The brain bone not connected to the phone bone...

[MMacGillivray]

Hi, TW - you've gotta stand back from this a little and figure out how many cold calls this company is getting every day (unless they already know you, of course). We get loads of folks ... and it gets wearing after a while - especially if you want to use the phone to solve a more urgent business problem.

One option is to run a mile from them because they're trouble with a capital T. Your call on this.

The other option is to find a different way to get your message through the filtering system - a letter, visiting them in person, a cute postcard, a .... ... well something which gets to the husband and not the wife.

One more try with them and see which other trucking companies might qualify for whatever it is you're pitching.

...

Best
Margaret

Thanks for that. I'm a little calmer now.

What gets me is -- even if what I am offering is TOTALLY self-less (meaning I am focused 100% on what THEY would get out of "it" -- and my motives ARE genuine), I get the exact same reaction as if I was BERNIE MADOFF (a giant SWINDLER).

So, making the offer 100% THEM-oriented does NOT yield any better result than if it were a TOTAL CON JOB. The receiving end (them) is INCAPABLE of seeing the difference -- and they seem not to WANT to see the difference.

If I were to hand out 100-dollar bills on a street corner, they'd hold them up to the light and crumple them up + throw them in the nearest garbage bin, accompanied by a skeptical grumble.

Real 100-dollar bills get thrown away at the exact same rate as fake money.

Can't wrap my brain around that knee-jerk reaction to incoming ideas.

One would think, in order to REJECT an idea, one would FIRST have to KNOW WHAT THE IDEA *IS* -- no?

-- TW

TW, it sounds like your prospect wasn't properly qualifed to start with. Next, you didn't really engage the person you talked to...nor did you qualify her as to her role in the company or her ability to comprehend and pass along your information. You just went right in assuming the wife of Brian would be equivalent to talking with Brian. Not necessarily so!

About engaging the prospect: you need to get THEM talking to/with YOU instead of you doing all the talking. Probe a bit and ask them about their business, her role in the business, ask her if the business is having any fulfillment or other problems. Get them talking to you!

You're too anxious to tell all you know without making sure that your co-communicator wasn't left at the starting gate wondering what you're trying to do..or what it means to them. Slow down. Take time to show INTEREST IN THEM. Be friendly, engage in a minimal amount of small talk. Do some research on the prospect before you go to their business. Find out what interests them, why they're in the business, what community projects they support...anything that will give you a foothold, a common thread to establish rapport.

Hope this is some help.

Sandi Bowman

I do know all that you said -- but I didn't apply it in this case.

After the disas... err, I mean phone call (+ before I read your post), I DID do some research -- turns out I would have had a PERRRRFECT (+ INSTANT) IN with them -- I found an article (would have been like DIVINE INTERVENTION!) dated a few days ago, about how they just got burned by a big company who FAILED to pay them $4,800 they were owed. I've NEVER seen an article with that subject matter, EVER.

Had I researched it FIRST, I could've said, "I have a way for you to recover that $4,800 -- without ANY effort on your part...[etc.]"

That "in" is SO perfect, I think I might give them another try. Maybe I'll GO THERE in person this time.

I really WANT to help people -- I just REFUSE to get into a position where I am twisting THEIR arm, to get them to "LET" me help them!!

That's the Willie Lowman zone that forces one to relinquish one's own SANITY! -- and I REFUSE to do that (any more).

-- TW