How 19 seconds can change your sales call

Why do salespeople complicate something that at least in my opinion is so simple?

When I go in the “field” or travel with salespeople and make sales calls, especially cold calls, I watch them have very little success in most cases.

After a few of these feeble attempts to make a number of calls to companies that are not using the product or service of the salesperson who is trying to get their business, I make a small suggestion.

Now, before we move forward in this discussion, I do not blame the salesperson. She is doing either what she has been “trained” to do in past jobs, or what I would refer to as lousy sales managers or people who are acting as self-titled managers. It is not the salesperson’s fault. He is doing what he was told unless (which is usually the case) he was self-taught.

I have always said this next line in my seminars. “Would you go to a self-taught doctor?” I know I wouldn’t under any circumstance. I prefer to deal with someone who has been professionally trained.

My suggestion is simple and right to the point. The typical salesperson is trying to blow right past the receptionist or “gatekeeper” to see the decision-maker and wants to make a sale. Things usually don’t happen like that. It might take a few steps, but rest assured the receptionist is not going to say, “Whatever you are selling, I know that we will buy it, so come right in.”

First, the salesperson has to realize that the person who has the power (receptionist) to let you in or not also has to be sold. This will not happen by trying to bully your way past gatekeepers or drop off information that they will pass on to the person who makes the decisions on that subject matter. In most cases, just check their trash at the end of the day, and that is where you will find most of the promotional literature that has been dropped off.