Don’t you just love it when you get that phone call, completely out of the blue, with just the perfect solution to that knotty problem you’ve been struggling with? You know, the call that’s going to take your business from where it is now, to a whole different league. The solution that’s going to make you look just brilliant to your peers or your boss.
You don’t? I know, you’re really too busy to listen. You’re under pressure to meet that important deadline. You really don’t have time for this. There’s pretty much no way that you’re going to buy. But you don’t want to give the caller a hard time, so you’ll give them a hearing anyway, not wanting to be rude – after all, they’re only trying to do a job.
One that you’ll probably be doing tomorrow, with your leads and prospects. And you’d want *them* to give you that little bit of time, to present why your solution will be the turning point for their business, wouldn’t you?
So you politely listen, absently giving the odd vague and non-committal response, as they run through their pitch. All the time, quietly – unconsciously – resenting the distraction from your urgent and important work. Wishing that they’d get to the point and stop waffling on – surely they can tell from your evasive grunts that they’re wasting your time?
Well, I have news for you: they’re not wasting your time – you’re wasting theirs. Those precious minutes in their sales day that they’ve spent presenting their case to your half-open ear and your seven-eighths-closed mind, they could have been talking to someone who actually gives a damn about them. Because you clearly don’t, otherwise you’d give them that opportunity to move on to a better prospect.
And that’s not the worst of it. Not by a long way. You’re sabotaging your own phone prospecting efforts too. Think about it – what message are you implanting in your unconscious mind? That people receiving unsolicited phone calls are resentful about them. Even (especially, probably) when they don’t cut you off, when they appear to be interested.
So there you are, prattling away, giving it your best pitch. And all the time your unconscious is providing a running commentary in the background: “Hey, she’s listening, at least. Well, maybe. Probably just being polite, I expect. Not interested at all, in fact. You’re wasting your time here. Dunno why you’re bothering really …” Do you think that those doubts might possibly find their way into your voice; do you think they’re going to believe your pitch?
So next time I call you up out of the blue, do us both a favour – if you’re not interested, just say so. And if it’s something that could be of interest to you, but this really isn’t a good time, just say so and book a call at a convenient time. That way, you tell your unconscious mind that when someone’s listening to a cold-call sales pitch, it’s because it’s something they really want to hear, about something they actually have a need for. Something there’s a real chance of them buying. From you.