Have you ever found yourself in a selling situation
where it seemed like it was actually going okay
or maybe it was already starting to fall off the rails
and the prospect suddenly said,
"You know what, I don't have time."
Or "Hey, you know, this isn't a good time.
Can you try me later?"
Or whatever they say.
The question is what do you say next?
What happened next after that situation?
If you're making a lot of dials or a lot of
prospecting calls, you're going to hear this a lot.
It's really one of the most common early stage objections.
And making sure that you have an approach
that's in place to overcome that is critical
because what you can't just do is say,
"Oh, okay, well when would be a good time?"
Because they're going to tell you some thing
that's ultimately going to get you off the phone
or get you off the Zoom
and you're likely to never see that person again.
So in this video I'm going to show you
when the prospect says, "I don't have time,"
I'm going to show you exactly what you say.
Check it out.
(upbeat music)
Number One- Have a tight script.
Now this isn't what you do
when you actually hear the words I don't have time,
but this is how you avoid
getting into this situation a lot in the first place.
By having a really tight, particularly call script,
you are going to be so much less likely
to hear this kind of an excuse
because the reason that most salespeople
are getting pushed off the phone
is because when they actually get someone on the phone,
they're really sloppy and they're all over the place
and they're like,
"You know, I'd love to show you more about my product."
And it's like really old school, pushy, lame stuff.
By having a really tight script,
you're actually going to avoid
a lot of these pushback scenarios in the first place
which is really, really important
because just dealing with it when it comes is one thing,
but also making sure that you avoid
getting into that situation in the first place
is also really important.
Number Two- Break the pattern.
So this plays off of that first idea
of having a tight script
and one thing that we want to do,
particularly when we're starting a phone call
is that we want to break the pattern.
If you are starting off your phone call
with something that is very expected
like "Hey, George, Marc Wayshak calling.
How are you today?"
If we start with something like that,
the prospect is immediately going to go into the pattern
that they use to get salespeople off the phone
because they've heard that a million times
and they immediately know that that opening approach
is going to lead to them having to hear some
boring and annoying sales pitch.
So you've got to break that pattern upfront
to basically signal to them
this isn't going to be a standard prospecting call.
Number Three- Open with value.
So once you've broken the pattern and you've avoided
the hey, how are you stuff,
now we've got to really open with value
because it's got to be focused on them.
If your opening statement is something like
"Hey, you know, my name's Marc Wayshak.
I'm with Sales Insights Lab and I want to show you
all the awesome stuff that we can do
to help your company."
They're immediately going to be like "Eh, I got to go."
But if you open with value that's basically focused
on understanding and demonstrating
that you understand the likely challenges
or providing adding some real insight upfront,
now they're going to be like "Okay, I'll hear you out."
That's what avoiding these potential objections
is all about because if we immediately start to show
that we're boring and we're like every other salesperson,
they're going say, "Hey, I don't have time. I got to go."
Number Four- Know your contingency.
Okay so this is probably what you've been waiting for
because you hear from the prospect.
They're like "Okay, I don't have time."
Let's say you started off strong,
but still they're pushing back and they're like
"Hey, I don't have time right now. Can you try me later?"
Now this is a point at which you need to know
your contingency.
Let's first explore what most salespeople are going to do.
Most salespeople going to be like "Oh, okay, that's fine.
What would be a good time for me to call back?"
The prospect is going to lie and they're going to be like
"You know, why don't you try me sometime next week?"
And they're like "Okay, well what day would work for you?"
And they're like "Tuesday."
And it's like "Okay."
And so now you've got this call that you're going to try
to follow up on Tuesday and you put it in your calendar
and all this stuff.
And then the prospect ghosts.
They're never going to show up for that call,
but it wasn't a scheduled call.
It was just like "Hey, why don't you try me that time?"
And really in their head they're thinking
now I know this person's number.
I'm never going to answer this call.
That's what happens with most situations
where you don't use a good contingency. Instead,
what you want to do is know what your contingency is,
exactly what you're going to say when the prospect
is like "I don't have time. This isn't a good time."
That is key.
Number Five- Ask for 30 seconds.
So now you're saying "Okay, I get
that I want to know my contingency,
but what's a good contingency?"
So here is a really strong contingency
that often will buy you another 30 seconds.
Remember, most prospecting calls
is about going from 30 seconds to 30 seconds to 30 seconds
and once you finally get them engaged, then you're good.
But a great contingency that we use
and we suggest our clients use is something like this.
Prospect says "You know what, this just isn't a good time.
Can you try me later?"
A great salesperson should say something like
"You know what, George, that sounds totally fair,
but would it be okay if I took 30 seconds to tell you
why I called it and if after it doesn't make sense,
we could hang up? Sound fair?"
It's super strong and it's assertive,
but at the same time it's kind of reasonable
because the person's like
usually most of the time they're going to be like
"Okay, fine, 30 seconds, go. What's up?"
And so now you've already broken past that first wall
because you've gotten that 30 seconds
so asking for 30 seconds is really, really powerful.
Number Six- Be super firm.
When it comes to prospecting calls,
this is not a game for the faint of heart.
This is not a place where weak people succeed.
You need to be strong, you need to be firm.
Your prospects will actually respect you much more
if you are firm because again,
most salespeople when they get that pushback
of "Hey, I don't have time,"
they're like "Oh, okay, great.
Well what would be a good time to try you back?"
That's weak. Firm is "You know what, George?
That sounds fair. Would it be okay though
if I took 30 seconds, told you why I called
and if after, it doesn't make sense, you can hang up? Fair?"
Now the prospect is like "Okay, this is someone
who's not a wimp, they're not a pushover."
And they're going to respect you
and they're much more likely to stay on the phone with you.
Be super firm.
Number Seven- Calling back is a last resort.
This is really a mindset.
This is a commitment that you have to make.
Just like in a selling situation, a think it over or a maybe
is a last resort in the sales process,
when it comes to prospecting calls, the oh yeah,
well when would be a good time for me to call you back,
that is an absolute last resort.
Now if someone tells you, "Hey, you know,
this isn't a good time. My spouse just died,"
there's not much you can do.
You're in a situation where you're like
"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that."
Obviously you have to do that.
"When would be a good time for us to reconnect."
There's nothing you can do there,
but anything short of someone in the family dying
or they accidentally answered the phone
and they're in front of 50 people and a presentation,
anything short of that,
you want to avoid ever calling back
because that is 99 out of 100 times
the prospect's way of just getting you off the phone
and then they're never going to answer that call again.
So calling back must be a absolute last resort.
So there is what you say when the prospect says
"I don't have time."
And if you enjoyed this video,
then I have an awesome free training
on the data-driven approach to closing more sales
in today's marketplace.
Just click right here to get registered instantly.
Seriously, just click right here.
This is an in-depth training that will help you close
more sales at higher prices,
all while generating more meetings.
Also, if you've got some value,
please like this video below on YouTube
and be sure to subscribe by clicking my face
that should be right about here
to get access to a new video just like this one each week.