A Lesson in Sales for Banks – Education Works Wonders

Posted by Stewart Rose on Wed, March 2, 2011

This story goes back to the mid 90’s but I will never forget it. It was a Saturday morning and I was standing in the kitchen when the phone rang. (This was before the “do not call” lists that we have today.) My young daughter answered and said, “Daddy, it’s for you.” As she handed me the phone, a pleasant sounding woman on the other end said, “Hi, I’m from MCI, and I’m calling to explain how our long distance service can save you money.” Now flash back to the time that MCI was making inroads into the long distance business that had been dominated by AT&T by offering lower long distance rates. I had always been with AT&T. In my mind, they were the standard and I was not interested in saving a few cents per minute for what I assumed was an inferior service.

Having been in sales as a cold calling stockbroker early in my career, I tried to be polite in my response, but I also wanted to be direct. I responded, “For the past two years I have seen your advertising, I have had countless direct mail pieces show up in my mailbox, and I am really not interested, but thank you for the call.” As a sales person knowing what you’re up against in cold calling, I was absolutely floored when I heard her response. She said, “You’re just the person I want to talk to?” How could I be just the person she wants to talk to when I said, “No thanks”? She continued without hesitation, “Most people don’t understand one key fact about long distance service; all carriers use the same transmission lines.” I responded immediately, “You mean to say that MCI uses the exact same lines that AT&T uses?” “Yes”, was her answer. “Then why the difference in price?”, I said. “That’s just my point”, was her reply.

Over the next fifteen minutes, I switched over both of my phone lines from AT&T to MCI. It was the best sale I had ever experienced. When I thought back on it, I realized that it was all because she educated me on one important fact, pure and simple.

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March 2, 2011 | Filed Under banks, informational content, marketing, product marketing, sales culture