Problem: The following frustration was shared with me by a salesperson the other day. “I reached out to 57 potential prospects this week and only 8 of them gave me the time I needed to tell them what I do. The rest of them said they were busy and didn’t have time to talk. I have been taught that prospects are concerned that salespeople will take up too much of their time so I always ask if they have a few minutes to talk. What do I have to do to earn a minute of time?”
Problem: It was a gloomy day and had just started to rain when Rick left his second lousy appointment of the day. “Man,” he thought to himself, “it’s pouring down rain, my car is at the other end of the parking lot, and this appointment that I drove 40 miles to see was a total waste of time. My grandmother is a better prospect than this guy.” He put his head down and dejectedly trudged through the rain towards his car. On his way back to the office, he reflected on the appointments he had been on recently. The majority of them had been similar to these two, a waste of time for the most part… nobody seemed interested in buying. He was starting to feel like they were all bad prospects. The gloomy day mirrored his mood perfectly. He needed to do something quickly since his sales were starting to suffer.
Problem: We often hear from our clients that when they finally get past the gatekeeper, the prospect requests literature prior to committing to see them and after the literature has been sent, they can’t get the prospect back on the phone.
Everyone who is selling anything has been there over and over. Salespeople have tons of literature from the marketing department to mail to prospects that request information. The problem is that 99% of the literature that is sent out just becomes “litter.” A bigger problem is that the salesperson is under the illusion that the prospect is really interested and will give them an appointment. The reality is that they were relegated to the trash heap with the proven “send me a brochure” brush-off.