Musings from a Brandextender

Here’s the scenario: Just shy of a year ago I was referred to a woman at a Fortune 500 company who’d just taken over a new position. Part of her job was purchasing promotional products in large quantities for scores of managers to use as gifts for customers and prospects. We met on email, then over the phone and finally in person to discuss her needs and how best I could assist. Over three months I pulled together ideas and samples, created virtuals of what their logo would look like on a variety of products, all for a meeting where managers could choose the items they liked.

Sales is not for sissies.

The meeting came and went and the date she had given me for ordering also came and went. I reached out via email and phone calls, very few of which were answered, and I did my best to stay in front of her in hope some of the business she promised would come our way. After six months one small order arrived with promises again that she would be ordering in the next “few weeks.” Then nothing.
I finally sent an email I reserve as a last hope, where I ask if I have done something wrong or misunderstood the situation. I don’t whine, but simply ask for feedback in case I have done something unintentional. Still nothing. I decided to send a handwritten note basically saying the same thing; apologizing for any unintentional gaffs I may have committed. I marked the case closed and moved on knowing that things like this happen in sales and often there is no logical reason.
About three weeks later I received an email from her apologizing profusely and saying things had taken much, much longer than anticipated and there were still some large orders she would be placing and planned to keep me busy this summer. That was almost a month ago and I’ve heard nothing more, but will keep my fingers crossed and hope we do get an opportunity.
If you’re in sales, how do you handle this kind of situation? I know many people would have given up after a few unanswered attempts, but if nothing else I’m persistent. What would you have done differently? Have you ever had a sales situation like this? I’d love to hear your comments below and I know others can benefit from our collective wisdom.