When touting for business, do not underestimate the benefit of picking up the phone. We all know how thick skinned you have to be to undertake this sort of activity, but, with preparation and a calm head, you can really make your mark and experience good returns from making a cold call.
What I thought I would do in this post is put together a way of dealing with some of the most common “rejections” you will encounter when making the “cold call” as a way of helping you feel more confident about making one.
 |
| Avoid rejection |
So……what is the most common objection made to the cold caller?
In my experience, it is the “I am happy with my current company.” NEVER say otherwise or try and put down the existing supplier. A way of opening the door is to say “Fine, they are a good company and I know of them. However, I’d simply like to meet you to show you our new services so that in the future, you are in the best position possible to evaluate between agencies……”
Secondly, another main objection I have encountered is the “I don’t have the budget” reply when asking for a meeting. Again, acknowledge this objection, but counter it by saying something along the lines of “I take your point and appreciate budgets everywhere are not as they used to be, but we have made some changes in the way we price our services and I think that, when we meet, you will be pleasantly surprised at how competitive we are.”
Thirdly, the next in line is usually, the “I am too busy” objection. A reply could be “I understand that diaries can be very busy at this time of year, but mine is open for 3 months so how about we put something in for 3 months time and speak nearer the time? That way we will both be able to clear the decks and hopefully be less busy.”
Fourthly there is the old “put something in the post” reply when asking for a meeting. What I would do is let the prospect know that your services are tailored (as Bath Marketing Consultancy‘s are!) so you would prefer to meet up even it is just briefly to find out more about……..”
Fifthly, and by no means lastly in terms of it use, is the “I’m not in the market” response. My suggestion would be to flatter the person at the other end of the phone and say “I would have been incredibly fortunate to catch you at the exact time you were reviewing your XXXXX, but there are several new aspects to what i do that I would like to make you aware of for the time when you are reviewing.”
There are many more including getting passed the dreaded pa/secretary or answerphone (see my previous post on this http://www.themarketingexpert.net/2010/12/overcoming-dreaded-answerphone.html) but the above represent what I feel are the most common.
Hope they help.
Marketing Advice from Bath Marketing Consultancy 