You have brought up and handled your most common objections early in the sales process. Now there is one more step in the process. After you have answered a potential objection, make sure you get some type of commitment from your prospect that you have answered the objection to their satisfaction. For example, “Does that satisfy all your concerns about why we aren’t the lowest price?” When they verbally agree that you have answered all their concerns about the objection, they are not likely to contradict themselves and bring the objection up again. Now you can put these common objections behind you and move forward with your sales presentation.
You have written down your 4-5 most common objections and have written out how you want to respond to them. Now that you are pretty sure you will be hearing these objections sometime during your sales process, why not be proactive and bring them up and handle them early in the process. Many times, a prospect has this “bomb” (objection) in his pocket and they are just waiting to blow your presentation apart. If you defuse their potential bombs early, your sales process will be much easier and more productive.
Most salespeople know that there are typically 4-5 common objections that they will hear repeatedly. The first thing to do is to write these objections down. Now instead of trying to deal with these objections under pressure during a sales call, think about how to handle them and write out your response. Work on your response until you have every sentence and every word the way you want it. Now practice-drill-rehearse these responses until they become second nature to you. When you hear one of these objections you will automatically, without thinking go into your response.
First, call reluctance is about the dealing with rejection. We don't like to be rejected. When we make a call and they hang up or say no, we take that rejection personally. But in fact when they hang up or say no, they aren't saying no to us or rejecting us, they are saying no or rejecting our potential sales pitch. They probably don't know us or never will. How can they be rejecting you?
The next most important antidote to call reluctance is your belief in your company, and your product or service. You must truly believe that "Your product or service is a valuable solution and you are offering this solution to people who want and need that solution". And if you can't say this and believe it, you will always have a problem with call reluctance.
This doesn't mean that you have the perfect or only solution. Many times salespeople look at their product/service and their company and compare it to the competition. They see things that their competition offers, for example a lower price, and they become blind to everything except that one feature. But people buy for many different reasons. This is why we have value, moderate and deluxe hotels or Mercedes and Yugo's.
The next key to overcoming call reluctance is having a Guerrilla Marketing Plan & Calendar. With the help of your Guerrilla Marketing Coach, you will develop a list of at least ten Guerrilla Marketing Weapons for your plan. Your Guerrilla Marketing Weapons are the marketing strategies, tactics and techniques that you will utilize to develop new prospects and customers.
Your Guerrilla Marketing Plan and Calendar will answer the following questions: What to do, When to do it, How often to do it and How many to do.
Normally, "Cold Calls" are at the top of the list of marketing weapons. Again, "You don't have to like making cold calls, you just have to do them!"
Next, with the help of your Guerrilla Marketing Coach, you will determine based on your individual business, industry and personality, how many cold calls you need to make on a daily basis to reach your desired goal of new appointments. This number will be on your Guerrilla Marketing Calendar, not as a wish or should, but as a "must do appointment".
Last, you need to take the actions. You must make the calls. What's the rule? "You don't have to like making cold calls; you just have to make them!"
Call Reluctance is a challenge that severely impedes your ability to be successful in finding new prospects and customers. Prospecting is the key to building your business and making outbound calls is a key prospecting strategy. Without prospecting you can't qualify people to determine who needs your product or service. When we suffer from call reluctance we tend to develop rationalizations and other tactics to avoid making necessary prospecting calls.
The first key to overcome call reluctance is to develop a prospecting plan. Your prospecting plan will include a variety of prospecting tactics and strategies to develop new business. Your prospecting plan will include activities such as: direct mail, advertising, networking, referrals, etc. The cornerstone activity to any prospecting plan is outbound "cold calls" to your defined target market.
If "cold calls" are not at the top of your list or if you try to avoid cold calling, you are doing yourself a disservice. There's a rule in sales: "You don't have to like making cold calls...you just have to make them!" If you do avoid making cold calls, don't feel alone. There's another old saying, "The only people who say they like making cold calls...never made any!"
You have heard of the "Pain/Pleasure" theory. We tend to avoid anything that causes us pain. Well, cold calling causes us emotional pain. It makes us step out of our comfort zones. And we don't like to be out of our comfort zones. We would rather not experience the pleasure (the results) than experience the pain (being out of our comfort zones).
One reason people don't like to make cold calls is because of the "fear of rejection". In their minds, when they make a call and the person on the other end says, "No, I'm not interested!", they feel that the person rejected them personally. It's almost like the person on the phone attacked them. What happens is our built-in "Fight or Flight" syndrome kicks in. We either get mad and start our internal attack on them (and everyone else) or we flee back into our comfort zone so we don't have to experience that rejection again. Typically when we get mad at the rejection, we start an internal dialogue along the lines of, "That idiot, who do they think they are. I hope I run into them on the street. I'll show them..." Now when we get mad, are we in the proper mindset to continue to make successful calls? No! When we flee back into our comfort zone are we going to make that next call or find some excuse not to?
There are also internal scripts from our childhood experiences that cause call reluctance. One of the most obvious is "don't talk to strangers". Didn't you hear that constantly when you were growing up? How about, "it's not polite to ask for money" or "don't be a pest". These beliefs were pounded into us growing up. But now as salespeople or business owners, to be successful we need to talk to strangers, ask them for money, and sometimes be a pest. No wonder we struggle with call reluctance.
"I need to find some new business. With my Guerrilla Marketing Coach, we developed my Guerrilla Marketing Plan that utilizes the Guerrilla Marketing Weapon of cold calling on people who I have identified as my target market. My Guerrilla Marketing calendar says I need to make (10) cold calls today.
Ok, it's a little too early to call so I will start calling a little later. Maybe I call John Smith; he's a good customer and a good guy. It was nice talking to John. You know, I went to that Chamber of Commerce event the other night and I got a lot of business cards. I need to organize them for future reference. Ok, let's get to those calls. Wow, I didn't realize that it was almost lunch time. I can't call at lunchtime. I need to pickup my cleaning and get the car washed, so I'll leave a little early for lunch and get these errands done.
That was a productive morning. I called John Smith; I organized the business cards from the chamber event, picked up my cleaning and got the car washed. Now let's get to those prospecting calls. Ok, let's look at that list. Oh, this company is too big, I'm sure they won't buy from a small company like mine. Now I know that this next company uses my competitor. I can't compete with them. Ok, ABC Inc. looks like a possibility. Wait a minute; I remember calling them about a year ago. They weren't very nice. I know they won't buy. Ok-Ok, now this company, XYZ looks like a good prospect. Let's start with this one.
Wow...that gatekeeper was a pit-bull. She wouldn't even let me give my pitch. I need a cup of coffee after that one. Ok, let's see who's next on my list. You know, she was outright nasty. Who does she think she is? Ok, let's call this next company. You know, they're all alike. I'll probably get the pit-bulls sister on this call. You know, I really have to catch up on my paperwork or my boss will be all over me. I can make these calls later. I deserve a break. I've been working hard. I'll just do (20) tomorrow to make up for today."
Sound familiar? Why do we act this way? Why do we avoid making the calls that could make us money? How can we deal with this thing called "Call Reluctance"?
Did you land that great account that you have been after? Are things looking good for you? Is it time to kick back? Key point-Your biggest competitor isn’t that company that’s been around for years or is ten times the size of your company. Your biggest competitor is “Complacency”. You can not afford to become complacent, especially in today’s competitive environment. You can’t afford to sit back and count your commission checks. Remember…You best customer is right now, at the top of your competitor’s prospecting list!
Guerrilla marketers look for any opportunity to connect with their prospects and customers. Whatever their business or personal interest are, you should always be looking for things that you can give them that is not a sales pitch, but something they would appreciate. If they like motivational or inspirational quotes and stories and you run across one, send it to them. If they like golf, if you see an interesting article of golf, send it to them. By doing these little things, you are not only helping to build and strengthen your relationship with them you are building “top of consciousness” or “top of mind” with your prospects and customers. Key...People buy from people they like, trust and feel comfortable with!
Do you send the message to your prospects..."I need this sale"? You can do this through your nervousness, your body language, or your words. Remember, people buy from people they like, trust and feel comfortable with. If you are coming off as desperate to make a sale, do you think your prospect will like, trust and feel comfortable with you? No way! No matter how much you need the sale, you need to come off as a profession, who understands the prospect's problems, and you are there to help them to solve their problem. Key Point: "Want the business, but don't need the business. Ask for the business, but don't beg for the business!"
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