TSE 016: Never Hit Your Prospects With The Okey-Doke

The Sales Evangelist

TSE 016: Never Hit Your Prospects with The Okey-Doke!

So you must be asking yourself, what is the Okey-Doke? Well, in this episode I reveal exact what it its, why you should never do it but if you do, I provide guidance on how you can remedy the situation. So here it is, the Okey-Doke is a set up, a surprise or unexpected event that may negatively affect your prospects. It is a term that I learned from one of my best friends, Reggie Taylor. As you listen to the episode you will here how the term originated. However, the term is very applicable to sales.

So many times I have experienced sellers who willingly seek to “hit their prospect with the Okey-Doke”, basically fib or hide things just so that they can get the deal. When the prospect/new client finds out about this surprise, it will cause ill will towards the prospect/client and the sell. It also brings a negative stigma upon the company. The client will not be happy, new business opportunity with this prospect will cease and you will not get ANY referrals. It is all around bad for everyone and at the very first opportunity, the client will leave to another vendor.

Sellers who purposely “hit their prospect/clients with the Okey-Doke” give sales a bad name and are in my book are a con-artist. However, if a seller accidentally “hit someone with the Okey-Doke”, there are easy ways to fix the situation.

I was someone who accidentally had an Okey-Doke situation and here is how I fixed it:

Recognize the error and ADMIT to it aka “Fall on the Sword”, even if it wasn’t you but someone else in your company. The client sees you all as the same anyways.
Apologize for the inconvenience you have cause.
Have an open conversation about the challenges that you caused and discuss a solution.
Make restitution and see that the client situation is fixed.
Learn from the situation and NEVER do it again!

Listen to the podcast episode below and experience my story. I know you will enjoy it.