How to handle the ‘I’m too busy’ response on a cold call. Part 1 of 2.
I was sitting at a business luncheon the other day and we were all telling each other at the table what we did for a living and I mentioned that I was a sales trainer with a focus on appointment setting. The young woman sitting next to me was in sales and she asked me for a ‘free’ tip.
After passing on the old line of “Don’t bet on the horses”, I asked her what objection she heard most often when calling for an appointment. (We call them Conditioned Responses because people generally use the same one all the time to get us pesky sales people off the phone.) She told me it was, “I don’t have time to talk right now”. I asked her how she handled that and she said that she politely asked what would be a good time for her to call back.
I told her before I would give her my approach; I wanted to know why she thought the person was being honest with her and that they really didn’t have time to talk. It stopped her dead in her tracks. She told me she never thought about it that way, so I asked her what she said when people cold called her. Was she always honest? She laughed and said she always said the same thing; “I’m in good shape on (whatever they were selling).”
“Always?” I asked.
“Pretty much” she answered.
“So what makes you believe everyone else doesn’t use their own favorite Conditioned Response just like you do?” Mine is the too busy to talk one she hears most often as well, by the way.
So here’s how I told her to handle it next time:
- “Hey, I totally understand. As a matter of fact the only reason I called was to set an appointment. How is Tuesday at 2:00?” (Assuming that’s what you asked for the first time.) You’ll more than likely hear them ask you what you were calling about again because they really weren’t listening any more once they realized it was a sales call. They were trying to figure out which of their old stand by excuses would work the best on you – proving my point that it was a conditioned or knee jerk response.
- Don’t believe it’s true until they tell you a second time – then it’s okay to ask when would be a good time to call back and take your chances. If you can though, pin them down to a specific day and time and call back at that time
Next week I’ll share with you how to handle the other flavor of ‘Too Busy’ – when they are tied up for some period of time, not just at the moment you called.
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called The Prospector’s Academy™ under the brand name Coldcalling101. It is the only comprehensive solution to solving the biggest barrier to success in most selling organizations – the inability to secure enough Initial Appointments to begin the selling process. We accomplish that through simultaneously addressing both the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. We can be reached at 214 483-5800 or at barry@coldcalling101.com.
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:24 pm
[...] If they say they’re too busy, we can still use our standard approach to that response (see August 25, 2010 and September 1, 2010 blogs). However, if they do have time right then, they’ve [...]