When someone tells you repeatedly that they're fine, and don't need your services, then changes their tune, do you jump at the opportunity? If so, you're setting yourself up for failure.
It's not uncommon in my world to meet a business owner or executive that tells me they're fine without management, leadership, or sales training. Then all of a sudden I get a call from them saying, "We need to meet right away!"
Of course, they're used to salespeople responding, "Sure, when can you meet?"
Instead, I slow them down by responding with, "Whoa, what happened that we suddenly need to meet right away?"
They're a little taken aback, but typically reply initially with something like, "Well, nothing, everything's fine."
Of course, that's a defense mechanism they have against salespeople. To get to the real issue, I have to clear that smokescreen.
The best way to clear a smokescreen is to ask questions cautiously, letting them know you don't even know if you're a good fit for their situation. If they're in a rush, you need to slow them down.
In my case, I usually get down to something like, "We just did our finances, and for the first time in ten years, we have to dip into our credit line at our bank."
All of a sudden, working on their sales is important! In my world, it transforms our conversation greatly. Most people don't just wake up one morning and say, "Today's the day I'm going to invest in sales!" Unless, of course, there's pain that's putting pressure on them in some way.
Your world may be similar to mine. When somebody reaches out to you, and all of a sudden there's some different request or things are different on their end, what do you do?
Chances are that you've jumped at the opportunity before. Now, you know you should slow down, take a couple of seconds and ask questions.
"What's changed?"
"Why is there such a huge priority all of a sudden?"
When you slow down and ask that, often you will find out that something has happened. That becomes a totally different conversation than it would have been otherwise, letting you find out if you can solve the real pain they're having.
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