Don’t Hide the Purpose for the Call
we’re conducting some marketing research …
… and then later in the call, they inform the person about their “offer,” or that they’d like a salesperson to visit.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying surveys and marketing research do not have a useful function–they do. Just don’t mask a lead generation or sales call as something that it’s not. After all, if a company must use less-than-upfront tactics to get you to buy, wouldn’t it justifiably make someone leery about its product and character?
OK, so what is the suggested alternative?
It’s no different than what I always suggest:
Have a good opening, generate interest, ask questions, make a recommendation, then ask for commitment.
For example, the golf club salesperson could have said,
“Art, the reason for the call is that we have introduced a line
