Prospecting Playbook 1.6

  

 

STOP CALLING ME!

72% of Americans are on the do not call list.  Are you one? Why? Why are so many people on this list?

Because . . . .

WE
·      like our privacy.
·      work all day and do not want to be called at home
·      do not like to be interrupted
·     have better things to do

THE PEOPLE CALLING

·    are robotic … sometimes they are robots
·    do not take no for an answer  (well trained to overcome ojections)
·    call at the worst possible times   (every time is the worst)
·    are selling stuff in which we have zero interest
·    are absolute and complete strangers

THE TELEPHONE

·    is no longer trusted
·    too many scams have been perpetrated through this device
·    is no longer the primary means of news

BUT ….. why does the telephone cold call remain the primary tool sales people use to find new customers?

Because . . . .
[1] Sales managers still think sales is a numbers game and every day the number of phone calls made can be counted.  And, they know that 1 appointment or 1 sale results from every ____ dials made.  To hit our number all we have to do is make _____ calls!
[2] This is a very simple and objective way to keep score and make sales
[3] All sales managers were once these sales people making these calls and if they had to do it, so shall you.  (It’s called “hazing”.)
[4] This is the devil we know.  Despite all the new tools and tactics available, sales managers do not want to reinvent the wheel.  Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Blogs …. are not familiar to old school sales pros and learning these new fangled things is NOT on their agenda.  They have an image of infallibility that would be tarnished if they had to act a student instead of the all-knowing teacher.

AND ... BUT AGAIN,  I’m not at all sure what if any of the above bullet points are truly factual or purely false, but I do know this.  Unsuspecting people are totally fed up and frustrated with phone calls from strangers at strange times trying to sell strange things.  In fact 72% of us are.  Our efforts to sell our stuff are actually turning our own communities against us.  (The saving grace is that perhaps the recipient hangs up before we say our name.)

Is there a better way?  Yes.  There are hundreds of better ways. 
Here’s one     [Setting appointments with Linkedin]

And if you don’t like that one, share with me your name and email address and I will send you a list of 10 other tactics with which to meet new prospects.

The irony is that just as you may be a prospector, so are you a prospect.  Chances are you are on the do not call list yourself, and yet, you are still making calls.  There is a better way.  Please find one.  And STOP CALLING ME!

 

Charlotte, NC