Unbeatable: The Legend of Vincent Scott – Chapter 10: The Close

The scent of scorched coffee and fluorescent hum of overworked ceiling lights filled the open-air battlefield that was the ABM Online call center. Desks stretched endlessly in every direction across the Greenfield floor, stripped of partitions and layered in the clamor of ringing phones, objection-laced rebuttals, and hopeful negotiations.

In this sea of sales warriors, Vincent Scott strolled like a reigning monarch on campaign.

He never barked orders or flexed authority. That was not his style. He didn’t stomp into the trenches waving a title. He watched, he listened, he learned. Only when he understood the game fully did he move a piece. It wasn’t humility; it was strategy.

But when he spoke? Everyone listened.

As Vincent made his morning march through the kingdom, he would be stopped by several reps and managers alike, faced with questions about how to approach a potential sale, handle a situation where a local rep somewhere else was encroaching on their selling to a customer they failed to sell the first time, how to appropriately apply the credit policy or a discount, how to handle a sales dispute and so on and so forth. 

“Hey Vincent!” Ernie Carville waved, headset crooked on his ear, face taut with urgency. The guy was new but sharp, a rare find in this revolving-door operation. Most reps burned out fast, swallowed by bureaucracy and anarchy. But Ernie? He was hungry.

The life expectancy of a rep in this center was not long.  For someone to reach and maintain peak performance it was very challenging as the smarter, more industrious reps could see how flimsily the department was really held together.  The commission and clerical problems that plagued the division could eat away at the soul of even the strongest rep, manager or Vincent himself.  And the ineptitude of the people that should fix it and their unwillingness to do so was tearing the place apart. 

The place thrived off of “at the moment” superstars.  A scant few were constant performers who won the annual Top Gun trips.  But one misstep, bad string of events or faulty voice authorization (the recordings that served as a contract) and they fell from grace and Dickhauser pushed to have them terminated for a first offense of any kind. He had a one strike, zero tolerance policy on pretty much anything he felt like at any time. Dickhauser’s whims and the managers scrambling to address whatever he demanded is what dictated much of the flow of the division.

Ernie Carville was one of those at the moment stars.  He was perceptive and eager to learn; a breath of fresh air to Vincent who was trying his best to keep his wits about him.  As Vincent approached he saw Ernie doing battle.  He glanced at the screen: a $500 monthly program with practically everything ABM had to offer. 

Ernie muted his phone. “Can you talk to this guy?”

Vincent had no outward reaction, but his insides tingled and heart leapt a little. “What’s his occupation, average buy, location?”  Vincent said coolly.

“He’s a doctor – physical therapist.  Average client is $1,000.  He is in Tulsa.”

“What’s the hold-up?”

“He doesn’t want to start this big.”

Vincent smiled.  Most reps would start peeling away components and start throwing desperate, paltry programs at their customers just to get a sale. Ernie clearly hadn’t – he was hanging in there, defending his program and fighting to sell what he believed was best. The very rep Vincent most wanted to empower. 

“What’s his name?”

“Dr. Sumesh.”

“OK. Let me at him,” Vincent said, taking a seat on the edge of Ernie’s desk.

“Dr. Sumesh?” Ernie said into his headset.  Vincent picked up the handset and unmuted it.  “My supervisor is standing by and was going to go over some of the specifics of this program for you.”

“Dr. Sumesh?” Vincent asked, announcing his presence.

“Yes,” came the reply.

“Hi, this is Vincent Scott with ABM Advertising.  I’m Ernie’s supervisor and just happened to be passing by.  How are you today?”

“Doing well, thank you.”

“Fantastic, Dr. Sumesh.”  Name repetition: check.  “Is Ernie taking good care of you?” Personal touch. Feel them out. Their response to this shows how quickly you have to make it all business and how receptive they are going to be to you.

“Yes, yes.”

“Excellent. Well, the reason for our call today was because you actually came to us recently and opted to add some additional information about your practice to our online directory.  First, I want to thank you and commend you for that.  Honestly, I wish more of our valued customers took the time and cared as much as you clearly do.”  Reason for call: check. Ego stroke:  check. The customer clearly wanted more people to know about the practice – use that information.  “Let me ask you – what are you doing right now to market your practice?”

“Ah, well, uh, I am in some medical magazines, the local paper and have done some radio spots.  Stuff like that.”

“Tremendous, Dr. Sumesh.  Obviously you’re a man who is serious about his business and I applaud you for diversifying your marketing portfolio a bit. Much more effective than throwing your eggs in one basket.” This compliment also serves to set up the prospect of further diversifying the portfolio by adding ABM marketing to the mix. Psychology.  “What types of results are you getting from those mediums?”

“Eh, well, I’m not 100% sure.” Gap in process. Jackpot. Keep exploring this.

“What do you have in place to track it?”

“Uh, nothing right now.” Bingo.

“OK, fair enough.  I am sure you are a busy guy so your goal is to put yourself out there wherever you can. I take it you are running the practice and running the marketing decisions?” Another potential gap.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Wow – that can be overwhelming. I’m impressed. I can definitely see why it’s so important that your marketing works but also that right now, I’m guessing you are wanting to get some results prior to justifying hiring someone to run it full time?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I get that.  When you enhanced your free listing with us were you just hoping someone would see it or do you actually want new customers?”

“Oh, well, yeah, I would certainly like new customers.”

“Perfect.  This is cosmic, then, us talking like this.  Reason being, right now, and pardon me for saying this, I am concerned you might be putting yourself in a position of weakness with these other mediums, especially if you are unsure of the results.  Sure, they occasionally work, but it’s a crapshoot.  It’s a gamble. And you’re not seeing your money at work.  See, with us, we saturate the web with your business, so it’s like playing with loaded dice; we put you in a position of power.”  Powerful words to invoke and elicit emotion: check.  “I’m looking at the program you and Ernie were discussing.  I’m excited we can potentially be partners with you in advancing your practice and taking it to the next level.  How far out do you attract customers from geographically?”

Confident statements, building up the program, referencing the weaknesses he has currently all while bridging into fact-finding and staying in complete control of the conversation.

“Oh, just in Tulsa.”

“Fantastic.  See, that’s exactly what we do; we put you everywhere you need to be to be seen so those customers know about you. It can be as targeted or as all-encompassing as you want it to be.  Right now, you are merely listed with a basic listing on our site.  Our featured listings are plastered all over the web, you get guaranteed searches – 100 per month in your case from the program you guys were discussing – and you also appear in our physical printed publication.  Obviously one customer who does business with you because of all of this presence pays for two months of this program.”

Pause for impact.

“What we do here is get the ball rolling through voice authorization.  I’m going to bring on a recording device where Ernie will basically read through the items in this program and you can walk through them together.” 

Softening the blow: check. 

“We will be back on the line in about forty-five seconds, okay?”

There was hesitation.  He was closing in.

“Oh, no no no…I just can’t do it,” Dr. Sumesh lamented.  “That’s just too much.”

“Too much?  Okay, well, certainly, Dr. Sumesh, I understand it’s probably more than you spend on your current advertising.  That’s why I don’t want you to look at this like additional advertising.  It’s an investment in your business.  See, here we give you the highest probability at a return on investment.  You do understand the concept that one customer would pay off two months of this program, correct?” Cost justification: check.

“Uh, yes, of course, but it’s a lot of money for an advertising campaign.”

“I understand that is your initial reaction, Dr. Sumesh,” Vincent continued. “However, relatively speaking, if your current methods are bringing in nothing and this program gives you a better chance of an actual return on investment we give you enhanced monthly tracking reports showing you where the business is coming from, what search terms people are finding you under and metrics showing where on your website people are going, can you see where that is superior to current methods?”

“I do. I just can’t afford to pay that much more.”

“Of course you do, you’re a smart guy.  So here’s the thing: with the 500,000 books I am putting you in, the 100 guaranteed online searches per month we target for you on the major search engines meaning 1,200 over the course of the contract and with the business listings we post for you on some of the most highly trafficked sites in the world—” he paused for effect, “how do you not get the minimum of seven customers out of those hundreds of thousands of appearances that you need in a full year to make this a goldmine?”

He stopped talking.  There was a pause of decent length that Vincent had absolutely no intention of breaking.

“OK, but I don’t see why it’s so much money.  I mean, I talked to Online Plus the other day and they have a similar program that is only $200 a month.”

“Yes sir, exactly, Dr. Sumesh, and again – I commend you for doing your homework.  You have obviously given this a lot of thought; it’s important to you, and I respect that.  Personally, it does me no good to set you up with something that does not work.  I am not comfortable moving forward unless you’re comfortable.  My reputation is at stake, quite frankly.  And consider what you’re getting here.  How many guaranteed searches do you get from Online Plus?” Draw out the specifics of the competing offer so you can go toe to toe.

“Uh, I’m not sure.  They said something about bidding on keywords.”

“Certainly.  Any respectable business would do that for you.  How many keyword combinations are they bidding on for you?”

“Uh, well, they were going to put me under physical therapist in Tulsa so I come up on the first page on the major search engines.”

“Okay, that’s a start.  What else are they giving you for that $200 monthly fee?” Draw out the differences and find ways to undermine the competing offer without insulting it.

“Uh…I would show up on their site, too.”

“Sure, sure, Dr. Sumesh.  What else?”

“Uh, that’s all they told me.”

“Certainly, Dr. Sumesh.  And it is my obligation to tell you, especially since you took time out of your busy day to fill out a listing on our site that you’ve got to compare apples to apples here.  For a moment, look away from the expense you see so you can compare investments and potential return.  You are thinking about dropping $200 into a program with a competitor that I will not disparage on this recorded call for fear of FCC retribution so you can appear under your heading on one website.  That’s how thin that program stretches your $200.  Now, with ABM, a company who has been in business since our great-great grandparents roamed the earth, I am putting you in 500,000 books.  500,000.  In addition, you not only are featured prominently on our site, but there are several additional sites with the same listings and similar placement. A dozen in all. Twelve times the online exposure.  Lastly, while Online Plus is going to bid on, what it sounds like, one keyword combination for you, we bid on hundreds.  Hundreds, Dr. Sumesh.  Do you know why that is important, Dr. Sumesh?  It’s important for multiple reasons.  One, let’s say you have an area of specialty, like – let’s say sports injuries.  We would bid on ‘sports injuries’.  We would bid on ‘sports injuries Tulsa’.  We would also bid on the misspellings because, let’s face it, not everyone is as articulate and gifted as you and me.  We bid on misspellings so that if someone misspells physical therapy or sports injuries or, God forbid, their home city of Tulsa, they still will find Dr. Sumesh.  That’s where your $500 goes.  And that’s why this is a no-brainer.”

Vincent paused again briefly for effect and for the information to soak in as much as it could.

“Clearly, you owe this to yourself.  You work hard.  Let ABM’s marketing team start working for you.” 

Another pause. No objection. Time to close again. 

“So what happens next is I am going to go ahead and bring on that voice recording system.  Ernie will come on and just basically read off a script that protects you and will detail each of the components of your listings and where they appear.  You have the chance to walk through this together.” 

A gentle close that made it sound like walking together through a dewy meadow rather than clubbing him with a blunt object.

“We’ll be back on the line in about forty-five seconds, okay?” 

Always ask a question.  It forces them to answer.  Even if it is not the answer you want, it’s the answer you need to hear to know how to proceed.

Pause.

“Okay.”

“All right, Dr. Sumesh, congratulations on this step towards major success with your business.  Ernie will be back on the line with you in just a moment.”

Vincent put the handset back in its cradle as he hit the conference button on the phone. 

He looked up and practically the entire floor, mostly staring in wide wonder, erupted in applause. 

Vincent did a double-fist pump and high-fived Ernie. 

What a rush. 

The close. 

It was the best physical high that could be had within ABM’s policies on its premises. 

When Vincent was on the phone, people listened, jotted down notes and knew he was for real.  Vincent waved to the crowd as he walked away, smiled and winked and pointed at Dean Yamnitz and made his way to his regular home base at Cal’s desk where Johnny Slade would always saunter up shortly thereafter.

“Guess that went well, huh?” Cal asked, smiling.

“Yeah, you know.  Gotta bring the jersey down from the rafters every once in awhile so you pups know who is still king,” Vincent cheesed.  Cal laughed.

“Yeah, I just got off the phone with a customer, too,” Slade said, looking disheveled as usual.

“Did you close it?” Vincent asked.

“He told me he was going to call the police if we called him one more time,” Slade said seriously.  Vincent and Cal laughed hysterically. “Dude, seriously, how can you keep calling these leads?” Johnny asked.

“Dude, seriously, have faith in me.  When have I steered you wrong?” Vincent asked.  “Calling these Enhanced Customer Listing leads twenty times is better than calling non-customers once. 15% close rate to 0.01%.  Would you rather call those? Because I can arrange that for just your team.” 

Slade shook his head.

“Besides, if your reps would disposition the lead properly that the customer doesn’t want to be called a second time, they wouldn’t be,” Vincent added.

“Yeah, yeah,” Slade muttered.

Slade was susceptible to pessimism and allowed the job to eat him alive more than most.  Dickhauser’s assessment of Slade was that he was the one who constantly cried “the sky is falling”.

Clyde sauntered over to the trio as the 11 o’clock hour approached.  “What’s for lunch?” he inquired.

“I brought mine,” Slade said.

“Who cares, let’s get Chinese,” Vincent responded. There was a spot they frequented down the street and probably went there at least twice a week on average. It was a buffet, but there was a side room with an extremely large table that was conducive to their group outing.

“I’m game,” Cal said.

“You know Sander won’t go for it,” Clyde said. Jimmy Sander did not like the Chinese buffet.

“He’ll go.  We have to discuss the next leg of the plan,” Vincent said.

“Good point.  I will gather the Brotherhood,” Clyde whispered as he backed away.

Vincent looked at a nearby computer monitor and saw a blank dialer screen. “Shoot,” he muttered.  “We’re in ‘stop’ mode.”

This meant the dialer was out of leads in the current campaign and Vincent had to sprint to his office in the other quad to move to another one. 

Nothing made Vincent’s skin crawl like idle employees, hence the sprint. 

He darted down the hall and back into his quad.  Of course, employees were just standing around shooting the breeze, having ended their last dial and not having a new lead on their screen. They rarely – if ever – alerted Vincent to this fact when it happened. It didn’t happen often, but in the hubbub of closing a sale and strategizing with his team, Vincent missed a beat. 

A couple of reps threw a small Nerf football around.

“Nobody throws a ball until they hit objective,” Vincent pointed, laughing.

He ran into his office, unlocked his computer desktop, ignored the blinking instant messages from managers telling him they were out of leads in this campaign and moved the reps to their next revenue-generating venture.

He looked and had received 27 new e-mails since his last stroll on the floor.  He sat in his chair, sipped his Diet Coke and smiled. 

This life may give him a heart attack but he didn’t know any other way.  A job with less responsibility that was not as fast paced would bore him to tears.