Being upset with this news, he called the decision maker to see if he
had a real chance at landing the account. This individual said, “Why do you
ask?” Now, Anthony was trapped. He either had to say he doubted the sin-
cerity of their intentions or that someone in the company had tipped him
off. He chose to say the latter. This angered the other party, and he told
him not to even bother because he would look elsewhere. Anthony had hit
his tee ball into the water.
If Anthony had been focused on positive intentionality in this situation
rather than on the negative emotion of being used, he would have created
an entirely different path of conduct. With intentionality, Anthony would
have been happy to take advantage of the face time before the client to im-
press him with the sheer emotional force of his personality. Lacking such
confidence and intentionality led him to become defensive and send the
interaction down the wrong path. Fortunately, Anthony’s boss understood
this particular emotional dynamic and helped him to recover.
Anthony went to his sales manager and told him his mistake. His man-
ager advised him to allow this gentleman time to cool off and to then show
up personally, offer his apologies, and reaffirm how much he wanted to do
business with him. He assured Anthony that this fellow would appreciate
such a good demonstration of character.
Anthony followed through and received a second chance to offer a
proposal. As he expected, he didn’t get the business. But a year or so later,
when some problems developed with the current vendor, Anthony was the
first to get a call and eventually landed the account.
Many sales professionals would have reacted differently than in the man-
ner prescribed by Anthony’s sales manager. Many would have become dis-
couraged with this misstep, beaten themselves up, and written off all
possibility of redemption. Others would have told themselves that it really
didn’t matter anyway and moved on. Both reactions would be like taking a
double bogey regarding the account in play.
Mistakes are as much a part of the game in sales as they are in golf. Just
as you must pay close attention to your grip, posture, and approach in golf,
you must do the same with all prospects. Inevitably you will hit some bad
ones. Make sure you have a game plan for making par when:
•You say the wrong thing to a prospect.
•You miss a time line or deadline.
•Your product or service fails to perform as promised.
•You fail to consult a key person in the decision chain.
•You must deliver news of rising costs.132 SELLING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE