Sales Call Reluctance vs. Prospecting Resistance: Are They Twins or Total Opposites?
Sales Call Reluctance is the internal hesitation or emotional discomfort a salesperson feels about initiating contact with potential buyers. It is an inner psychological barrier, fueled by hidden fears, embarrassment, rejection, or failure. This reluctance can make talented salespeople avoid critical business-building activities, following up, staying pleasant and ethically persistent, or asking for the business directly.
Sales Call Reluctance is emotional. It’s internal and psychological. “I’m uncomfortable.”
Prospecting Resistance points to external factors – the practical challenges or lack of skill around prospecting. It involves resistance due to confusion about whom to call, uncertainty about qualifying prospects and leads, lack of strategic methods or simply ineffective prospecting practices. This type of resistance occurs because salespeople don’t feel clear, confident, and equipped about how to prospect effectively.
Prospecting Resistance is factual. It’s external and skills-based:
1) Lack of clarity about who to approach and why.
2) Struggling to articulate the value clearly to prospects.
3) Unsure of their ideal client or niche.
4) Ineffective, outdated or random prospecting strategies, consistent confusion or questions about prospecting methods.
Sales Call Reluctance Coaching includes:
Awareness Coaching: Use of SPQ Assessment to identify exactly the type of emotional hesitation the salespeople are experiencing.
Identify Untrue Limiting Assumptions Believed To Be True: Recognize the assumptions fueling their reluctance.
Proven Customized Techniques and Strategies: Customization according to the client’s specific needs. Making prospecting more of a pull than a push.
Empathy-Driven Prospecting and Selling: Train them on how to use Tactical Empathy*, which is articulating how the prospect is thinking and feeling about their problem without agreeing, disagreeing or sympathizing.
Prospecting Resistance Coaching requires tailored coaching:
Skills Training: Equip salespeople with straightforward, proven, relevant 2025 methods for prospecting, lead generation, and qualifying opportunities.
Strategy Alignment: Help them define their ideal client profile, including clearly defining who is not their ideal client and the negotiable and non-negotiables. How to identify the genuine prospect vs. the vaguely interested prospect.
Role-Play and Practice: Provide structured practice sessions to reinforce effective prospecting behaviors until these methods become second nature. Every salesperson needs to have a compelling value proposition that includes solving the prospect’s unique problem. They don’t stop practicing until it feels natural, and they can articulate it beautifully.
Process Clarification: Introduce simple, repeatable prospecting frameworks, script formulas, and templates to eliminate guesswork in prospecting activity.Appreciation and Encouragement: Consistently notice salespeople doing what moves them forward and acknowledge it. Notice what is good and say it. The human mind works best in the presence of appreciation. Be succinct, sincere, and specific.
Appreciation and Encouragement: Consistently notice salespeople doing what moves them forward and acknowledge it. Notice what is good and say it. The human mind works best in the presence of appreciation. Be succinct, sincere, and specific.