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What Causes Sales Prospecting Reluctance (and What to Do About It)

Guest post by: Linda Schneider

Article Overview: The right to succeed or fail is available to all of us equally... from the most to the least educated... from the best looking to the ugliest... from the most introverted to the most extroverted. And our business success or failure hinges on just ONE thing... our willingness to look for people to buy from us. All the rest of our business activities are window dressing.

What Causes Sales Prospecting Reluctance (and What to Do About It)

The right to succeed or fail is available to all of us equally... from the most to the least educated... from the best looking to the ugliest... from the most introverted to the most extroverted. And our business success or failure hinges on just ONE thing... our willingness to look for people to buy from us. All the rest of our business activities are window dressing.

So why is it that some entrepreneurs and salespeople will sabotage their dreams--even their families and their own health--rather than prospect? The underlying causes of prospecting reluctance boil down to these five common areas.

Do you see yourself in here somewhere?

• We assume the outcome will be negative... even if we've had positive experiences before.
• We are genuinely afraid or embarrassed by hearing "no thanks." We have deep and varied psychological reasons for this awkwardness. This is most often called "fear of rejection."
• We doubt our own credibility.
• We hate, hate, hate objections because either we identify with the objections or we don't know how to address them.
• We don't know what to say or do at critical junctures... like transitioning from getting a lead to asking for an appointment.

There are many ways we avoid prospecting... we overprepare, we find other things to do, we make up easy solutions that don't really work, etc. But regardless of the method of avoidance, the underlying cause is what's stopping us, and until we address it, no amount of "pulling ourself up by the bootstraps" is going to work.

I'm not a psychologist, but as a sales trainer I've seen a lot of techniques for trying to eliminate prospecting reluctance. Most of those are "pop-psychology" solutions, like: "You just have to get motivated. People who don't prospect just don't care enough!"

Are there real solutions to prospecting reluctance? Yes, a few. They fall into three categories:

• language-based
• feeling-based
• skill-based

Language-based techniques include NLP or self-hypnosis types of exercises. There are some amazing transformations that occur from these kinds of techniques. With names like "unconscious installation," "anchoring," and "pacing and leading," NLP is also sexy sounding.

Feeling-based techniques focus on emotions, the release of emotions, and the ownership of emotions. Like the AA motto, the first step is admitting you have a problem. But the more specific you are, the more clearly you can change the feeling so that it doesn't interfere with production

Skill-based techniques are just what they say... you've got to know HOW to prospect, what to say when you're challenged in the live moment, how to get the appointment, and how to ask for business.

Prospecting reluctance can be a serious problem that generally requires you to take action on three fronts: First, find an experiential workshop that will bombard you with solutions. Second, engage a coach or mentor who can follow up with those solutions in the "real" world. And third, grow your sales skills by attending a sales training that uses an approach that fits your personality, such as selling consultatively.

Related Articles
  'The Queen of Cold Calling' and Call Reluctance
  Sales Reluctance In Any Part of Selling
  Sales Reluctance Is Not a Two-Letter Word Named No!
  Sales Prospecting Is a Dirty Business (or Why a Clean Desk Is Not a Good Sign)
  It Ain\'t About You by Keith Rosen, MCC
  Sales Training – Salespeople Tips on Crossing the Barbed Wire Fence of Sales Reluctance
  Sales Prospecting Techniques
  Sales Prospecting for Sales Results
  Sales Simplified - The First Step in Selling
  Prospecting it is simple only DOING counts
  Sales Prospecting is the most important skill©
  Is Call Reluctance® choking your sales effort?
  Prospecting - Time really is money©
  Prospecting's 8 Simple Steps©
  Sales Prospecting
  Keep Prospecting Simple©
  Get In a Rut
  Maximize Revenues©
  What’s Holding Your Prospecting Back?
  Two spectacular sales ideas©

Article Tags: consultative selling, prospecting techniques, prospecting tips, sales methods, sales prospecting reluctance, sales training



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