Dumbest Sales Questions Ever Asked and Other Sales Mistakes by Victor Antonio

On LinkedIn I asked the question, "What is dumbest question you've ever been asked or heard ask to a prospect?" The BEST Dumbest Question would win a free DVD of my award winning documentary film, "The Motivator". The responses received were insightful, sad and some downright funny! The WINNER is posted at the bottom! (Note: Some submissions have been edited or deleted as to not offend.)

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Mindbender

Salesrep: "If I could offer you a price you couldn't refuse, would you?" Posted by Jim Stringer

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A Real Fan

Salesperson during a sales presentation to me, answers his sell phone and says " This will just take a second, give me the Bears and six and I'm a player", hangs up and then starts right back into his presentation with " So are you a Bears fan?. No sale, no gain, he got thrown for a loss. Posted by Bob Swartz

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Redial Can Cost You a Sale

I did a call back to the decision maker of a huge company I did a bid for. I was asking if they had made a decision yet. He (the decision maker) was a kid who thought he was the s***. He got pushy and arrogant with me. So I thanked him and said I would be expecting an answer in a few days. Then I hung up and dialed my boss. As soon as I heard "hello" I went into a rant about how much of a punk this kid was and that I couldn't believe he made it that far. (of course I was using a lot of insults and F bombs while delivering the insults. All of a sudden the phone hung up. When I looked at my, I noticed I had hit redial instead of my bosses number. Worst part was, I think we would have won the bid if wouldn't have done the FUBAR. Posted by Jim Stringer

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Cultural Insensitivity

I was training a co-worker on the phone once, and the prospects name was very difficult to say, instead of my co-worker trying to say the name, he asked if it would be ok to just call him Dave. The foreign prospect wasn't impressed, my co-worker said well if you had a NORMAL name I could just call you that. Of course the prospect hung up, and I was at awe that he would even say that...of course, a few hours later when I got on the phone, I called the prospect back and got the sale. DUH... Posted by Tracy Thibeau

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Ring, Ring...Blub, Blub

I was in a closing presentation in Florida with a coworker who had begged to attend the meeting as a learning experience. During the meeting, her phone rang in her purse. Instead of being embarassed she took out the phone, looked at it and said "I'm sorry I need to get this, its my husband." I grabbed the phone, turned it off, and threw it under the table. The CEO and CFO started clapping. Posted by Becky Guillory

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Honesty isn't always the best policy in Sales

A rep is in a presentation with a potentially huge account. He says "You'll have to excuse me for being nervous. I have never tried to sell such a big account before." Posted by Jim Stringer

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Tele-idiot

Dumbest conversation I had with a tele sales guy - He: "I am sure your company needs to outsource tele sales. My answer: Sir, we don't believe in Cold Calling Effectiveness - He: I don't talk with gatekeeper - please put me through to your manager. I was ROFL - poor guy. Posted by Marita

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Never ask for permission

Is it stealing if we make copies of the software without your company's knowledge? My response: Only if you get caught. Posted by John Parikh

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You want clean water don't you? Posted by Damien Malone

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Victor's Personal Favorites

After finishing with a sales presentation, "What do you think?"
Opening sales question, "So, what keeps you up at night?"
Priming them to say NO, "Whether you buy or not is OK, does that sound fair?"
Follow-up; asking for permission, "Can I call back in a week?"
Follow-up opening line, "Do you remember our conversation a month ago?"
Visiting, "I just happen to be in the area, can I stop by?" (this one is dumb because it's overused)
Presentation, "We have a lot of products, where would you like me to start?"
Posted by Victor Antonio

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Preparedness meets Opportunity

Dumbest question? Too many unprepared reps ask, "Tell me about your company?" Why not do some research before going in. Posted by Paul Kirch, PRC

Freudian Slip

I made the mistake once of calling a woman, sir, and she yelled back at me "ma'am"...I felt like crawling under a rock. Posted by Mark Secko

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The Dialogue of Dumb

It goes down like this.
Salesrep: "If I could... would you?"
Prospect: NO.
Salesrep: (bubble over head says daah, now what?) O.K. "So how low do I have to go?"
Prospect: HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?"
Salesrep: (AAAHHHH NOW WHAT?) O.K. "How does ... sound?"
Prospect: SOUNDS HIGH. WHAT WAS THIS OFFER I COULDN"T REFUSE?"

On and on until the salesrep offers up every penny of profit he/she has and still doesn't close. Posted by Jim Stringer

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Master of the Obvious

Salesperson ask what my name was when I was wearing a sizeable name tag. Posted by Laura Lynn Burke, EA

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Was it Good for You

A rep who didn't last long pulled in half a dozen colleagues for a major presentation for a prospect--PMs, vendor managers, VPs, the works. We all did our thing, and at the end, the rep said to the client--"Wow, I really learned alot today!" <cringe> Posted by Tina Wuelfing Cargile, PMP

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Ooops

My sales rep asked a overweight lady "So, when are you due?" Customer " I"M NOT PREGNANT! " Posted by Jim Stringer

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Get a clue

Salesrep: "Why are you asking me to leave?" Posted by Jim Stringer

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Can't Take a Hint

I once had a sales person I was managing place a cold call via the phone. When she started her pitch, the client hung up on her. My cute, fresh out of college sales rep promptly picked up the phone, called her back and said "I'm sorry, we must have accidentally been disconnected." The customer stated-No I meant to and hung up again! Posted by Sara Allred

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Politically Correct Answer

The dumbest ? is the one never asked! Posted by Al Timm, RFC, LUTCF, CITRMS

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The Boiler Room

Oh and I actually has a rep ask me once (straight from Boiler Room), "Are you happy or are you married??" Can you imagine?
Posted by Sara Allred

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Return to Sender

Jim's story reminded me of a time when I thought I was forwarding a resume to my business partner and made some comments about it....not flattering and I had actually his reply, not forward. Embarrassing to say the least! Posted by Betsy Rodgers Smith

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Abe Lincoln Approach

I have heard a few reps say "Trust Me on This." Which implies you shouldn't trust him on other things. Posted by Michael Bovasso

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Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

When I was married, I had a female sales rep ask me at the end of a sales call... "How many years have you been married?" When I answered six years, she replied..."How many happy?" Too funny not to mention unprofessional! Posted by Tom Mangini

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Huh!?

I have also heard when asked by a customer their to quote them a rate an interest rate "Sure...Do you want a
High one or a Low one"? Posted by Michael Bovasso

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Mr. Doom and Gloom

The worst I get are from Life insurance reps. I had one ask me, "Won't you feel bad if you leave your loved ones with expenses?"
Response: I usually tell them I will be dead if I feel anything that would be a good thing. Most of the time they aren't smart enough to get the joke. Posted by Kevin Waldvogel

Asking for More

The other one I get often from financial reps when I ask them if they can guarantee me a rate of return higher than what I am losing with my mortgage rate. There response is, "Why would you want this?" I think the answer is fairly obvious but maybe I am just difficult. Posted by Kevin Waldvogel

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Forgot to Ask = Dumb

Dumbest question never asked? Young upstart organizes a meeting over the phone with a top priority target client: Agenda? Check. Date? Check. Time? Check. "Great. I look forward to seeing you then." Puts the phone down. Click. Ego swells as he thinks 'It's not so hard to impress these big name companies.' Goes to e-mail the calendar invitation and wonders 'Where will this meeting be held...???' Ego deflates rapidly. Spends the next month chasing up the client and learns a valuable lesson. Posted by David Bryant

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Uhh...Yes,...I guess?!

Nah, it never occurred to me! The opposite of phrasing this as a statement in closing isn't near as bad but this just kills me every time I hear it. Posted by Mark Williams, OLM

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Pick One

I was out with one of my reps when I owned a printing company and he asked, "Of the three, price, service, and quality, which is most important to you?" I wanted to strangle him. But, I guess he didn't like the answer because four minutes later...he asked the exact same question again! He was too far away to kick but we sure had a very pointed discussion in the parking lot--even though he did not remember asking the question either time. Posted by Jeffrey Bowe

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TEXTiquette

Not a question but a situation with a prospective sales person who I was interviewing. About 2/3 the way through the interview I see him pull out his phone and text someone. When I ask who he was texting he said his wife was outside and he wanted to let her know that he would be done in about 10 minutes. I said NO...we are done Right now. WHY DON'T YOU TEXT HER THAT MESSAGE! Interview over!!!! Posted by Tom Richter

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Jason the Salesman, Friday the 13th

I actually had an insurance sales guy tell me that it's good to be with insurance if a maniac slaughters my family. Needless to say the conversation went downhill from there. Posted by Tony Halvarsson

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Assumptive Close Gone Wrong

"I assume that you must have heard of us" Posted by Stuart Theobald

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Meaningful Question

To a IT Manager in a struggling company, "Will price be a factor in your decision?" Posted by Michael Kerman

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"So, have I got the order?" On the first visit! Posted by Neil Williams

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Overload + Overconfidence = No Sale

In an attempt to partner with a French company on a huge training program, I was invited for a mutual presentation.
The French prepared a 100+ slides PowerPoint presentation on why and how working together.
At the end of it I experienced what I consider as one of the most stupid questions ever: "So, when do you think we can start?" There had been no room for previous dialog and I got totally bored by the length of their presentation.

Another of those dumbest questions is " No questions anymore?" specially if you pay attention to the tone and intonation the person is using. It becomes obvious that the person is trying to avoid interaction. It is often everything but an invitation to open a debate. Posted by Olivier Marsily

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Politically Correct...Again!

"The DUMBEST thing is not asking questions (preferably "yes" questions) and talking too much!" Reply George Dubec

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We work with many sales professionals, all with different levels of talent and experience. On more than one occasion, during cold call observation and coaching sessions, I have heard this exchange (mostly from untrained rookies who don't know any better)......

Prospect: "No, we're all set."
Sales Rep: "Are you sure?"

That's what we call a "coachable moment." So.....what kind of response were you hoping to get when you asked THAT question?

Posted by Kevin Donahue

"Is it OK I bring my manager?" (I was standing next to him in the reception).

"Can you afford to pay xxx Euros?"

"I you don't choose my proposal, will you call me and tell me why?"

"Can I assume you would like to make more money?" Posted by Frank Willemoes

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Chandramoorthy was chosen for Quality of Dumb Questions Asked and Volume with 4 Submissions. Here they are:

To my fellow salespeople who submitted but didn't win,...don't get mad. Dang you salespeople are so competitive. Instead of a DVD, you can see the movie below for free. All kidding aside, thanks for taking the time to have some fun with this question. For some of you I could tell it was cathartic to tell your story...I hope you feel better ;-)

While you're here, check out this Award Winning

Documentary film, "The Motivator"

Sales Trainer, Author & Speaker