I’m thinking of two words here, can you guess them? Your prospects will use these two words as a way to resist you and what you are selling. These two words are called "Sales Objections" and they will be a constant variable in the sales process. The only power that you have and that you can control is how you react to these objections. Charles Swindoll, American author, once said that life is "10% what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it!"
What are some strategies that you can use in response to your prospect’s resistance? The most obvious answer would be the questions that you ask your prospect that help them self-discover why they need your product or service. This makes a lot of sense, however, prospects are not waiting for your call, they are busy and very often prospects can be impatient. How do you even the playing field so that you can reduce this resistance? Below are seven practical tips that you can use immediately to reduce cold call resistance and these tips include:
1. USE HUMOR TO REDUCE RESISTANCE
Humor has a permeating effect to instantly change a prospect’s attitude from negative to positive. Try using a clever comeback when a prospect presents you with a sales objection. Another use of humor can be incorporated into the messages that you leave on your prospect’s voicemail. Since most voicemails from salespeople all sound the same they are than more likely to be deleted. When you use humor, you are standing out in a very unique way and you can expect to receive an immediate callback.
2. USE ENTHUSIASM TO REDUCE RESISTANCE
When you are enthusiastic over the telephone you create this energy between you can your prospect that is contagious. This positive energy can alter attitudes and buying behaviors. If you are excited about what you sell, don’t you think your prospect will wonder what all the excitement is about? Of course they will!
3. INTRODUCE NEW WAYS OF THINKING OR NEW IDEAS TO REDUCE RESISTANCE
Life really is about perception. We may hear something in conversation and one person perceives it one way and another person may perceive it in a completely different way. In sales these same principles apply, for example, if you are presented with a price objection perhaps you want to breakdown the price for them. In other situations you may want to start using more words in your sales presentations that inspire feeling or imagery. Again, life is about perception and people buy according to what makes sense to them.
4. USE CREATIVITY TO REDUCE RESISTANCE
Creativity has the ability to transform thought. It has a magnetizing effect and is a powerful tool that you can use to inspire one’s curiosity. Once you have their curiosity, you now have their attention and this means your chances have now increased dramatically for your ultimate outcome---closing the sale! How and when do you use creativity? Creativity can be used in the words you say when describing your product, how you say something, what you say on your prospect’s voicemail or even in the presentation of your business proposal.
5. USE PASSION AND PERSISTENCE TO REDUCE RESISTANCE
The most successful salespeople are the ones who target the most successful prospects. When contacting these prospects it’s important to know that these prospects did not get to where they are by being reactive; they got to where they are now because of their enduring persistence! They jumped over many corporate hurdles to climb the corporate ladder to get to the position where they are now. They know that their climb to success wasn’t easy and can relate to passionate and persistent salespeople. If you are persistent, your persistence will be respected and your outcomes will be even that much greater.
6. USE INSPIRATION AND MOTIVATION TO REDUCE RESISTANCE
Can you think of the last time that you were inspired to do something? What motivated you to action? One way to inspire and motivate your prospects to action is by listening to motivational audio tapes and/or cds. When you begin listening to them you will be inspired and you can use this newfound inspiration by incorporating key phrases and quotes into your sales presentation. Some of my favorite speakers and authors include: Les Brown, Anthony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Dale Carnegie, Dr. Carol Fleming and Brian Tracy.
7. USE THE POWER OF DIFFERENCE TO REDUCE RESISTANCE
Once again, prospects have become conditioned to resist your telephone call. It’s so important that you do something different to break up your prospect’s conditioned state of mind. When you do something different or something non-traditional in nature, you are STANDING OUT in a crowded marketplace. "The Power Of Difference" can be applied to any stage of the sales process. The earlier you apply these principles, the more likely you will inspire your prospect’s curiosity and the more likely you will increase your odds of closing a sale.
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