How to Stop Chasing Prospects Forever
by Frank Rumbauskas
Published on this site: August 18th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
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:
- You must be supremely confident.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
Frank Rumbauskas is the author of Cold Calling Is a
Waste of Time: Sales Success in the Information Age. He is
the founder of FJR Advisors LLC, which publishes training
materials on generating business without cold calling. For
more information, please visit http://www.nevercoldcall.com
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