“Sales”, as it has been characterized, is a numbers game. From a statistical stand point, a sales person needs to filter through so many leads, prospects and referrals before a sale is made. The “Holy Grail” of the sales cycle is getting an appointment with a propect. I can’t tell you how many sales people I have seen wet their pants when they finally get an appointment with a tough cookie of a prospect.
Be aware that many sales people are brain washed with a particular sales method to increase their close ratio. I don’t know how many sales meetings I have sat through that emphasized: get the appointment, counter the objections, and close the sale. Product knowledge and presentation are usually secondary. I would rather listen to 3rd graders drag their finger nails across the chalk board than listen to anymore of these “Closer” talks.
You, the prospective client, can alternately be described as the victim in these sales scenarios. The sales person has done so much fruitless work of cold calling, knocking on doors, sending spam, and flooding your mail box with letters that when you finally agree to an appointment they are not going to let you go. You are the fish that caught in the gill net, you are dinner.
There are countless sales seminars on how to position the prospect at the table, specific ways to frame questions, gain confidence and finally get You to say “Yes” and sign on the dotted line. While I can accept some of the appointment conditioning procedures I draw the line at the verbal harassment.
Sales people have been inculcated to never accept “No” for an answer. I must not have gone to enough sales seminars but when a prospect says “No”, I assume he or she mean “No”. We have all been in those situations, on the phone or in person, when the sales person just won’t accept our answer. Hello, are you deaf, I said “No”.
Other terms that should be accepted as “No” by a professional sales person are:
I need to think about it.
I am not ready to buy.
I need to get more information.
This is not a good time.
However, when you say “No” the idiot sales person hears, “Tell me more, convince me to buy your product, I love to hear you drone on about your stupid program”. They have catchy counter attacks like:
You know you need this product don’t you?
What can I do to convince you?
Let’s look at the numbers again?
There is no better time to buy than today!
Specifically, why don’t you want to buy…
You know my product is rated number one by Idiots magazine 3 years in a row?
From my perspective these counter arguments are at a minimum harassment and worst verbal assault. Don’t put up this stuff, especially if the sales person is in your home! Don’t ever be pressured into making a decision.
When you do find a sales person, that presents good comparitive product information and respects your time and decisions, please support that professional by giving them referrals. If you are the victim of a verbal sales assualt, contact the Better Business Bureau, Trade Association, or in some instances the state agency that regulates the industry. I would suggest calling the companies sales manager but they are usually the one that trained the idiot sales person in the first place. Help me eliminate pushy brain washed sales people from our landscape. And I won’t accept “No” for an answer on this request.