This text is from our consulting firm's latest 321 Biz Development episode found on 18 podcast platforms. There is too much content to write for this article, so readers are referred to the podcast for the complete story.
For a business owner (or salesperson) hearing the phrase "Don't call us, we'll call you" from a prospect after the appointment IS the kiss of death. The salesperson will not close the deal to add the client.
There's no recovering from the "don't call us, we'll call you" prospect response.
Usually, before salespeople hear the soul-crushing phrase, obstacle handling techniques are used to persuade prospects to buy after salespeople have been told "no".
For people unfamiliar with objection handling techniques, these techniques originated right after World War II during the era of product-pitching. Product-pitching involved salespeople talking at appointments about 90% of the time, then asking prospects right after the pitch if they wanted to buy.
If prospects said "no", salespeople would recall their training how to turn the "no" into a "yes". If the prospect still said "no" (and most of the time prospects still refused to buy), the prospects would use their own technique of telling salespeople to expect a call about the prospects decision to buy.
The salesperson, finally realizing a sale would not happen during the appointment, the salesperson would request a date to call the prospect about his or her decision. This is when the salesperson would hear something to the effect, "don't call us, we'll call you".
How did the salesperson get to this ugly stage in a sales transaction where the prospect is kicking the salesperson out of the office or out of the home, figuratively speaking? And, I have heard where the prospect-salesperson appointment ended with not-so-kind words and bitterness!
It's a shame that some salesperson-trainees are sitting in training sessions learning how to use objection handling techniques. These techniques do not work and they destroy salespeople's careers right from the start.
Sales departments are doing great harm to their sales representatives by teaching objection handling techniques.
I'm 100% certain a no-sale appointment with confrontation will not deliver any referrals.
Using the 321 Biz Dev "Selling Without Appearing to Sell" sales system completely removes the possibility of hearing prospects say "don't call us, we'll call you".
"Selling Without Appearing to Sell", or SWAS, is designed to remove all the landmines salespeople lay for themselves which result in only a 7% percent probability to close appointments successfully. You see, 7% of people will buy regardless if salespeople do a good job or not.
SWAS helps both prospects and salespeople by removing anxiety and frustration from the appointment setting.
Ideally, SWAS is maximized to generate a minimum 80% closing probability if salespeople connect with potential clients at the beginning of the five, front-end sales activities.
The five, front-end sales activities are: contacting, prospecting, appointment setting, closing and getting zero-cost referrals.
If salespeople enter SWAS at the appointment stage (e.g, a potential client finds you on the Internet or is referred to you), it is important for salespeople to quickly do two things:
Control the interview and
Manage expectations
321 Biz Dev sales system clients are trained how to master these two items.
If this episode/article provoked some deep thought about improving your sales performance, please do not hesitate to contact me, Rick Nappier, at 726-999-0999.
Interested parties can click here to visit our website. Then, click the Questionnaire tab to complete the 5-minute questionnaire so 321 Biz Dev can learn more about your current sales situation or learn about your current or past experiences with trying to improve sales performance. A 321 Biz Dev specialist will contact you within two business days to review your responses.
We hope your enjoyed today’s post and linked podcast episode. Please check out the podcast episode for a lot more content on this subject matter.
Rick, CEO