• June 22, 2013
  • Mark LaCour
  • 0

An interview with an oil & gas manager on why he responds to some cold calls and not others. Some great info to help you improve your sales efforts.

 

Transcript of Session –

Mark:                          Hey. Let’s learn something new about the oil and gas industry.

[Music]

Okay. First thing. I apologize for the audio that’s on this program. We recorded this live in a restaurant and it was very loud and I thought I could get the background noise out post-production, but I couldn’t remove it completely. But the information is so valuable I thought I’d go ahead and publish this even if the audio isn’t perfect.

Today, we’re going to talk to a mid-level manager at El Paso and he gets cold called about twenty five or thirty times a day. You will get to understand why he chooses to respond to some and totally ignored other cold calls. And you also get to understand from his point of view why he chooses to go further with the sales person in the next steps of the sales process. So, enjoy.

Lenny:                         For me, if it caught my attention if it’s something that I thought it can fulfill a need, something that can support what I was doing and the group that I was managing, then I would respond.

So, if you could come to me having an idea of what I do, at least have some history and a background on my group and things that I may need that would interest me more and present a better opportunity for you to sell.

Mark:                          So, the sales people that did their research and understood what you did maybe even understand what are the issues you have to deal with, they higher chance of response to their phone calls?

Lenny:                         Yes, definitely, definitely. If they have a background, if they — however they get it, a lot of people I don’t even know how they got my name, but if they understood what my group did and have some history or some knowledge, yes, then, I will most definitely entertain that.

Now, a lot of times they were fishing and just cold calling pretending to know what I did and you can tell that they didn’t.

Mark:                          So, if – what about if a vendor came to you and not only did the research and understood what your group did, but actually identify the problem that you didn’t even know you had, would that arouse your interest?

Lenny:                         Oh, yes, yes, that would as well.

Mark:                          So the guys that cold called you that you ended up interacted with that ended up actually solving the problems that you have, when you think about those guys what’s one trait they have in common?

Lenny:                         Well, one, you know, I would say that they approach me in a way where it didn’t seem like a sales pitch. Okay? It’s more of sharing information and I think that was just the best approach because right away I knew that I had control.

Sometimes with salesmen, you don’t feel like you have control of the conversation.

Mark:                          So, the whole sales pitch thing, if the guy comes across that’s too salesy, that just immediately bring walls up?

Lenny:                         Definitely. Yes, yes. I mean that’s just like someone knocking on your door, you don’t care what they’re selling, you’re just not interested.

Mark:                          So, in oil and gas world at your level if somebody wants to do business, they really need to understand how to be a partner with you, they need to understand what you do, what your issues are, maybe even understand the potential problems that you don’t have or what they can’t do [0:03:08][Indiscernible]?

Lenny:                         Exactly. I think first and foremost, building relationship helps. Before you even try to, you know, present something to sell, develop your relationship with me. That relationship you have a personal relationship with the person, then you build up a trust and then you start to see the value that they bring.

Mark:                          Lenny, thank you very much for your time.

Lenny:                         Okay. Thank you.

[Music]