Dealing with Call Reluctance: Part 1

Call reluctance is an internal feeling where one’s attitude many times interferes with a sales person’s ability to prospect effectively.  Sales people often refer to it as a fear of rejection and it is much more prevalent than many would admit.  Sales people will rarely acknowledge that it exists, but it has been a problem for many for a number of years.  Irrespective of how much sales training an individual has taken or the extent of product knowledge, there is an unspoken fear that persists despite what they sell.  This fear can be crippling to one’s business success. 

I worked with a salesman a few years ago that no matter how much sales or attitudinal training he was given, he failed to change his activity, behavior or drive to succeed.  When I inquired about his prospecting activity he was full of excuses; in fact he had become a pro beyond imagination at covering his behind.  He was the prototype in what we envision in a sales person with high energy, ability to communicate at great lengths and highly skilled in product knowledge.  He was everyone’s poster boy for what a sales person should be, and I had been brought aboard to see if we could salvage him.  His company had spent a lot of time and money in his development and he seemed to be a perfect fit, except for his lack of efficient prospecting and business development.  The process of transformation does not occur overnight.  To begin the process of his changeover I had to get to the root of his fear.  So finally, one day I asked him to level with me about what his problem was and he finally admitted that it was a deep rooted lack of confidence and self- assurance when it came to calling on potential clients. 

Next week we are going to discuss his transformation into a core confident prospector that translated into a sales person’s professional- professional.

Your Business Model--Fixing the Problem, Not the Plan

A business model is like a cube. For an effective business concept to excel, all six sides need to be vibrantly graphic, well-defined, and polished. There needs to be a nice blend of realism, do-ability, and durability complimented with a product or service that is on the forefront and positioned to effectively solve other people’s problems.

As a business advisor for 20 years, I’ve learned that in putting together an effective game plan that there is no need to rebuild the entire model. By doing a SWOT (strength-weakness-opportunity-threat) analysis one can begin to identify the strengths and weaknesses within their business plan. From there, a business must simply fix what needs to be fixed, tweak the strengths and rebuild the weak links into a plan that allows the business to maximize its potential.

Overall, I have found that most people are inherently resistant to change, but love the results that transpire when change occurs. As Anthony Robbins said, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” For example, if a certain sales piece is not producing the numbers for increasing and strengthening the top and bottom line, then it needs to be reevaluated to determine what’s missing in the sales concept and process. This requires one to think not only within the box, but to also explore outside the box for answers.

For an effective business model, all six sides of the cube must be working at capacity within a game plan that is well thought out and doable. By identifying weaknesses within the structure, a business can focus on polishing certain aspects of the plan rather than starting anew every time.

Business Development

You’ve probably heard that there is a five-year hump in getting a business started and on solid footing. That was pretty accurate 10-15 years ago and seems to be on target today. Sometimes, our businesses plateau and we struggle to continue the growth in an ever competitive business environment.

There are only three things that you can control in getting your business up and running or energizing an emerging enterprise.

1.  Attitude

I’m a great believer in the laws of attraction. If your mindset is envisioning a negative outcome instead of a positive one, you can probably count on the negative conclusion occurring. The end result will be similar to your thinking pattern. Part of making changes is sometimes rethinking your goals and objectives and setting up a doable game plan with all the right activity and behavior

2. Activity

You need to ask yourself: What are you doing everyday that is creating positive synergy to fill the funnel with possibilities, prospects, and business opportunity. Positive activity is something that you can control and is contagious once you get it going.

3. Behavior

Behavior will set a strong precedent to how you will succeed in business. I find that many times people continue to do the same thing, but expect a different outcome. If your behavior is not what you want it to be, then I would suggest making the changes that you feel are appropriate and staying with that game plan for at least 21 days to ensure the change that you’re implementing become a habit

If you can get your attitude, activity, and behavior moving in the right direction, you will be amazed at the positive outcome.

What Sales Is

Selling is a concept of communication that allows the prospect and the sales representative to discover if the product or service (p/s) represented has the wherewithal to not only solve the prospect’s issues/problem but more so afford the purchaser to move forward in a more efficient manner in relationship to their respective business.

The most important part of the selling process is the transaction phase. This is when the consummation of an agreement has been reached or you have decided not to do business or move forward for any number of reasons. But you both have come to the conclusion that the p/s is not a good fit, which is ok.

Only four things happen in a sales scenario:

·         a yes

·         a no

·         a crystal-clear future

·         a lesson

To which all four are positive

I talked with a sales manager last week in which he shared with me that his sales people have a problem with closing, or consummating a transaction. It surprised him when I shared that the closing was not the problem and that it is actually the easiest aspect of the sales process. The failure took place when the price based on the values did not transcend one another which can be a common occurrence for those that have not developed a systematic process to selling.