How can we possibly avoid rejection and still stay “real” while sales calling? Well, the truth is that the more genuine we are, the less likely we are to be rejected. Once you understand why cold calling is so difficult, and you start to shift your mental view of the cold call, then you can move from thoughts to actual language that’s in alignment with this new way of thinking. This new language will help you to sales call without triggering feelings of sales pressure that will lead prospects to reject you.

When you place a call and hear “Hello?,” consider replying by saying in a very relaxed, casual tone of voice, “Hi, my name is, and maybe you can help me out for a second?” Remember, there’s no trust between the two of you yet, so it’s important for you to sound — and be — relaxed and low-key.

This may sound a bit awkward, but hopefully you can be open to trying something new. The point is that when you ask the someone for help, it’s not a sales “technique” — it’s the literal truth. After you say, “Maybe you can help me out for a second?,” the person you called will almost always respond by saying, “Sure. How can I help you?” Why? Because our normal human reaction when someone asks us for help is to offer it.

Eventually, you’ll find that asking, “Maybe you can help me out for a second?” feels easy and relaxed because you’re humanizing your call by being your genuine self. You’re not using the canned phrases that every other salesperson that day has used.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

Sales calling in the advertising industry is a very good example. Typically, what most advertising sales folks start with is an introduction. They talk about their advertising product or services that they offer. But with our problem solving approach, the question becomes, “What does advertising solve for people?” The first thought usually is that it gets people leads. It gets more branding.

Let’s go deeper than that. What do leads do for companies? Leads provide sales, right? So if I sell advertising, I might call and say, “Maybe you can help me out for a second. I’m just calling to see if your company is open to new ideas of generating leads for your business.” From this place, the discussion unfolds around their world, and not your advertising. That’s the real shift in making cold calling relevant to their world.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

In the staffing or recruiting industry, the goal is to call a company and identify whether they need help finding new staff. The old sales calling approach is, “Hi. My name is… I’m with XYZ Staffing Company, and we offer these services. I’m just calling to…” And by that time, the person pretty much says, “We’re not interested,” right?

With this new sales calling approach, the idea is to think about the problem you’re solving. The problem you’re solving is helping them find good people. So I would start the conversation with, “Maybe you can help me out for a second?” And they usually say, “How can I help you?”

I reply, “I’m just calling to see if your company is still looking at finding good, quality employees to hire?” The response to that is likely to be, “Well sure. Who’s this?” This is a normal response which we want to be ready for. I would simply say, “My name is Ari and I’m with XYZ Staffing Company and we help companies identify and find good people. I’m just calling to see if your company is in a situation now where you’re looking to hire and find new people.”

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

People feel pushed along by artificial enthusiasm. This triggers rejection because it feels very intrusive to be pushed by someone they don’t know.

Artificial enthusiasm includes some expectation that our product or service is a great fit for them. Yet, we’ve never spoken with them before, much less had a full conversation with them. We can’t possibly know much about them or their needs. And so to them, we are simply someone who wants to sell them something in our sales calling endeavors.

It is better to modestly assume you know very little about them. Invite them to share with you some of their concerns and difficulties. And allow them to guide the conversation, even when it means getting “off track” a bit.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

Be relaxed and low-key in your sales calling. Otherwise you risk introducing sales pressure immediately. Rather than a presentation, you might begin with the question, “Hi, maybe you can help me out a second?”

The person will almost always respond by saying “Sure. How can I help you?” You’ve now diffused any immediate sales pressure. You’re being genuine and not using the canned phrases that every other salesperson is using. You’ve gotten rid of the usual initial pressure and tension that comes along with sales expectations.

When your expectations are released, others won’t feel you’re trying to lead them down the path to a sale. They are usually willing to examine along with you whether a business relationship might be good.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

When our honest objective is not to make a sale but rather discover the truth of the situation, we have released expectations. The key is to offer options, so the person we’re talking with doesn’t feel pressure from us. This would only trigger the defensive reactions in our sales calling we’re trying to avoid.

Overcome the temptation to immediately discuss what you have to offer. Instead, help the other person overcome the fear of who you are and what is expected. Potential clients are much more likely to respond to you when they are not subjected to an immediate mini-presentation. This approach usually just creates suspicion and rejection.

If you’re still caught up in the traditional mindset of making the sale, your voice and demeanor will be full of expectation. Although you may even be using the “asking questions strategy,” you are really thinking about moving the conversation into the sales process. Others will subtly (or overtly) react to this expectation with resistance.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

 Move away from making any assumptions when making sales calls. After all, how much sense is it to have assumptions about someone you’ve never spoken with? How much can you possibly know about their problems, issues, needs, budget, or other key information? If you approach your calls from a place of genuine interest rather than expectations, you’ll diffuse any sense of sales pressure. The other individual will relax and the interaction will flow naturally.

However, if you’re already convinced in your own mind that they should be a fit, certain sales calling pressure has already started before the conversation has really even begun. The last thing you want is to introduce this into the conversation. So rather than moving into a sales presentation immediately, maintain the natural flow of interaction instead.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

You can diffuse underlying sales pressure within any sales calling conversation by focusing first on whether you are a good fit. Invite the other person to focus on this with you. And determine together whether a good business relationship might genuinely be possible.

When our honest objective is not to make a sale but rather discover the truth of the situation, we have released expectations. The key is to offer options, so the person we’re talking with doesn’t feel pressure from us. This would only trigger the defensive reactions we’re trying to avoid.

So allow the conversation to have a natural sense of rhythm. Define mutual interest before launching into a description of your solution to a problem you probably know very little about at this point. 

The person will almost always respond by saying “Sure. How can I help you?” You’ve now diffused any immediate sales pressure. You’re being genuine and not using the canned phrases that every other salesperson is using. You’ve gotten rid of the usual initial pressure and tension that comes along with sales expectations. Releasing your expectations to avoid conveying a sense of sales pressure get you better results in the long run. Potential clients become more interested and involved as a result, and also much more truthful about where they stand.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au