Perhaps the biggest challenge faced by salespeople is the problem
of chasing prospects. In this article I’ll explain exactly why
that happens, and how you can avoid it entirely and make
prospects chase you instead.
I once heard Donald Trump say, "In selling, you must never appear
desperate. As soon as you look desperate, it's over."
A friend and I were talking about the dynamics of a cold call the
other day. When we make that call, we usually hope and expect
that the prospect will be receptive to hearing what we have to
say. However, salespeople face increasing resistance to cold
calling, as well as increasing flakiness on the part of prospects
who do meet with them. Instead of thinking, "Ok, this may be
interesting," here's what most prospects actually think when they
receive a cold call: "Great. You don't know me and I don't know
you. You have no idea what my goals are. You don't even know if
we need what you're selling, and in spite of all that, you've
decided to waste my time anyway with this call."
What is increasingly becoming the norm is to be rejected by the
good, solid prospects everyone wants, and to get appointments
with flaky time-wasters who will never buy. Flakiness, in
particular, is a growing problem thanks to the fact that
prospects are increasingly bombarded with endless advertising as
well as endless salespeople. When you consider the fact that few
prospects actually have the courage to say "no" and instead
choose to blow us off and make excuses, it becomes even more
frustrating.
One of the main themes I try to teach salespeople is two-fold: 1)
You must be supremely confident. 2) You must get into the habit
of qualifying prospects OUT instead of merely qualifying them. It
is the appropriate response to ever-increasing flakiness and
evasiveness on the part of prospects. It's our way of
communicating to them, "If you can't take the heat, get out of
the kitchen" in a non-verbal way. The idea of taking the lead and
qualifying prospects out is scary at first, and as a result most
salespeople aren't willing to do it, but it will save you lots of
otherwise wasted time with prospects who aren't really serious,
and will free that time up to be spent with prospects who are
going to buy.
It's important to start all sales relationships from a position
of power, and you do this in two ways: 1) Through your outward
presentation. This is easily accomplished by acting very
professional and dressing better than your prospects, rather than
taking the wrong advice of "dressing like your prospects." It's
easy to say "no" to someone with whom you're comfortable, but
much more difficult to say "no" to someone who intimidates you.
2) Through your actions. A great example is someone who is
squirrely about agreeing to an appointment with you. In many
cases, these are the people who finally agree to meet with you
but eventually blow you off without buying. When I found myself
in this situation, I discovered a great way to overcome it. It
goes back to the idea of confidence bordering on mild arrogance,
and puts you in the position of power. When you're getting the
runaround, something like "Well, we'll let you know when we have
time to pencil you in," say something like, "Great, let me know.
I'm very busy so I need to know either way - NOW." This will get
rid of time-wasters, and with serious prospects, will clearly
communicate that you're a serious businessperson, should be taken
seriously, and will not tolerate having your time wasted and
otherwise being disrespected. It will also set you apart from the
competition and greatly increase your chances of getting the
sale.
As time goes on and I work with more salespeople, I'm realizing
that this idea of being powerful really overrides everything
else, and once you can pull it off, it overshadows everything.
You can do a poor job of presenting and selling and yet this can
carry you all by itself. For anyone who is doubtful about this
idea of presenting yourself as overconfident and even a little
bit arrogant, I'll go back to Donald Trump since he's famous for
his giant ego. I saw him on Larry King, and as they were taking
live calls, one of the callers openly confronted him about his
massive ego and Larry King jumped on and questioned him about it
as well. Donald Trump simply replied, "Have you EVER met a
successful person who didn't have a big ego?" After some hemming
and hawing from King, Trump repeated the question to him, and
King finally said, "No."
Moving on from the idea of avoiding an appearance of desperation
and creating an appearance of power, there's another very good
reason as to why prospects who are uncovered via cold calling are
flakey. This one has nothing to do with us and everything to do
with a particular prospect's mindset and level of sales
vulnerability to begin with.
Most of us have noticed, at some time or another, that prospects
who absolutely refuse to take cold calls and have giant "No
Soliciting" signs plastered on their front doors tend to be the
easiest to sell to once you manage to get in front of them.
There are a few popular theories as to why this is so, the most
common one being the idea that since so few salespeople get
through to begin with, there is little competition and therefore
a better chance of getting the sale. However, I know the real
reason behind this.
The reason those people are so defensive against sales pitches
and have all those "No Soliciting" signs is quite simple. They
are AFRAID of salespeople. They know very well that they have a
very difficult time saying "no," and as such they are highly
vulnerable to sales presentations and know very well that if a
salesperson gets to them, they'll probably buy whether they need
to or not.
(I never figured this out until I spoke with an expert on social
dynamics who has studied the subject of human social interaction
in depth. He explained that the people who act the coldest and
most unapproachable in social settings do so because they're
overly vulnerable to being seduced and falling in love and
therefore are afraid of what someone's advances may lead to.)
Now that we've explained why those people are the easiest to sell
to, let's look at the opposite type of prospect: those who
willingly take your call and willingly agree to set an
appointment.
If those who are easily sold won't take your call and won't agree
to meet with you, why would someone be so agreeable to taking
your call and meeting with you? Exactly. It's because they have
no fear of salespeople. They know right from the start that
there's little chance of them being sold. Their openness and
receptiveness to your call puts us off-guard. We think we have a
great shot at a sale, but in reality we're meeting with someone
who is 99% certain not to buy.
Since the people who willingly take cold calls usually don't buy,
and the people who usually buy don't take cold calls, what's the
solution? Since those who are easily sold almost always meet
with salespeople only when they've called the salesperson first
and not the other way around, you must get your message across to
these people in creative and effective ways other than cold
calling.
To those highly desirable prospects who are easily sold, all
salespeople seem the same. The only way to win with them is to
separate yourself from the rest of the crowd.
The first way to accomplish this is to be that powerful
businessperson who needs nothing and deserves respect. I think
most of us were taught and have gotten into the habit of treating
prospects as superiors and as a result we tend to do whatever is
convenient for prospects and otherwise kiss up to them. We are
used to rearranging our schedules just to meet with that one
prospect. Stop this, and start expecting your prospects to treat
YOU with the respect and consideration you deserve as someone who
is not only a business equal, but who has the knowledge and
wisdom to help them and improve their businesses and their lives.
The second way to stand out is to stop cold calling. Nothing
will stereotype you as a typical salesperson faster than a cold
call. The way to win with prime prospects is to get your message
across to them in ways that don't use cold calling. You'll get
in front of the easy sales, and you won't have any competition
once you get there.
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