It Ain't Easy

The Lead - It Ain’t Easy

Story time from one of my previous stops.

Some sales calls just don’t go well. I’ve done this long enough to know that there are certain types of personalities I just don’t mesh with.

The prospect booked a call with me to learn more about our services, aka he had some level of interest. As I’m asking my discovery questions, you can tell he was bothered. Short answers, no smiling, not engaging. This happens.

Some people just aren’t interested in doing the dance. They approach sales calls as information extraction, if they didn’t have to meet with a person to get that information, they’d be much happier.

As we moved further into the call, I was getting the same attitude but I didn’t think much of it. You just keep rolling and keep going through the process. But as we moved closer to the end, this guy caught me off guard. In a flabbergasted-like tone:

“I’m confused. I don’t have enough information to even know if I’m interested”

My inner monologue went something like this, “We’ve been talking for 45 minutes, are you kidding?” Naturally I pressed in with questions trying to understand what information he’s looking for and what his goals are.

He seemingly wanted extremely detailed and tactical information about what we do. He had questions about our credibility, and whether we were truly subject matter experts. Important verification points, but not something I’m in the habit of “pitching”.

My approach is to try and establish these points through the call. Rather than waxing poetic about how great we are, how long we’ve been doing it etc. He was extremely skeptical of everything I had to say.

By the end I could tell he was ready to get off the call. I told him I’d provide some references (I was ready to get off the call at this point too). It mercifully came to an end.

Generally speaking, calls like this can cause me to question everything. The immediate aftermath is rough to be honest. If someone is openly a jerk, it’s a little easier to laugh it off. This guy wasn’t necessarily a jerk, I just thought he was extremely difficult to talk to.

Upon reflection, here’s what I think:

1. Your product/service isn’t for everyone. That’s just the truth, can’t win ’em all.
2. Even when things don’t go well. Keep your cool. Smile, good body language, good attitude. Don’t let a difficult person knock you off your game.
3. It’s good to think critically about my process and approach. Do I need to blow it all up because of one conversation? No. Are there things I could’ve done differently? Yes.
4. Being a fit for someone doesn’t make them a fit for you. It’s not hard to imagine friction later on with you or your team.
5. Most importantly - don’t take it personally. As sales people, it’s easy to tie our identity to our results. There’s more to you and the work you do than one conversation that didn’t go well. Reflect, re-calibrate, move on.

Strangest part of all this? He ended up becoming a client. Didn’t see that one coming.

PS. Having done this for a long time, I always try to show a lot of respect for other salespeople. It’s easy for me to empathize with how difficult it can be so there’s no need to make it even harder on someone. I’d encourage you to do the same.

Outbound On Air - Episode 4

Last Thursday, Kristen and I dropped the fourth edition of our Outbound On Air podcast. We covered a fun question on this one - “Do You Really Need Outbound?”. Obviously a complex conversation (otherwise the episode wouldn’t be 45 minutes ha!).

Getting back in the swing of recording these has been a lot of fun. We both feel strongly that we want this podcast to be actionable, not just theory. We welcome your feedback, and if there are topics you’d like us to cover, send them our way!