Ever Had a Bad Day and Just Don't Care about Your Prospect?

Today was one of those days! After dialing for 2 straight days and not booking any appointments and listening to lame excuse and misinformed businessness people I just didn't care anymore. I didn't care if they succeeded or not, I didn't care if their business went under. I just didn't care if they found another customer or not. If this happens to you after talking with prospect after prospect or client's that think they know more about your business then you do - It's time to take a break.

Your frustration, demotivation, and not caring will come across in your voice, your mannerisms, and your interaction. You can try your best to cover it up, be cheerful, use positive words the whole 9 yards, but if you don't care about the prospects needs, they will know it.

So what can you do? That was the million dollar question today at the office. When you are at the end of the line and you just feel you can't get one more sale, or one more project done, it's time for fun and rest.

1. Stay home and watch the funniest movie you can find
2. Go to the spa and relax
3. Go out with friends and be as silly as possible - Alchol may be needed.
4. Curl up in your favorite chair, turn off the phones and read a good book.

What other ideas do you have to turn around the sales blues or funk? What do you do when you are near the end and need just one more heroic push to make it over the finish line but you just can't seem to?

Cold calling is a hard way to make a buck and trying to educate business people who think they know what your business is about is even more frustrating. The only way cold calling works, or any telephone type sale or customer service call works is if you are smiling, cheerful, understanding, sympathetic, and genuine. If you just don't care about the prospect then you'll be working harder and harder and harder and getting no where fast. You need an attitude adjustment at this point in time, so go have fun, relax, and get a new outlook on life. Then try again tomorrow.

Working Long Hours - A Week 'til The Phone Book Goes to Print

This week is what my office calls Open Season and all leads are now open to anyone to call, which means I get to make a lot more cold calls everyday. I've been hung up on, yelled at and yet, I've met some interesting small business people who want to expand their client base. Even though I make appointments doesn't mean someone will be there when I get there. I get stood up all the time, most re book but with the price of gas and the traffic it can wear on you.

With the book close just a week away I have literally 1000s of numbers to call and hopefully I will meet with 3-4 business people a day. I don't have time to rebook appointments because there are business people out there who want to advertise in the phone book but don't know how affordable it is. These are the types of business people I'm hoping to find during this last kick at the bucket.

Cold calling and being stood up aside, outside sales is a fun career, how much you get out of it depends solely on how much you put in. So far I've been putting in 10-13 hour days and I'm getting very disorganized because there isn't time to ensure I stay caught up on paperwork. My numbers are now reflecting my hard work and my kids are showing signs of rebellion.

I do like the flexability and the freedom it provides you, it's like running your own business, but you have someone to ensure you make quotas so you stay profitable. However, It is a grind because every morning you start at 0 trying to make as many calls and book as many appointments as you can. It's easy to get frustrated and want to quit but that's when you truly fail.

I have found that as long as I'm not comparing my luck to other's luck and I put my head down and work I can keep the green eyed monster at bay. Some reps will get more breaks from management and some will get more help but persevering despite that is an accomplishment in itself.

Cold Calling - A Lesson on Saying NO Nicely - Check the Anger at the Door

A large part of my job is cold calling, and today I did learn a valuable lesson when it comes to answering a cold call.

I have a stack of business cards from women who run home based businesses, most of which utilize their residential number for business. Presently, I work for a phonebook that offers any type of business a free listing. If a business uses a residential number, a cell phone or is new then their business will not be listed and part of my job is to find these businesses and offer them a free listing. The other part is to discuss advertising and if it makes sense for their business design an ad for them.

So yes, I am calling hoping for a sale but at the same time I am not a pushy sales person, hence the large number of incomplete sales on my desk.

Anyway, the lesson I learned - One card I called on had one phone number on it and I called that number and received a very angry response. Many times I call and have the phone hung up in my ear and I dial again, but every once in awhile I get a response that gets me pissed off, today was one of those days.

Lesson: 1. Receiving cold calls is very aggravating and most people don't want to receive sales calls - so have your number where customers go to find it, ie the phone book.

Lesson 2. Always be pleasant on the phone, the person who is calling to sell you something may be a future customer. I threw out her card after the call with no intention of ever calling again, whether I need her services or not.

Lesson 3. You may not want to listen to a sales call, but they may have something you need or could help your business. Figure out what the call is about first.

Lesson 4. If you don't want someone calling your cell number for a sales call, don't put that number on your business card or any advertising. Or at the very least make sure you have a different number listed as a main number on your business card and as a cold caller, don't call secondary numbers if a main number is provided (which in this case there was only one number).

Lesson 5. Even in a city, the business world is a small place and you may run into the person who called you at a networking meeting and not know it. The person who called you will know you and already have an opinion about you and how you do business.

In many ways cold calling is annoying not only for the person receiving the call, but also for the ones making the call. You never know how the person who called could help your business, so find out first then say no.