Advanced Appointment Securement 201

First permit me to posit that you are not a cold caller using the phone book from A to Z as your prospecting tool. That's because, if so, none of what follows applies. That's another course entirely. Having set that stage, the only possible description of the recipient of this first call, that is if you are at least on the way to becoming a Great Seller, is that of a well researched prospect, who unless proven otherwise, could benefit meaningfully from interacting with you, much less buying or subscribing to your product or service.

You've only one goal then on this call. That is to receive a commitment for a meeting at a set day, time and place. Remember, you've taken the effort to qualify the prospect as well as possible without an in-depth first exploratory meeting.

The Advanced Seller has already internalized the fact that no matter what time of day or day of the week he makes the call, his will be the nine hundred thousandth call for an appointment in the preceding hour. Ninety-four point three per cent of those calls sounded exactly alike to Mr. Buyer, and consequently failed to result in a committed appointment. (The Advanced Seller Congregation is small and the Great Seller Congregation is tiny). That’s because non-graduates of the course don’t understand that the telephone is not the communication vehicle best utilized for further qualification much less to close anything.

Left to its own devices the telephone is actually an enemy that is unfriendly, impersonal, and unreliable and can be used deceptively. You must neuter it. How can you do that?

Here's what the Advanced to Great Sellers do: In addition to communicating honestly and fearlessly, they are friendly, rational, not didactic and honest. In short, everything the telephone is not--and more.

Here's how the Advanced Appointment Seller thinks: Whether or not this prospect that I have chosen to serve takes advantage of my offering, will depend solely on how effectively my first communication sets me apart from the preceding supplicants and fires my "target's" imagination that help is on the way. So at the beginning of what is hoped to be a productive relationship, this seller tackles his introductory objective (a commitment for a meeting) without creating pressure points or ingrained resistance. Often a light hearted or whimsical approach serves to mitigate what would otherwise seem like a "make or break" point.

“Mr. Jones, I’m Joe Blow and I’m associated with XYZ. I’ve been doing a good deal of homework on you and your company. Call me crazy but in a half hour I truly believe you and I would agree I can help you grow your business. Can we have a quick cuppa at your place next Tuesday morning, or would afternoon be better? I’m buying.”

No Challenges. No proclamations. Just a tease that there is information that may be new and you'd love to share it and help him. And you are nice, you really are!

Folks, you still won’t get them all. But after a while, you’ll be surprised when you don’t.

(With thanks to Great Seller Dave Nelson for suggesting the topic).

Great Selling!

Love Your Work and Work Tirelessly
Communicate Honestly and Fearlessly
Serve,Don't Sell
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