While I often share prospecting stories or stories on closing a sale this week it’s about an install after the sale.
The Sale is Won
A church from my territory in Southern Indiana had ordered a small desktop copier. I had made arrangements for delivery with one of the church members. The church was small and did not have a full-time staff. I was meeting someone there after work.
The company I worked for didn’t send a delivery truck for desktop machines. The sales reps usually delivered them on their own.
I was not strong or used to carrying heavy things. I wasn’t going to say no to a sale. The machine was not only heavy, but awkward to carry.
The guys in the office had said “when you get there just ask them to help you carry it in.”
Setting the Scene
When I arrived there was one car in the parking lot. A lady got out. She was small and petite. Her hair was shoulder length and graying. When she started to speak I could barely hear her words. I could hear the hoarseness in her voice. She explained how she had been under the weather. She hadn’t felt well the last couple of days. But, she was the only one available that evening to meet me.
I smiled and said “Show me where you would like to put it.”
She pulled out a key ring with lots of keys, and held them in her hand as she pointed toward a set of concrete steps. I walked closer and looked down. There I found a long set of rickety concrete block steps leading straight down to a concrete pad in front of a wooden basement door.
She made her way down the steps and I started back to the car. I was thinking the whole way “Oh wow, and I can’t ask her for help.
The Fall
I scooped the machine up from the back seat of my car. It was hard just to get it out, and stand up. I walked slow as it was difficult to watch where I was walking. When I reached the steps I turned sideways so I could see.
I put one foot and then the other. But, on about the third step it all went bad. The machine started to slip, and out of my hands it went. It tumbled end over end and hit solid on the bottom.
I hurried to it, and again scooped it up. The lady was inside. She didn’t say a word and if she had heard the ruckus of metal and plastic scraping and bumping the concrete she never let on. The only explanation I have is her ears must have been stopped up from her head cold. I went straight to where she was standing to show me where it would go.
Pick it Up and Carry On
My heart was beating fast. I put it up on the wooden work counter and plugged the power cord into the wall. She handed me a piece of paper to test. I turned the copier on and waited for the machine to warm up. In those days copiers took a few minutes.
It seemed like hours. I put it on the glass and pushed start. Finally I saw the light flash across as it scanned from one side to the other. The machine was working as I heard the paper pull from the paper feeding tray. I had been praying a consistent silent prayer.
Bingo, a perfect copy came out in the exit tray. I handed it to her. She said that looks great. She handed me a check and we turned out the one light.
We walked together up the steps and to our cars.
The Wait
It was a small relief the copy had come out, but I knew I would have to face the facts in the morning and confess what had happened so the machine would be replaced.
There was not a lot of sleep happening at my house that night. My stomach had that familiar sick feeling.
The next morning I made sure to be the first in the office. My boss usually got there before any one else. I wanted to confess first thing and before anyone else arrived.
I heard him come in to his office across the showroom floor from the sales office. He was humming a tune. He was usually in a good mood. Especially in the morning. I walked to his door. He still had his suit coat over his arm.
I said “I have something to tell you. I’ve worried about it all night. I dropped the copier at the church last night. It still worked, but it looks crooked.”
I’ll never forget he just said “Things like that happen sometimes. I’ll get the guys to check it out.”
I said. ”It’s bad. It rolled down concrete steps.”
He said ”We can replace it.”
I said ”You can take it out of my commission the next few months.”
The machine had cost more than a months salary.
He just said ”That won’t be necessary”
I don’t think he ever mentioned it to me directly again. On occasion everyone in the office would have a laugh in about the machine in the back that never made another copy.
You see after the machine was clam shelled open it was so warped it wouldn’t close and copies couldn’t be processed. I think the continual prayer is all that made that first and only copy process. It was for sure a bad evening.
The Take-Away
Here is the take-away for those in sales. You will make mistakes. Mistakes that are on occasion expensive. In this case even $1000’s of dollars. I wanted to cry when I dropped the machine. I had to remain calm and move through a process to keep this situation under control.
