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You hold the remote control!

Remote Control

Last week I spoke at AA-ISP Conference (American Association for Inside Salespeople) in Atlanta on How to Overcome Sales Call Reluctance.

One of the attendees shared that she had sent a targeted email to a prospect.  Her email system showed that the recipient had opened the email.  She took this as him having a level of interest so she, a motivated and goal-oriented salesperson, picked up the phone and called.

The prospect reacted with anger and lost control of himself and yelled at her.

This experience was so traumatic that this salesperson is having trouble getting back on the phone.

We all run into cranky prospects from time to time.  The more we proactively prospect, the more likely we will attempt to engage people who do not want to be engaged at that moment.

This is a pivotal moment.  As salespeople we make up stories all day long as to whether our prospects are interested or not, whether they like us or not.

When a prospect reacts negatively to your prospecting call, I recommend you immediately, stand up.  Change your physiology, take a sip of water, breathe and then ask yourself:  What am I making this incident mean?  Seriously engage yourself in this inner dialogue.  Am I making it mean that he’s a rude jerk?  Am I making it mean that I shouldn’t call the next prospect?  Am I making it mean that I should never call someone just because they opened an email?  Am I making it mean that my product or service has no value?  Am I making it mean that I obviously caught him at a terrible time?  Am I making it mean that he must have something really going south for him to react so violently?  Am I making it mean that sometimes I have been rude to salespeople too, so I will move on an feel some compassion for someone who is totally out of control?

We get to choose what we make it mean! And our choice is paramount in whether we move forward optimistically or pessimistically.

When we are watching TV and we do not like what we are seeing on the screen, we immediately change the channel with our remote control; right?

We also have the ability to change our focus as quickly.   The above advice helps to shift the story and to move forward with our day without giving our entire focus to the rude jerk who was obviously not at his best.

Salespeople count on Connie Kadansky, Sales Call Reluctance Coach, to help them develop emotional resiliency and develop unshakable confidence.