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Overcoming Sales Call Reluctance Must Be Done to Build Business |
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This article has been is the Arizona Women's News; MarketScan, a monthly publication from the Phoenix Chapter of the American Marketing Association and The Networker publication for Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. ELIMINATE YOUR CALL RELUCTANCE--ELEVATE YOUR SALES! There is a widespread epidemic among salespeople! It's known as call reluctance, and it could be paying YOU a call right now. Gazing out the window, surfing the web, writing your "to do" list, or just sitting there staring at your phone, are some of the symptoms of this dreaded disease that could be putting the kill on your year-end profits. What's the cure? Prospecting! Nothing is more primary or postponing to sales success than prospecting or the lack of it. For the most part, salespeople dread prospecting! What if I told you that call reluctance doesn't have to be terminal? You can learn to initiate contact with potential buyers with absolutely no hesitation. Contrary to what you may have been told in the past, call reluctance is not the fear of rejection or the fear of failure. Instead, it is due to an emotional interference, which renders our knowledge, skills, abilities and talents useless. Join me in a journey to prospecting paradise, where prospecting can be a fun, enriching and profitable experience. Research shows that in our culture, the highest rewards do not go to the hardest working, the most intelligent or the best prepared. It's a proven fact that the largest rewards go to the people who are most willing to self-promote, yet self-promotion rarely comes naturally. Anthony Parinello points out in his book Selling to Vito that 75-90% of your business should come from new prospects; however, even top producers, slowly but surely stop prospecting for new business. The most financially successful salespeople are those who sell the most! Now, that I've stated the obvious, let's address the not so obvious question -- Why do they sell more? They realize one of the most fundamental truths in sales-- THE MORE PEOPLE YOU SEE, THE MORE YOU SELL! It's all about VISIBILITY! Self-promoters position themselves to be noticed, fully utilize existing contacts and networks and are consistent in the prospecting for new business. Not only do they keep their communications open and ongoing, but they also make sure each meeting is memorable. How? They've got STYLE! Their clothing, hair, accessories, approach and follow-up differentiates them from their competitors. The final characteristic of a natural self-promoter is the most important -- it's REPETITION! Never leave self-promotion to chance. Lost opportunities usually go to your competitors. You can bet, your competition is repeating--repeating the practice of showing up behind all your lost sales in order to harvest the rewards that could have been yours. There are four steps to stopping this self-limiting behavior of call reluctance and becoming an "A" student of sales.
One strategy to overcoming call reluctance is both powerful and simple. Take an inventory of what you have to offer. What do you do better than almost anybody else? What is your unique contribution? List the qualities that make you THE ONE AND ONLY person to buy from. Keeping your personal strengths inventory in front of you will give you a new perspective on YOU! To avoid feeling like an unwanted interruption, get SOLD on YOU! What does your inner voice say? Write it down on paper. Listen and recognize the damage this naysayer can wield--it is sabotaging your career! When you have completed this writing exercise, read it out loud. It should sound something like Point/Counterpoint on television's Sixty Minutes program. Working through call reluctance requires salespeople to recognize the goal-obstructing statements and counter those statements with goal-supporting statements. Choosing to overcome call reluctance, to successfully self-promote, puts salespeople on the fast track to comfortable and profitable prospecting! Contents adapted from Earning What You're Worth? by George W. Dudley and Shannon L. Goodson, ©1992, 1995, Behavioral Sciences Research Press, Inc., Dallas, Texas. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used with permission. Connie Kadansky, consultant and trainer specializing in Overcoming Sales Call Reluctance, offers corporations and privately owned businesses nationwide effective tools and training to assist salespeople in highly profitable prospecting. (602)-997-1101.
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