I was recently asked in a B2B Sales Connections LinkedIn Group Discussion: how do you call a prospect who said “no” the last time? He said “not interested, we are covered” and hung up. How are you going to call him again? What do you say? “I know last time you said no to me but I would like to explore your situation a little bit deeper?” I think that if he hung up on you the first time, he will probably do it again.
How Do You Call a Prospect Who Said No?
My response: When we make a telephone prospecting call, we never know the situation we are calling into. The fire alarms could be going off, for all we know. As such, when the prospect says, “I’m not interested” and hangs up, this is often a very automated response. In fact, in my experience, when you call back, the prospect will not even remember you called the first time. Therefore, you cannot assume he will hang up on you again. In fact, you have to believe the exact opposite. In other words, if I truly believe that I can help the prospect get to where he wants to go, I keep calling!
What Is The Prospect Actually Telling You?
Let’s take this a step further. When a prospect says to you, “I’m not interested”, what he really is saying is “you were not interesting enough”.
Therefore, you have to create a prospecting headline that is very customer focused that makes them think, “tell me more”.
You can also download a free whitepaper entitled “How to Create Your Unique Value Proposition” to help you get started to improve you approach from the B2B Sales Connections Free Download Centre.
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Turn the No into a Yes!
The bottom line is the better your prospecting approach, the more times you will hear yes. You need a “Tell me more” headline and you need to know how to handle the “I am happy with my current supplier” objection.
For detailed information on how to create a prospecting approach that minimizes the no’s, and maximizes the yes’s, check out my eBook, Action Plan For Sales Success. As one reader wrote, “I have Susan's sales training book and I highly recommend it. She has produced a step by step process for winning at the sales game.”
For more ideas on how to improve your lead generation, check out my 3 best B2B sales prospecting tips.
Aim Higher!
Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Coach and Author
Schedule a free sales coaching strategy session with Susan here.
“… what I can tell anyone, is simply this – If you want to learn and understand sales, talk to Susan.”
Do you have a question about sales? You’re not alone. Most salespeople have questions like this on how they can sell more. For the right answers, check out my book, Ask the Sales Coach-Practical Answers to the Questions Sales People Ask Most.
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