Foolish Errands
There are lots of jokes that our suspects and prospects customers play on us. When it’s not April Fools Day; we call them objections. Here are three common ones telesales people have mutual with me (along with my own personal translation of what those pesky prospects might really be saying):
- Send Me Some Information (I’m in the midpoint of something and really want you to go away)
- I Have A Vendor (It isn’t value the time to learn about you because the people I work with aren’t screwing up)
- We’re All Set (I can’t reckon of whatever business I’m doing that sounds like what you just said)
How about our customers?
- If It Was My Choice (I don’t want to hurt your feelings and another vendor did a better job matching our needs with their proposal)
- Nothing Going On (Based on what we have done together so far, your solution doesn’t match my current challenges)
- Waiting To See About The Economy (I’m not sure your products are value fighting any internal battles for money)
Now what? Well most telesalespeople (and salespeople in general) will either give up and hang up or blast right through without stopping. Which one sounds like you?
I’ve found that neither of these strategies work. As a replacement for here is my patent pending (not really, it just sounded excellent) simple to follow three step process:
- Acknowledge – that they have a valid point
- Question A Question – to turn their brain back on
- Tell A Tale – to get them reengaged in the conversation
As a replacement for of running off on a foolish errand, take a moment and really listen to what your prospect/customer ISN’T saying and go on from there. Plus since this process will work with any objection – take a few minutes this week and work through the ones you hear most frequently.