The "Milker"

There are clients/customers/potential customers who just "milk" sales reps for freebies and attention. They want a number of things but to buy from you they don't want to do. Yet they won't ever tell you! Certain training seminars identify these people as the "Amiable Type". Really? By amiable they don't want to upset you by saying "no". They'd rather string you along and keep you thinking they're gonna buy something from you because they don't want to hurt your feelings.

That's Amiable? More like asinine. I hate this type of customer.

They contact you for a number of reasons:

1.)They're hungry - "You know I've been considering your proposal and I figure let's have lunch and discuss it some more."

2.)Their staff is hungry - "I think my staff needs a demonstration of your products. When can you come by and do an in service with lunch? They loved the salad you brought last time."

3.)They're lonely - "I was wondering if you could come by today, do you have anything planned because my schedule is free."

4.)Their staff is lonely - "One of my staff just broke up with their girlfriend/boyfriend, why don't you come by I'd like you to meet him/her."

5.)They're confused or just stupid - "I understand that your product's better and it's cheaper, but I just don't know if I wanna make that change. It's a big commitment."

6.)They just want to ogle you (that pertains more to female reps than male ones)- "Is that a new outfit? It looks great on you. Did you get your hair cut?"

7.)They want to use you to get their current supplier to lower price, provide better service, etc. - "Is that really the best you can do on the price. Because _________ company is offering their product for a much cheaper price. What can you do for me?"

I can't even count how many presentations I've done for people who literally have no intention of buying anything from me and don't want to tell me. To me it's unethical for them to do this, but they're taught it makes them good business people to "work over" reps. This is a common business practice especially amongst Purchasing Agents, Supply Chain Managers, and Small Business Owners. The person who came up with this concept of "using" representatives should be forced to experienced the same frustration which reps suffer. This practice is disrespectful and just plain wrong. I once had a purchasing manager tell me that my price was still too high when I could read the proposal from my competitor that the idiot had left sitting on his desk. I could see we were beating their price by 15%. He said, "Are we gonna continue to play this little game? Just come down on the price and the business is yours."

My response, "No we're not going to continue to play this game. That's my price, it's a fair price and thank you for your time. We'll be in touch. I appreciated your time today." He called a week later and said the other company's offer was too good. I'm sure he worked them over by showing our proposal.

If you have a "milker" just walk away and find another customer or prospect. It's not worth your effort, your time, and more importantly the frustration. Because you're worth it and they're not.

-M