Handling Discouragement

[somarco]

I'm a results driven guy, I want every phone call to result in an appointment.

There's your problem.

Every call won't generate an appointment.

Every presentation won't result in a sale.

You are chasing the wrong goals and setting yourself up for failure.

You cannot control the prospect and make them agree to an appointment nor make them buy. If you have been doing this long enough you should know how many calls it takes to set an appointment and how many presentations to get a sale.

Your goal should be measured by productive activity, not appointments or sales.

If it takes 30 calls to get one appointment and 10 appointments to make 1 sale you set your goal as the number of calls. That is the one and only thing in your control, nothing else matters.

If you want/need 5 sales per week you need 50 appointments which is 300 calls.

Activity yields results.

Productive activity yields better results.

If you are not getting the number of appointments you need or feel you "deserve" then something needs to change. Either change the way you prospect or change the way you engage your prospect.

If you are telling rather than asking you are missing the boat.

If you are stressing features rather than benefits you are failing to connect.

 

[djs]

On your first bad day of the month, go to the movies. Have a change of pace, then get back to work.

On your second bad day of the month, go to the gym or out for a bike ride. Have a change of pace, then get back to work.

On your third bad day of the month, go to McDonalds, ask them for a job application. Fill it out. Hang on to it. Go back to work.

On your fourth bad day of the month, go back to McDonalds, turn in the application, and start practicing, "Would you like fries with that?"

Bad days are a matter of perspective.

Dan

 

[Labman]

I'm trying to be a little creative in my mental approach in working through the discouragement. Maybe like a fishing trip where some days you don't catch any, some days you catch a few and one day you land the big boy.

In thinking this through, part of my frustration lies with getting enough phone numbers to call. Just getting 50 quality phone numbers takes some time. I've got to find a better way to speed up how I get the numbers so I can make more dials.

Now that the season is around the corner when a lot of businesses are renewing their group health insurance maybe things will get better.

On the bright side of this, at least I'm getting permission to call back later in the year when they have their annual renewal. Not bad to look at my calendar and see five businesses I can contact in December, at least that's a start.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I value them all!

 

[VaDwayne]

How do you guys handle it? Some days I do okay with not getting any results from cold calling, but other days it just really gets to me. I'm trying my best to find positive ways to make this cold calling biz fun, but the lack of reward seems to get the best of me.

How many dials are you doing a day? What products are you trying to market? Remember, INSANITY is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

When you call,are you winging it with every call, or do you have a script? Winging it is just plain dumb if that is what you doing. Go with the percentages and develope a script. Are you practicing on you family OR the people that are going to pay your bills?

This business can be discouraging and I know exactly how you feel. I stay frustrated, but I try to use it to my advantage.I absolutely hate stopping at the end of the day when I haven't sold something that day or I haven't put in a quality work day like I think I should, which means at least 5 hours on the phone and working current prospects, or going on appointments.

Where are you getting your names?

Why don't you post what you are saying on the phone and let people give you an idea of what is good and what you should change? It can't hurt!!

The guys on this forum has been a tremendous help to me and I know they would help you too.

 

[insuranceexec]

Dude, I'm sure I am not qualified to ring in on this, but here's a rant from Caliban, a grotesquely over-paid slacker agent, that might relate to a noob like you at the start of his sales career sitting in front of a phone:


1) if it sucks and is not necessary, don't do it.

2) If a lot of people say to do something, don't do it--they are idiots and the smart ones are keeping their mouths shut hoping you don't find out how THEY did it.

3) if it sucks, but IS necessary, pay someone else to do it--your job then becomes NOT to do the thing that sucks, but simply to ride their ass to do it, and if need be, fire their ass and plug in another drone. YOU get to be the PROFESSIONAL. How can you sell yourself as a professional or expert or fountain of knowledge if you are also the one in your company doing the $8 an hour smile and dial? How much IS your freaking time worth? "John Doe asked me to give you a call about _____" sounds better than you doing the calling. Put another way, would you rather tell a guy how to pick up dog crap, or actually pick up dog crap yourself?

4) here's where the math comes in: think of the demographic of the IDEAL prospect for what you sell (About to turn 65? Young couples? 40 year olds with two cars and a house? Dumb rich people? Just name it.) Then decide on the NUMBER of that specific category of people you need to be able to recognize your name and what you do and how well you you do it so you can have a sustainable number of them buy stuff from you (let's say 1,000 people). Your job is to build those 1,000 relationships as quickly as possible. If you sell Med Sup then your target isn't every Tom, Dick, and Harry out there--it is those folks getting ready to turn 64 or 65. If you sell home and auto insurance, it ain't the snot nosed 24 year old who you are going to write and he is going to move away to another state in two years--it is the 40-something with three cars, some toys, and a home who is stuck in his rut job for the next 20 years. You get the idea. Don't just call out to the world, have your "staff" call to that specific demographic about you. Make them see YOU as a guy with value. The guy to call when they have a question with a dollar sign.

5) Know your sh*t inside and out. Be the specialist or expert. That way you can say, "Tiger Woods hits golf balls 8 hours a day, 6 days a week--THIS is what I do."

6) on the first, second, and third contact with someone new, always give them something of recognizable value, a free taste of your worth, but your goal is to build a RELATIONSHIP, not close on anything. When they hang up the phone after talking with your staff, will they remember your name? Will they remember what you do? Will they put your magnet on their fridge? Then the next call it grows, and the next it grows. No appointment, no sale, nothing. It's a seduction, not a rape. You don't just want a one night stand with them, you want their soul. But don't whore yourself out either. Don't offer to send stuff that they are just going to throw away. Qualify before you actually do any work: "Would it be worth your time AND MINE for me to send you _____"

7) Ask for the opportunity to be a solution for them, or to fill a need. After numbers 1-6 above, when you get an okay to present a solution, you already got the business bro.

8) Make referrals the price of doing business with a professional like you and in two to five years you business will be done with cold-calling.


If YOU want to be good at cold calling, go to work for a telemarketing company and they will train you to help other people make a lot of money. If you want to be good at selling insurance, hire other people to pick up dog crap.

Rock on dude!

To bad you are an over paid slacker................LOL

You sound like quite the intellect.

 

[xrac]

To bad you are an over paid slacker................LOL

You sound like quite the intellect.

Wow that was a great post from Caliban. I would give it five stars!

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Now that the season is around the corner when a lot of businesses are renewing their group health insurance maybe things will get better.

I don't think you're going to see much, if any, movement in this market while the healthcare "reform" debate is going on.

Right or wrong, people will stay "on hold" waiting to see what the result will look like.

 

[insuranceexec]

Wow that was a great post from Caliban. I would give it five stars!

I agree!

 

[Ruck4Life]

Great post indeed.

What your currently doing right now is hunting. Your going around in the woods hoping something will come along to feed you each and every single day. What you need to do in addition to this is learn how to farm. Plant the seeds now so in the future you can have a food source to continue to rely upon.

I hope that is somewhat relevant to your lack of results from cold calling. And bravo to Caliban.... good post.

 

[somarco]

Is Caliban that guy from the Geico commercials? So easy a caveman can do it . . .