Dealing with Call Reluctance
So when it comes to call calling there is one thing that happens to even the most dedicated cold callers, the occasional case of Call Reluctance. Call reluctance is a nice term for I don’t want to cold call, call anyone and in some cases have anything to do with dialing the phone. It happens for a variety of reason like you’re having a bad day or a genuine fear of rejection happens to the best of us. The difference is how you get through those times and how often you allow them to happen. The great ones push on, they position a different product or call on a different type of customer or prospect to keep things fresh or get a break but they pick up the phone make the call and set the appointments.
One of the best cold callers I’ve ever seen would burn out like clock work on prospecting, once a quarter at about the midway point. He was also like clock work in that he would get back in the proverbial saddle three days later. Day one he would mope. At the end of day 1 his manager would move his desk. It was a company where people moved desks a few times a year. He needed to move once a quarter, so he would spend the evening of the first day packing up his desk and all of the second arranging his new desk with a complete obsession on organization, then he moved on to his calling lists… sorting and resort to analyzing and evaluating. It was very much his own unique form of business planning. The third day he would write calling scripts for the rest of the quarter and the next one, deciding what to position but most importantly where. Tom had a unique job. He was in business development but he only got to keep a customer for six months after their credit line was established with the company.
So he would focus on getting new business each and every day knowing that his performance for the next six months was based on how many customers he signed up. It was a business to business sale and on average his efforts paid off in 18 new accounts a quarter, only half of which would do any real measure of business in the six months he had them. For the record, others in the same exact role averaged 13. With the exception of those three days in three months, he was focused on driving new business, but even he had a few days of reluctance so he made a plan and stuck to it. In the beginning though, he would linger taking longer and his manager helped him cut the loss to 3 days and refocus him and with his own work and effort it soon became his routine with out outside coaching. The other benefit from his planning was that he would show his calling scripts that listed every objection he could imagine and some that weren’t at all really plausible to most people carefully drafting each response, he committed them to memory and filed them. Ironically it was other reps who weren’t as experienced that benefited from his efforts and used the scripts.
Overcoming Call Reluctance Temptations of a sales person
Bad Habits- So you don’t want to call and prospect. Think I’m wrong? Answer the following questions honestly to be sure.
1) Are you doing administrative tasks that can wait during prime selling hours?
2) Are you calling on only your best and favorite customers, perhaps a little too often when you could be filling your bucket with new prospects and suspects even though it’s a little uncomfortable?
3) Are you tired? Know your burn out factor, recharge and then get back at it.
4) Is your follow up to a first call or touch sub par?
5) Binge and purge calling- sometimes you do it some times you don’t. Set the level high enough that it will produce the results you want but make it a goal you can obtain with a little extra focus and effort. If the bar is too low then your sales will match
Calling Plans – a little planning goes a long way as was the case with Tom. Planning was part of the key to his success, it didn’t distract from the work at hand but it did compliment greatly.
Have a purpose- why are you calling. If you’re only real answer is “to sell stuff” better start selling yourself into a new job. One of my early mentors reminded me on each sales call to always leave a reason to call back. Make sure that you find a reason to make a repeat call on a Customer. Whether it was to tell them about a shipment, a new product, service or seminar you are offering or something new in the industry. Always have a purpose to every call. Your Customers are busy people, don’t waste their time with idle chit chat. Make sure that your call enhances their day at least in some small way.
Measure your results: Banging away mindlessly doesn’t help if you aren’t getting the right results. Take time and review how your calls went and the strengths and weaknesses at the end of each prospecting session. It will help you be more prepared and keep you from forgetting to do the things that worked best.
Lead Management: want to loose a great opportunity, lose track of a lead, forget to call them back or send a letter. You need an iron clad system to make sure no one ever slips through the cracks. There are lots of ways to do that some of which will be cover in the tools chapter.
Responsibility as a Motive (and Motivator)
There is a personal responsibility to selling, you manager’s don’t want to ride you about your performance but activity drives results. It is plain and simple if you don’t put the work in you won’t get the results. If you’re truly putting the work in and it’s not happening for you seek help. Dedicate time with your Manager and the top producers you know. They don’t have to be at your company but can be trusted friend, former employer.
This is not just about making enough to pay the bills, feed your family or taking a great vacation. It is all about reaching deep inside when it’s the toughest and doing what counts and in your selling professions darkest hour to stand out and achieve and be proud of what you’ve been able to accomplish.
There is a great sales person in the north east whose name is Peter. You won’t see him on the cover of any business publication but the guy can just plain sell. His style is direct and at times even a bit abrupt and abrasive but he knows how to prospect. During a conversation with Peter one day he was discussing the type of deal that would have made most sales people’s year. It was darn near seven figures and the margin which is how he is measured and compensated was quite nice, almost double that of an average years effort. A comment was made about how great the deal was to which he replied… “yeah it’ll be good for a month or two but then we all need to sell something else” the reality was he knew that despite his big win he needed to get right back to work and maybe even play a little catch up since so much time had gone into the win. There was no celebration, no little I’m the greatest happy dance in public or private; it was simply a fact that he knew he needed to go get more business. So I asked where do your leads come from? He laughed and said inside sales, most of his leads were generated from others who had narrowed down the list of suspects into four prospects a week. It was a luxury that he had knowing he was being given opportunities. Peter’s prospecting began when those names were handed over. So digging a little deeper I asked about the mix of opportunities. 30% were net new, 40% were people who were prospects on average 3 years ago who didn’t buy for what ever reason and the remainder were additional opportunities with in existing customers. If nothing else this shows simply that 70% of the time in front of customers was spent getting new business from new people and while caring for their existing base the company and Peter’s sales growth was based on winning new accounts. Most companies or reps that grow win new accounts, and do so regularly.
So how many calls did the engine behind Peter have to make to generate those Opportunities. There were three full time calling professionals that handled a mix of inbound sales calls that they found occasional additional opportunities in who were supporting 9 outside sales reps. On average those outside reps could count on 4 leads a week from the calling team. They worked from a base of 25,000 names in a CRM systems and cycled through it. To get those they each needed to make 1125 calls and designate them as viable opportunities, dead, or follow up later.
Those prospects weren’t enough to fuel his engine. So Peter networked, he asked for referrals, and spread out his contacts through out his client and prospects organizations.
Tip: when leaving a voicemail message always speak slowly and clearly and be sure to leave your phone number twice. (Did you remember the tips the first time? If so great if not good thing we told you twice.)
Prospecting is a necessary evil, you need to challenge your self and be creative on where you find fresh new opportunities. Keep in mind to set goals and measure your results because nothing is worse than doing the hard work without getting the upside benefits. Makes sure you have a purpose with each call that matters, just checking in to see how things are going is a lazy reason. Do the work to make sure every opportunity that materializes gets a fair chance at turning into business and also know when to walk away. If someone wants to talk price and nothing else you’re setting yourself up for a miserable business relationship.
TIP: Schedule time with yourself every day for your prospecting activity. Make it an appointment in your calendar and show up for the appointment! Set a number of calls that you want to make during your prospecting hour, and have a list of calls prepared. Have the phone number, company url, contact name if possible, your call script…be prepared.
