Slamming the iPhone

You'd be hard-pressed to find a business person - heck, even a 12-year-old, who hasn't thought about getting an iPhone. All those features in one tiny device? I'm sold! Sales trainer and consultant Robert Graham was too - until Verizon stopped him from switching carriers with an "iPhone slam." Read on for Graham's story - and his advice on how you can apply Verizon's strategies to keep your customers.

So taken was I with Apple's new iPhone, that I called Verizon to cancel my service. I told Travis, the Customer Support Agent that I had to quit in order to buy the cherished device. Travis said fine, and described the cancellation process. Then, just before we ended the call, he pulled The iPhone Slam. He said, "Before you make the switch, I just want to make sure you know some of the problems with the iPhone."

For example, the iPhone

• Can't send pictures (not true)
• Can't text (also not true)
• At&T's wireless network is slow (definitely true)
• Has a weak battery that the user can't swap out which, when it dies, will be a serious headache (definitely an issue)

He then said, "In fact, if you would like, I could send you a comparison sheet detailing all these points." And while we were speaking, I got a PDF that highlighted many of the problems people have with "the Apple device from AT&T," as they call it.

My chat with AppleNow I had some doubts about making the switch, so I called Apple. When I told the customer service agent about my Verizon call, he laughed and said that all the other carriers have iPhone slam campaigns. He debunked some of the points above, played down some of the others and admitted to a few faults.

In the end, I decided to wait until iPhone 2.0 is released so they can iron out some of the kinks. I couldn't help but smile when I realized that the reason I didn't buy an iPhone that day was because the Verizon support specialist had been trained on how to slam the iPhone. Had he simply told me how to cancel my service, I would have done it.

Lessons learnedThe lesson I took from this was not, of course, to slam my competition. In fact, I always give credit where it is due and go out of my way to build alliances with my competition.

There were, however, a handful of great sales lessons to learn here:

1. Be prepared with answers to common questions, misconceptions and objections
2. Know your information so that you can be helpful, effective and don't tell lies
3. Have your resources ready so you can fire something off during your call or immediately after
4. Always tend to your client's best interests
5. Be professional, courteous and ethical

And, most importantly of all,

6. If you're going to go down, go down swinging.

Robert Graham is the Principal of GrahamComm, LLC, a consulting and training company that helps clients deliver outstanding presentations and dramatically increase their sales. Sign up for his monthly Ezine, Speaking and Selling Success, at www.grahamcomm.net.