Carpe deal

At a recent sales training workshop, I watched two participants interacting.

One of them sold promotional products (“Jack”) and the other taught yoga and lifestyle wellness (“Alice”).

When Alice expressed interest in his products, Jack began blathering on about his business. He handed Alice a brochure and—15 minutes later—a full catalogue of his products.

At the end of the conversation, Alice said, “Give me a call sometime.” Jack said, “Sure,” and struck up a conversation with another person sitting at his table.

Inwardly, I groaned. Can you guess why?

Not only had Jack failed to ask Alice a single question about her business or how she might use his promotional products, he also missed a golden opportunity to immediately schedule a day and time for that follow-up conversation.