That Awkward Moment When You Finally Reach Your Sales Prospect
by Mr. Cold Call
You’ve
spoken with your prospect’s assistant at least four or five times and no
prospect. You’ve even left messages with
your prospect’s assistant and still no prospect. You’ve left multiple voicemails for your
prospect and again, no prospect. Either
you have the worst possible timing or your prospect is just too busy to take
your call. It’s most likely they are
just too busy to take your call.
Another
week goes by and you then decide to try your prospect once again. You dial your prospect and guess what happens
next? Your prospect actually answers the
telephone! In a way it’s a bit awkward,
no? What I mean here is the fact that you
know that your prospect is busy and your prospect knows that you know that
he or she is busy, so what do you do now?
The most
obvious answer is to proceed with your sales pitch. I’m guessing that most sales reps would do
this and there is nothing wrong with such an approach. But this thought process is coming from the
mind of a sales rep, so your perspective might be different than the person
on the other end who is taking your call.
Your prospect may not even want to speak with you? In fact, they probably even know why you are
calling and really see you as an intrusion on their time. They may even get turned off by you and now
you have ruined your chance of ever doing business with them! So now what?
What should you do?
When you
reach your prospect I recommend that you say something to "break the ice." I recommend that you say something that helps
to reduce that awful tension that you feel when you finally get your prospect
on the telephone. I recommend that you say something that may make your prospect smile or
laugh. Once you have “broken the ice” I
would then introduce yourself, reiterate that you have been trying to reach
them and state the reason why they may want to take your call. So what words or phrases am I
suggesting?
When you
finally get your hard to reach prospect on the phone, here are a few examples
that you could use to reduce your prospect’s resistance:
“(First
name of prospect), this is better than winning the lottery!” (Pause, introduce yourself, reiterate that
you have been trying to reach them and finally, state the reason why they may
want to take your telephone call)
“(First
name of prospect), this can’t be true, I can’t believe that I’m actually
speaking with you!” (Pause, introduce
yourself, reiterate that you have been trying to reach them and finally, state
the reason why they may want to take your telephone call)
“(First
name of prospect), I need to pinch myself here, WOW! I can’t believe this!” (Pause, introduce yourself, reiterate that
you have been trying to reach them and finally, state the reason why they may
want to take your telephone call)
“(First
name of prospect), looks like my persistence has paid off here!” (Pause, introduce yourself, reiterate that
you have been trying to reach them and finally, state the reason why they may want
to take your telephone call)
“(First
name of prospect), I hope that you don’t mind my persistence.” (Pause, introduce yourself, reiterate that
you have been trying to reach them and finally, state the reason why they may
want to take your telephone call)
Do these
examples work? The short answer is yes,
but if you are already saying this is stupid then would you do me a favor?Don’t even try it! You’ve already made up your mind and this
approach will not work. If you are open
to using these examples it’s important not only what you say, but how you say
it! These “Ice-Breakers” need to be said
with confidence, enthusiasm and with a smile!
Once you can do this, you will soon find that your prospect will loosen
up and really listen to what you have to say!
Copyright 2008 Mr. Cold Call, Inc. - All rights reserved.
Behind The Scenes With Mr. Cold Call™
Mr. Cold Call™ is a worldwide sensation and
claims to have made over 80,000 cold calls to date. He has been quoted
by numerous national publications such as Selling Power Magazine,
Investor's Business Daily, Successful Fund Raising and Advantage
Magazine. He has written over 65 articles on cold calling, developed a sales ratio calculator that automatically calculates your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly sales ratios, offers a custom sales script service called "The Script Responder" and finally, is the author of four best-selling ebooks with FREE email support and these titles include:
For more information on Mr. Cold Call™ and to sign-up for his free weekly cold calling tips visit www.mrcoldcall.com
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