Exceptional Sales

Q & A Overcoming Sales Call Reluctance

January 31st, 2012

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Tips for Overcoming Sales Call Reluctance

January 5th, 2012

Tips for Overcoming Sales Call Reluctance:

  1. Be honest with yourself. Many people are more willing to admit they are alcoholic, than that they are sales call reluctant. Are you getting in front of qualified prospects consistently and comfortably? If not, why not? Many people want to hide and deny their call reluctance. Admitting they are call reluctant is the first step to overcoming the debilitating disease of prospecting.
  2. Observe your behavior on the sales call. Call reluctance shows up there, too. What happens when it is time to ask for the business? Do you shy away? Do you hope that if you are nice enough, they will ask to buy?
  3. (If you are making all the money you want and meeting your objectives, do not do this exercise!) Write down your self-defeating behaviors. Do you commit to making 50 calls a day and stop at 20? Do you get caught up in busy work so you can avoid prospecting? Do you lose business cards? Do you write a prospect’s name on a sticky note and then misplace it? Do you have selective forgetting when it comes to asking for referrals? Do you target avoid certain people? CEO’s? Lawyers? Doctors?
  4. Be able to clearly, concisely and confidently articulate your potential value to your prospect. If you can do this, you are not wasting your prospect’s time.
  5. Take an inventory of what you have to offer. Once you are convinced of your value, the process of prospecting becomes much easier because you are “sold” on you.
  6. Take the sales call reluctance assessment. A validated instrument can quantify specific challenges and suggest appropriate steps to address sales call reluctance issues.
  7. A powerful technique to overcome call reluctance is to capture what the self-critical inner voice is saying to you ON PAPER in YOUR HANDWRITING. Recognize this voice? It is an internal saboteur that must be defused. This hyperactive voice says things like, “I don’t want to intrude” or “I haven’t done enough research about their company.” “They are probably still at lunch.” Once captured on paper, write realistic responses to the critic’s claims. Engage the internal voice in written dialogue. For instance, “I may not be totally knowledgeable about their company, but I have the basics down.” Recognize the goal obstructing statements and counter those with goal supporting statements. Once an individual is willing to do these exercises, they are on the fast track to becoming incredibly comfortable prospecting.

If you would like to take the Prospecting EKG assessment, please email connie@exceptionaslales.com and we’ll send you the link.  Connie Kadansky, Sales Call Reluctance coach and trainer 602-997-1101

Want to feel better immediately about yourself?

November 18th, 2011

As salespeople if we are active in our marketplace every day we’ll have some type of challenge or obstacle; right?

How can you ensure that you’ll keep yourself in a good psychological place no matter what challenge arises?

I encourage my clients to start every day, seven days a week, writing down five things that they are deeply grateful for.  At first they are grateful for their family, their health, their house, etc.   However, as the days progress, they start recognizing the small things that they appreciate and their confidence soars, e.g. for the resource a friend shared, for a thoughtful compliment their client gave them, for their discipline to make a few cold calls.  Gratitude creates a magnetic energy.  Try it!  I guarantee you’ll feel better.  Feeling good about you is vital to your success.  Whether you know it or not, you radiate your feelings.  You cannot not fake it.  Your prospects pick up on your energy and your tone.  You don’t even have to say a word.

End your day with writing down five achievements for the day.  Salespeople do not stop to celebrate their achievements unless they is are grand slams, so to speak.  Recognizing and acknowleding your achievements will create a new energy for you.  I guarantee this also!  If you don’t feel better about you after doing this for a week, please contact me.  I’ll send you a $20 Starbucks gift card so that you can go have a cafe latte and contemplate your world.

Connie Kadansky, Sales Call Reluctance coach, 602-997-1101 or connie@exceptionalsales.com

While many salespeople sit and debate whether cold calling works, one of their competitors is making his calls

October 19th, 2011

Check out this Wall Street Journal blog.  One financial advisor has reconciled to the fact that it’s part his day.  His pitch is smooth.

http://blogs.wsj.com/financial-adviser/2011/10/18/cold-calling-isnt-out-of-style-for-this-adviser/?mod=google_news_blog

He obviously has high motivation and goals and zero Sales Call Reluctance!

Cold Call Success Story

September 30th, 2011

It amuses me beyond a chuckle, it’s almost hilarious when I hear people debating whether cold calling is dead or alive.

While they are debating, there are hundreds of salespeople making their calls and moving through their sales process.  For example, a former client and good friend, Betsy, is a salesperson for a circuit board manufacturer.  She consistently makes her prospecting calls.    Betsy cold called a prospect and her company had to add 160,000 sq. ft. of space to fulfill the order from the cold call.

What is your cold call success story?  Please share so that we can help more people succeed!

Connie Kadansky, helping salespeople get their ask in gear, 602-997-1101 or connie@exceptionalsales.com

How to make cold calls pay off!

September 19th, 2011

This is a must read for anyone in the sales profession.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2011/09/06/how-to-make-cold-calls-pay-off/

What are your thoughts?  Please share!

If you suffer from Sales Call Reluctance, just know that you can overcome it by identifying exactly what your negative intruders (thoughts) are that keep you from prospecting.  Your freedom is in identifying what causes you to hesitate.

First Step in Overcoming Sales Call Reluctance

September 9th, 2011


One of the greatest coaches of all time is Phil Jackson (Chicago Bulls and L.A. Lakers) –  the “Zen Master.”

What can we learn from a Zen Master?  The first step is to be conscious and aware of your breathing.  When you get ready to prospect, put both feet solidly on the floor, sit up straight and take a deep breath in as you say to yourself  “I am breathing in.”  Then breathe out and say “I am breathing out.”  Just notice the powerful calm that comes over you.

Then say “I am breathing in calm.  I am breathing out confidence.”

Breathing will slow down the negative habitual thoughts that are swirling around and causing the mental spin.

Please try this and share your experience and comments.  Many of my macho male clients affirm that this works!

Connie Kadansky, Sales Call Reluctance coach, assists salespeople to become confidence and consistent at prospecting. 602-997-1101 or connie@exceptionalsales.com

Cold Calling Works

September 3rd, 2011
 
Commentary Post:
 
How many years sales experience do you have?  9? 12? 16?  Do you truly have 9 years of experience or do you have one year 9 times?
 
This blog is exceptionally practical about the common objections that all salespeople get with cold calling.  Please comment and share!
 
 
 

How optimistic are you about you?

July 29th, 2011

How do you feel about the world? Do you think it is beautiful? In your mind’s eye do you see the beautiful pictures of the earth from many different angles? Or do you see it as “doomed” and you are losing faith in humanity?

According to Dr. Dr. Wayne Dyer “What you think of yourself is what you think of the world.”

We cannot be pessimistic about the world and optimistic for ourselves.

Want to shake yourself out of the duldrims? Start listing ten (10) people who are you are deeply grateful for right now. Choose one and write one paragraph listing all the reasons why you appreciate them. Send them your paragraph.

It is impossible to have a negative thought that follows with a “positive” emotion. Out there in the selling world, your attitude speaks so loudly your prospects cannot hear what you have to say. Your attitude comes through in your voice, your tone.

Prospects are attracted to optimistic salespeople who are confident. Confidence breeds confidence. One of the quickest ways to get motivated and positive is to develop the habit of gratitude.

If you are interested in becoming more optimistic, Wes Hopper has created an amazing gratitude ebook <"http://www.dailygratitude/2010ebook.html">

“What you think of yourself is what you think of the world.” Ponder on that one.

Ever wonder who are the biggest carriers of Sales Call Reluctance?

July 27th, 2011

It’s sales trainers and sales managers, according to George Dudley and Shannon Goodson, world-renowned behavioral scientists. Their research shows that some sales trainers and managers actually are contaminating the very people they intend to inspire. They start out on Monday morning and say “get out there and sell, sell, sell, but don’t be like a salesperson.” There are salespeople who are very sad about their production, because they are ashamed of their role. They feel that people reject them because they are salespeople so they try to act like “consultants” or “account managers” in order to disguise their role. They believe that sales is an unacceptable career.

The fact is the prospect knows that the salesperson is a salesperson and often they are okay with it. If you have a strong value proposition and you are calling into a market that you know needs, wants and buys your services, you are serving your prospects to reach out to them.

If you suffer from Role Rejection Sales Call Reluctance, you must immediately work on shifting your mindset. 1) Admit that you are ashamed about being in sales. 2) Start seeking out salespeople who love what they do. Have conversations with them about their profession. Some of the best salespeople are children of top producers. They were taught early on about self-promotion and the value of being in sales. 4) When you get prospected by a salesperson, treat them with the respect. Listen to their approach. Notice what works and what doesn’t work. Model what works. 5) Challenge your negative perspective. Write down some alternative possibilities so you can get away from a fixated, costly mindset. 6) Stay away from “consultants” and people who have role rejection call reluctance cooties. They can contaminate you.

Connie Kadansky helps salespeople improve their emotional and technical prospecting skills so that they significantly increase their number of appointments and they sell more. connie@exceptionalsales.com or 602-997-1101