Cold Call Objections

No matter whether you’re a telesales rep, a business development manager, telemarketing agent or anyone who works in sales, you’ll receive lots of them throughout your sales career.

What am I talking about? Cold call objections and rebuttals.

You’ll hear all types of excuses, delays, and objections.

“I have no money”

“I don’t have time”

“Call me back later”

“We already use someone”

Some people will be pleasant to you as you make your calls and others will not. If you are persistent and are professional, you will come across people who are interested in what you sell. So, if you’re patient and use the right technique then you can succeed cold calling.

And don’t think cold calling is dead either. There might be a movement for Social Selling but that means a lot of salespeople are hiding behind their keyboards sending loads of messages out, hoping some will stick. If you make the cold calls, you’re going to face much less competition than the past. So, let’s dive in and take a look at some cold calling tips and examples.

Best Sales Rebuttal For Not Interested

You:
“Hi, Louise. Ethan James here, with XYZ Solutions…”

Prospect:
“I’m not interested!”

Arrrgh!

Below is a very effective way to handle the “not interested,” come back.

However, it is not a script to follow verbatim.

Though I am going to put this in the form of a hypothetical cold call, the words are not important.

I want to convey the idea, the concept, and the thought process behind it.

The concept is only to help get you past the initial automatic “not interested” reaction.

From there, you can proceed.

The concept consists of five steps:

1. Understand: Let the prospect know that you fully understand that he or she is not interested and in fact, should not be interested at this time
2. Compliment: Commend the prospect for his or her lack of interest and reasoning
3. Raise Objections: Give the prospect a few reasons, objections why they should not be interested
4. Pick One: Ask prospect which is the primary reason, objection
5. The Reason: Inform the prospect that is the very reason for your call

Here is an example

Sales Person: “Hi, Mr Prospect. Ethan James here, with XYZ Solutions…”

Prospect: “I’m not interested!”

Sales Person: “I knew you wouldn’t be interested Mr Prospect. I fully understand that. Do you have a real quick minute?”

Prospect: “Ah….Well, I guess…”

Sales Person: “You see, Mr Prospect, my information is that your company is a leader in the industry so I have to assume that if you had an interest in my company/product, you would have called me. Does that make sense?”

Prospect: “Yeah.”

Sales Person: “I also have to assume that the reason you are not interested is because you already have a supplier you work with and are completely satisfied…good service, great pricing and they have earned your business—is that right?”

Prospect: “Well, actually, yes. I’ve been dealing with the same company for six years—have no complaints.”

Sales Person: “Of course. And that is exactly why I called. At this time, I dare not even think about asking you to give me any of your business; I haven’t earned it. However, I have found that most business owners in your industry…

And you are into your presentation.

Understand that it is normal and OK if the prospect is not interested when you call. Don’t fight it. Use it.

As a Sales Training Provider, we offer several sales training courses that you can attend to improve your skills and up your sales game.

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

 
Your mission is to cold call the company, find out who is the decision maker (DM), find out that person’s name, get pass the gatekeeper, reach this DM, and set an appointment.  Whew!

Even if you already know the likely job title of the DM, it is still frustrating when you do not have a name and the gatekeeper (GK) refuses to give you one or to connect you without one.  In the following three articles, I will give you some extremely powerful and effective ways to deal with the no-name policy situation.  First up: How to get a name…any name.

Get a Name…Any Name
First, find a name…any name in that company.  Check the company’s web site, literature or business listing and get the name of anyone in any department.

The Web Search
Another way to do this is to go to any internet search engine and enter the position, title or department you are looking for, an asterisk (*), AND the company web site name, and enclose the entry with quotes.  For instance, looking for someone in the purchasing department at ABC Widgets, you might enter…

“purchasing* AND abcwidgets”  Or

“*purchasing AND abcwidgets” Or

“*purchasing AND abc+widgets”

These entries command the search engine to return all pages that contain the word purchasing in relation to the company.  Of course, most of these pages will be on the company’s web site, but there will be others as well.  With this, you are bound to find a name in that department.

You might also enter the asterisk along with the company’s email configuration:

“*@abcwidgets.com”

This command will return pages that contain an email addresses for that company.

With enough skill and a bit of luck, sometimes you will actually find the exact name or email address of the decision maker you are looking for.  In any case, get a name or two in that company, and hopefully in the department for which you need to contact.

Coming Wednesday August 24^st, 2011
Handling the “No Name” Policy When Cold Calling Part II – What to Do with the Name

As an award winning Sales Training Provider in the UK, we offer a wide range of Sales Courses that can help you.

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training