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I'm also new, so my advice may not be proven through years of trial and error. But what i've done with prospects that seem to be reluctant to speak, is to say less about the sale. If I do get the person on the phone, i'll thank them for taking the time to speak with me, and my eagerness to help them -when- they have a need for me. I feel like it puts less emphasis on "buy now" and more on "buy from me". I'm no expert, but i'm starting to see what works for me.

Sellarina, are you talking about on the phones or face to face. If your using the phone and they hang up it's usually the first sign that they may not be interested.  Just kidding. But is is important to know what type of sales are you doing?

In phone sales you have NSR (Natural Sales Resistance) which is just a brush off. It happens in the first 20 seconds. You keep going here. In face to face body language is important. If you SEE they are not into it, it may be time to pack it in.

However, there is a lot more to this topic. Remmber one thing: IT'S ALL ABOUT HAVING A PMA!

My best advice do not give up until the client has made a decision too win whether it is from you or the next best thing. Each new question and information delivers a new decision to be made.

 However a decision is required when time is more than the dollars invovled.

I have  belief  with the quick firing and not wasting time. Where I do not believe in this philosphy is when an organization does not have proper training.  A two week training period is not enough it must be on going.

 I think his style would depend on the type business. I know I do not want 6 calls for insurance especially when I inform them I am happy with what I have.However a fastner company to a manufacturing plant relentless persistence is required.

You know, one of the toughest things to get some employers to do is "quickly" let an employee go, especially when they KNOW they are not working out, or feel like they are going to terminate them, yet keep them on!

I am all for giving someone all the help you can and then putting them to work and making them responsibile, however, when you KNOW you are letting someone go, and they suspect it, then the employer is making a HUGE mistake keeping them on the payroll!

Or how about the guy that demotes an employee, cuts theri pay and hours, and expects them to perform better?  Actually know a guy in your industry that did that, and the kid sat around day after day, and when he "clocked" out at the end of his 1/2 day, he was job searching.  How could the guy not suspect this, and how could he have felt this was going to help the kid?  It was totallly demeaning to the kid, he came in with a very bad attitude, probably stole the guy blind, certainly did not do much for customer service (how would you have liked to gotten him as you service man that day?)  My partner/husband was hired to just do evaluations on the company, and he really tried to convince the young owner what a mistake it was, however the owner was very afraid of making decisions and just could not let the kid go.

On follow up with the company, we discovered him and another "problem child" had left the company, but can you imagine how much business this young man cost himself by waiting until the two guys left on their own accord!  He is now talking to my partner about coming back in for managment training, which he desperately needs.  I feel sorry for him, and I know it's dumb to do so, but the young man inherited money and started a business, but his business sense is lacking and he is terrified of making mistakes.  Gee, is he in for an awakening!

This also goes under the heading of knowing when to throw in the towel! The young owner will need to learn a lot about hiring and firing in business.  Can't blame him for having a soft heart, but he will need to"toughen" up! (Plus again, he is just afraid of making mistakes! Ugh!  He needs higher power assistance! )

I used to work at a cutthroat company like that, glad I left, it was like hell in a concentration camp.  Knowone gave a flying fig about anything.

Sellerina....

Ive been in Sales most of my 51yrs  and believe that the  key to sales is being consistant. If you have a product you believe in, then you MUST have the attitude of "they need this product".

Stay in their face.... remind them how much $$$ they can make and  remember their name.

I had a lead I worked on for 5 years... even though he told me he was not going to add a new product intill fall... just before fall i sent him via FED EX overnite our beautiful broshure the week before fall. I stayed on this lead and didnt give up intill I finally met him at a show and asked him the simple words.... WHAT DO I NEED TO DO FOR YOU TO BUY MY PRODUCTS?  he said he liked my attitude and we are now doing  over 2 million a year with him. 

I was not going to stop persuing him unless he went out of business.

TOP SALES LADY

wow, Liz your my girlfriend.  So much like me.

Wow.  Everybody's on the mark.  Topsaleslady, you've got me beat.  My longest was a year, but it was a 4 million dollar deal.  I closed it right before the company downsized the ENTIRE salesforce except one person, and then sold the company.  They're now out of business, but the 4 million dollar pending order made them attractive enough for the owner to get the company sold.  I only had a few years in sales at the time, and the project had been turned over to me by a "seasoned" sales rep.  All of the old guys laughed at me for working it as long as I did.  As someone said, devote the appropriate amount of time based on the potential gain, but no salesperson should be afraid to "get in their face", and push a little if you feel you're being stonewalled.

rich34232 says ...

I have  belief  with the quick firing and not wasting time. Where I do not believe in this philosphy is when an organization does not have proper training.  A two week training period is not enough it must be on going.

 I think his style would depend on the type business. I know I do not want 6 calls for insurance especially when I inform them I am happy with what I have.However a fastner company to a manufacturing plant relentless persistence is required.

Rich it's interesting that you mentioned the 2 industries of Insurance & Fasteners. I have only sold 5 diferent products in my career and 2 were in those industries. I have found that in the fastener industry it depends on the Buyer. Some want you to call each day because they buy each day. Someone want you to call once a month. We have to know "Their " buying habits.I have always used the term "Be professionally persistent."

By the way I will respond to "OUR" calling outs in an e-mail to you. After I make some calls.

This "helpful" fella was definately persistant.

I have seen a lot of people walk away from situations like this. This should bring a good feeling to your day. If only we ALL were so 'nice & helful to each other!

Sellerina, this is a very loaded question and definitely could be better answered with some more details of what kind of product or service you are selling as well as face to face or over the phone like one of the other posters mentioned.

I'm going to make a few assumptions here and say you are selling over the phone and its an intangible product or service like insurance or financial services.

First of all, the first 30 seconds of a phone is the most important and this is the part where you must build connection and qualify the prospect to see if they are open to your product or service or not.

One of the best lesson I ever learned from my sales mentors like Dan Kennedy, is to qualify my prospect from the very beginning. As a question like, "If I can show you how reduce your businesses monthly expenses by 20%, would you be interested in finding out more?"

If the prospect flat out says a definitive no, it's time to move on, because there are so many other prospects to sell to out there and there is no use beating your head against a wall convincing prospects to buy when they have no interest at all, no matter how much you feel your product or service is needed.

Top sales people all know one thing, spend the majority of your time in front of people who are ready to buy right now. There may be some diferent opinions about this, but no one can dispute it is easier to help someone buy than it is to sell to them.

You can take a mediocre sales person with a mediocre sales pitch and put them in front of a prospect that is open and ready to buy what they are selling and he will out sell the best sales person with the best sales pitch who is trying to sell to someone who is not open or ready to buy.

So qualify, qualify, qualify first, this will save you a lot of time and headache.

Now, if the prospect says anything but a  definitive "No" to the qualifying question, it is your job to probe and find out their buying criteria and overcome there objections and turn each objection into a reason to buy.

You must find out exactly what the issue your prospect is trying to solve and create pain and pleasure as a result of not solving their issue today and the result of solving the issue with your product or service today.

Spend 80% of your sales presentation finding out about your prospect, their underlying issue, and how they make buying decisions, and 20% or less talking about your product and company.

So in parting, qualify your prospect from the very beginning and find out if they are even open to your product, find out what issues they are dealing with and their buying criteria, showcase how your product or service will resolve their pain and give them pleasure, and then close them. If you have done your job in the first 3 steps, the prospects will close themselves.

Happy hunting.

Maximus