3 Cold Calling Mistakes That Trigger Rejection

In the old cold calling mindset, you’re taught to focus on the sale and be completely confident that what you’re offering is something the other person should buy.

Here are 3 common cold calling techniques that you should probably avoid:

Mistake #1: Center the conversation around yourself and what you have to offer

In the old approach, you introduce yourself, explain what you do, and suggest a benefit or feature of your product. And then you close your eyes and pray that the other person will be interested

Unfortunately, the moment you stop talking you usually hear, "Sorry, I’m busy," or "Sorry, I'm not interested."

You see, you’ve started your cold call by talking about your world and what you have to offer. But realistically, most people aren’t all that interested in you. When you talk about your company and your product, it’s just another advertisement to them. You haven’t engaged them, so they often just "turn the page."

Prospects are much more interested in themselves and what’s important to them. So if you start the conversation by focusing on their world, they’re more likely to interact with you.

So instead, talk about an issue or problem they may need solving. Focus on them rather than on what you have to offer. And see where it takes you.

Mistake #2: Be confident they should buy your product or service

In the old cold calling mindset, you’re taught to focus on the sale and be completely confident that what you’re offering is something the other person should buy.

The problem with this approach is that you haven’t asked them to determine this along with you. So think about it – in the old mindset, you’re really deciding for someone else what’s good for them. I know this isn’t intended, but that’s exactly what comes across to your prospects.

So rather than being full of confidence and enthusiasm, stop for a minute and think about the other individual. Relax into a real conversation instead of moving into a persuasive strategy or sales pitch. Put yourself in their shoes and invite them to explore along with you whether what you have to offer is a match for them.

Others really can distinguish the difference. You’re inviting them to see if you might be able to help them solve a problem. This makes for a much better connection right at the beginning, and you’ll get that immediate rejection reaction much less.

Mistake #3: When someone brings up an objection, try to overcome it

You know, one of the reasons cold calling is so difficult is that sometimes you may not be very familiar with the other person and their business. When you make that first call, you don’t know very much about their issues, problems, budget, and time constraints.

Chances are, not everyone is going to benefit by your product or service.

So realistically, your company or product isn’t going to be a match for everyone. And yet, when someone brings up an objection ("we don’t have the budget for that," etc.), the old cold calling mindset trains you to "overcome," "bypass," or "override."

But when you do that, you put the other person on the defensive. Something they’ve said is being dismissed. And here’s where rejection can happen very suddenly.

So it’s much better to listen to their concerns and continue to explore whether what you’re offering makes sense for them. There are some wonderful phrases you can use that validate their viewpoint without closing the conversation.

So now you’ve discovered the 3 major cold calling mistakes people often make. See if you can shift away from those old self-sabotaging mindsets. When you do, you’ll notice that people will engage you much more, and the immediate rejection you’ve grown so accustomed to will happen much less.


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What To Do When Prospects Give You The Silent Treatment

There is a pressure-free way to reestablish communication when your prospect starts giving you the "silent treatment."

If you’ve been selling for a while, you’ve probably had at least one experience in which your prospect suddenly started giving you the "silent treatment."

Anthony described this dilemma very poignantly when he called me a few weeks ago:

"Ari, I don’t know what to do when I get hit with the ‘silent treatment’ -- you know, when I’ve worked with a prospect for quite a while, and we’ve had great conversations, and they've expressed interest in our solution -- and then all of a sudden everything stops.

I try calling them back once or twice. I even send a follow-up e-mail, but nothing. They just disappear. And I figure I’ve lost the sale, and I don’t know what I did wrong, or what to do next. It makes selling feel like such a painful and arduous process."

If this has happened to you, you may have felt anxious and confused. You may have told yourself, "It’s not as if I’m the one who did anything wrong. I put everything into the relationship. How can I rescue the sale if I can’t even get them to talk to me?"

The "Hopeium" Trap
There is a pressure-free way to reestablish communication when your prospect starts giving you the "silent treatment." But first, it’s important to understand why the situation has happened in the first place.

Most of us who sell get caught up in "hopeium," a comical term that means we focus our hopes and desires on making the sale. But hopeium can be a trap, because it's impossible for you to keep in mind your most important goal: to learn your prospect’s truth.

When we fix our minds on the outcome -- making the sale -- we automatically begin anticipating how the process will go, and we also begin expecting that things will happen as we hope they will.
But if we’re in that mindset and our prospect suddenly breaks off communication, we feel lost, anxious, frustrated, discouraged, and confused. We become preoccupied with what went wrong.

We may even feel betrayed.

Is there any way to clear up the mystery?

Yes, by giving up your agenda and learning the truth about where you stand with your prospect --and being ok with whatever the truth may be. "But how can I learn the truth when they’re avoiding me?" you may ask. "And why do I need to let go of the sale?"

Let’s take the second question first.

If you approach your prospect while you still hope the sale will happen, you’ll introduce sales pressure into the relationship. This will push your prospect away from you and destroy any trust you have developed with them. Instead, you can eliminate sales pressure by telling them that you’re okay with their decision if they’ve decided not to move forward.

In other words, you take a step back instead of trying to chase and follow up with calls because you’re focused on getting a "yes."

The bottom line is:
When a prospect gives you the "silent treatment," it doesn’t mean you’ve lost the sale. It just means you don’t know the truth yet.

What you need to do is call and learn the truth.

Why is learning the truth so important?

Here are 4 important reasons:
1. You stop losing confidence in your selling ability. The "silent treatment" threatens our "hopeium." We start blaming ourselves. We don’t know where we stand -- a painful state of limbo. Our self-talk is negative and full of self-blame, and we’re on pins and needles wondering whether the sale will still come through somehow.

2. You increase your selling efficiency and decrease your stress level. Once you learn the truth about your prospect’s situation, you can either stay involved with the prospect or move on. I often say, "A ‘no’ is almost as valuable as a ‘yes.’" Why? Because it frees up your time to find prospects who are a better fit with your solution. This lets you work much more efficiently because you can quickly weed out prospects who aren’t going to buy. Knowing the prospect’s truth lets you walk away without that guilt-laden voice whispering, "If you give up, you don't have what it takes."

Learning your prospect’s truth translates into tangible results that equal real dollars. You’ll also put an end to the self-sabotaging stress that comes from living in "silent treatment" limbo.

3. Sales pressure pushes prospects away. When you respond to the "silent treatment" with calls and e-mails, you’re really telling them that you’re determined to move the sales process forward -- which means you’re looking out for your needs, not theirs. This makes them mistrust you and run the other way.

4. The "silent treatment" -- totally breaking off communication -- is how prospects protect themselves from sales pressure when they don’t feel comfortable telling us their truth. The more we press, the more they run.

But the opposite is true, too. The more we relax and invite the truth, the more straightforward they’ll be with us. Prospects feel okay sharing what’s going on with them when they know we’re okay with hearing it.

How to Reopen Communication
After Anthony and I had talked about some of these issues, he said, "This all makes a lot of sense, Ari, but I’m still not sure what to say when I make that call."

It’s simpler than you might think.
* First, simply give your prospect a call. (E-mail and voicemail are very impersonal, so use them only as last resorts if you can't reach your prospect after several phone calls.)

* Second, take responsibility and apologize for having caused the "silent treatment".

Here’s some language I suggested to Anthony that will make prospects feel safe enough to open up and tell you the truth about their situation:

"Hi, Jim, it’s Anthony. I just wanted, first of all, to call and apologize that we ended up not being able to connect. I feel like somewhere along the way maybe I dropped the ball, or I didn’t give you the information you needed. I’m not calling to move things forward because I’m assuming you’ve probably gone ahead with someone else, and that’s perfectly okay. I’m just checking to see if you may have some feedback as to where I can improve for next time."

When you respond to the "silent treatment" this way, the results will probably surprise you. You may even learn that the prospect has legitimate reasons for not having gotten back to you.

You’ll also find yourself more productive and less frustrated. It’ll make a world of difference in your productivity level, your stress level, your income, and how much you enjoy what you’re doing.

Remember…

You haven’t lost the sale. You just don’t know the truth yet.


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