Smart Calling, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 11Handling Early Resistance on Your Smart Calls

Reality check: Even if you do everything I’ve suggested so far, point-by-point perfectly, you will still get people who respond with some variation of “I’m not interested” or “We’re happy with what we’re doing.”

Expect it, prepare for it, and don’t be deterred by it.

Resistance to an opening statement from an unknown caller is a natural, conditioned reaction for many people. I call this the Resistant Reflex Response (RRR). And it usually works in attempts to blow sales reps off the phone. The key to keeping the call alive is to get the prospect talking using some conversational techniques.

Trying to counter them with logic is tough because they don’t offer anything of substance; they’re instinctive. And you don’t want to use a goofy retort that some sales books suggest: “Well, of course you aren’t interested—I haven’t given you anything to be interested in yet!”

Instead, get them talking. It moves their mind away from their reflexive response and on to something of substance.

Use a Pattern Interrupt

A model of communication called neurolinguistic programming espouses a technique called a pattern interrupt. Let me simplify it for our purposes: When people do or say something automatically, it’s called a pattern. Something that stops that pattern and gets them talking or thinking about something else is a pattern interrupt. In what city were you born?

That last question was a pattern interrupt. You were reading along, ...