using it, email them and get good, candid feedback on it. I felt pretty comfortable.
I had a few questions for the guy, when he launched into his Livemeeting presentation, starting with my pet peeve, the NASCAR slide (you know, the one that has all the logos of their customers so you can swoon over their installed base).
I interrupted him and told him he didn’t need to do the whole corporate overview, that I had exactly two questions and then was ready to sign up.
He said, and I’ll remember this until the last day of my career, “I’ll get to that at the end.”
Guess what?
That was the end.