“Hello. I’m looking for Sharon Morgen?”

“Sharon Drew Morgen”.

“What? Sharon Morgan?”

“No. Sharon DREW”

“Um. Hello. Are you Mrs. Drew?”

“Mrs. Morgen. That’s me. Is this a sales call?”

“Um. Hi. No. I’m with XYZ Bank and I’m going to give you a service call.”

“About what? I don’t do business with you. And you’re not supposed to make a telemarketing call to me. So what kind of service do you offer for free?”

“Well, it’s not free. But we thought you might like to learn about our new banking services.”

“Ah. So it IS a sales call.”

“We’re not allowed to say that.”

This call really happened.

I lost a lot of business years ago because I advocated telling prospects, “This is a sales call.” For some reason, the Director of Sales was called to announce that it was a sales call. Who would prospects think they were talking to? His wife of him? His mother of him? A relative? A friend? I’m a stranger, obviously. And why would you call them? Was I from your child’s school announcing a problem? Or from the neighborhood, with a report of a house on fire? How about a person from the dry cleaners, telling them I lost their new suit?

What’s wrong with telling prospects you’re making a sales call? They’ll figure it out anyway when they don’t recognize your voice. It will also be obvious because your opening remarks will likely sound awkward, like a stranger calling another stranger.

But it does not have to be like that.

NO NAME, NO TIME

Let’s start with the name game. Dale Carnegie used to recommend that salespeople repeat the prospect’s name because he thought people loved hearing his own name. Either because the phone systems in 1937 weren’t that great or because it was a commonly accepted belief, that’s not the case anymore. When we really know someone, we rarely use their name. Intimacy means never having to say someone’s name; there’s just this eye contact that people have, or a special way of saying ‘Hello’. It’s me.”

Of course you use people’s names, I’m being a bit of a joke here, but not repeatedly during the same conversation, and not often, when you know someone well.

When you overuse a prospect’s name, it becomes a ploy to manipulate them into liking you so you can fantasize about being their friend and convince this person that you want or are in a RELATIONSHIP.

But it is not true. Hearing his name spoken repeatedly by a stranger makes prospects feel even more distant.

And what about the assumption that they’re sitting there, waiting for this call, with nothing to do but take the call, even if it’s a bank they do business with or a charity they donate to?

What is it about a sales call that makes it about the salesperson anyway? What do you do about the product? Why is this even a sale?

Why not make a sales call, even a prospecting call, as an aspect of your brand? A way to show your prospects that you’re supporting them and their product, through a partnership (rather than a sale)?

FEAR OF COLD CALLS

Let me back up for a moment. I have trained many thousands of salespeople; I can name, for one thing, the number of people who have eagerly sought out cold calling (and I’m one of them. I LOVE IT, so much fun! What a great way to meet people!). Why? Because sellers don’t want to impose themselves on strangers. Because you think prospects don’t have the time or attention. Because they reject you. Because your ego says prospects should call you.

But none of that has to be true. Let’s look at the pieces and then proceed to understand how each can be mitigated with purchase facilitation.

impose on strangers
When you make a call to a stranger (either prospects or customers who have been referred to you by a previous salesperson) they naturally don’t know who you are, and you have no relationship with them. By definition, you are taxing. Also, you are making a call to get something for yourself and in fact you are trying to take something away from them. Whether it’s to ‘make’ them listen to you, buy something from you or do something for you. It’s not like you’re calling to give them a million dollars: you want them to do something, like listen to you, buy from you, or make change for you in some way. So you want something from this person.

But this person is a stranger. Why should this person give you anything, unless they are already predisposed to want what you have anyway? Remember that before someone does something (different or not) they must make the decision to do it. And all decisions are based on specific and unique criteria, not information. So all the information in the world you might have to share is irrelevant if the person doesn’t know how to decide what to do with it.

Weather
Your prospect is obviously not sitting by the phone waiting for a call from you. He/she is doing something. Whatever it is, he’s up to something. To earn the right to use some of this person’s time, you must apply and announce why she should use her time. Asking if it’s a good time to talk (not the same as saying ‘Do you have a moment?’ – the implication here is, ‘do you have a moment FOR ME’) will help here.

Rejection
Why do they reject you? Because you are trying to get something from this person that YOU want to get. And they say no.

What does ‘not’ do? Causes a stop action. There is no possibility of advance when ‘no’ is pronounced; the person who is negative has the power in any relationship.

As long as you keep trying to get your needs met with a cold call, try to get someone to listen to what you want to say, try to get someone to buy something, even an idea, you will continue to be rejected by everyone. of those people who do not consciously recognize the need for what you are promoting.

When you are lucky and receive a positive response, it will be from those who have already determined a need and then you become a commodity. You better have a ‘good price’ for those who will accept your call, because they won’t know how else to choose you once you join the ranks of similar providers.

USING PURCHASE FACILITATION TO SUPPORT MUTUAL AGREEMENT

Using the buyout facilitation as the basis for the call will not be to take anything, sell anything, push anything, or even find out anything. Your job is:

1. help the other person recognize if there is something missing in the category that your product can support, and if so, how to start the process of designing a solution that will fix their problem (yes, even on a cold call, you can help the prospect start the process of a complex sale);

2. help them figure out their criteria to consider if it’s time to fill a void by doing something they haven’t done before.

It’s not about you, or your product, or what you’re offering. Until or unless a buyer recognizes that what he is doing is not working, and until he is ready to do something different to fix/change the status quo, nothing he says will be heard. Remember: people do not make decisions based on information.

By using purchase facilitation, your job is to help people make the necessary decisions that will support the change they would have to go through to do something different than what they are already doing.

Use your cold calling to help people decide. And start the call by going into the report and inviting people to collaborate with you:

Caller: “Hello. My name is Sharon Drew Morgen. This is a sales call and I’m selling sales training. Is this a good time to talk?”

By using this opening, you are telling people who you are and why you are calling, telling people that you are respectful of their time, letting them know that you are an honest person, saying exactly what you are calling, and not trashing their name. (somehow the name in front of you is never the right person or never the right name). And just one thing I’ve found to be true: Unless you’re calling from a company with a well-known brand name, saying your company name is unnecessary—you won’t be recognized or remembered.

If the person says it’s not a good time, ask if there is a better time to call back. Don’t try to throw a quick pitch, just ask if there’s a better time. If the person says they have a few minutes, say:

“I appreciate the time. And if the call goes on longer than you have time to complete, we can end it when it’s good for you and pick it up another time.”

In this way, you are giving the person permission to have control over the call. After all, they are in control anyway. By using this opening, it is actually the first step in the Purchase Facilitation Method®, you will have already dealt with the timing and enforcement issues, and the rejection will not be on you.
And remember: make your call to help them make discoveries and decisions. Don’t use your time to push anything. Otherwise, you’re wasting a great opportunity to find a new client and present your brand of integrity.