The British Disease

I often say that if you can sell in the UK, you can sell anywhere.  As a bunch, there are precious few dynamos around these islands, and the ones we’re lucky to produce tend to fly off and settle in far away climes.

Nowhere is this more stark than hearing reasons why people won’t take cold calls.  My Boiler Roomers call people that head up salesteams, typically known here as Sales Directors.  What is astounding, is that they all have several reps in the field themselves, all of whom are doing (or at least are expected to be doing!) what my appointment-makers are at; namely calling people to gain introductory forums.

So, let’s get this right.  These people demand their charges do this, yet when someone tries to engage them, rather than genuinely attempt to understand what benefit they could enjoy, they avoid any conversation at all.  It’s crazy.

In the past two days I’ve spent sitting in our office near one of my cold-call winners, I’ve heard these two exchanges:

Prospect (interrupting pitch nano-seconds in): “We don’t need your services, thanks”

Caller: “What is it about our services that you feel inappropriate at this time?”

Prospect: “We are all covered thanks”

Caller: “But I’ve not explained what we do yet, so how can you say you don’t need it?”

…..phone goes dead.

And the other stunner, was where a guy said “is it a government requirement I see you?”.  You couldn’t make this up.  I remember once myself being told by a guy that he received “thousands” of such cold calls. So I said, “fair enough, when was the last time you took one?”  He couldn’t answer.  If he hadn’t have put the phone down on me, what I was going to say was, “the reason I ask is won’t it help to establish why you would indeed take a cold call, so I can help you better enjoy the potential benefits I have to offer…” They should be ashamed of themselves.