You’re A Name Dropper And Manipulative! Can’t You Be Honest For Once!

Have you ever had someone leave you a message like this?

Hi Charlotte. My name is Chris with RefuseOrdinary. I hope you day is going well.

I was given your name by Brandon Smith—he said some great things about you and thought I should call and set up a meeting with you to learn a little bit about what you do. I’ll be in your area on Thursday and I’ll have time from 11 to 2. If that time doesn’t work for you, please let me know when you’d be available to meet with me.

Again, this is Chris Harris from RefuseOrdinary at xxx-xxx-xxxx.

If you were to receive a message like this from someone you’ve never met, what’s the likelihood of you actually calling this person back?

I was taught that script many years ago, and it still makes my skin crawl. It’s like a checklist of everything we can’t stand about salespeople: It’s pushy, it’s presumptuous, and it’s laden with hidden agenda. The biggest bone I have to pick with it is the assumption that you’re going to automatically set up a meeting with this person because you’ve got a friend or associate in common.

Countless books have been written on the topic of persuasive telephone language, and I want to go against the grain of conventional wisdom (found in most of those books) and make a few points regarding sales calls. These points apply to networking, too.

First, people can smell a sales call a mile away, and are turned off when the solicitor’s true intentions are cloaked in vague language. Second, if creating a collaborative partnership is the goal, you’re shooting yourself in the foot by attempting to control the outcome of your initial interaction.

Here is an honest and direct way to conduct a solicitation that actually puts the prospective customer in the driver’s seat, 100%. Keep the following in mind about the person you are calling. Let’s make Charlotte the recipient of the voice mail message:

• You don’t know Charlotte.
• She’s busy.
• She has no desire to receive an unscheduled sales call from someone she doesn’t know.
• She doesn’t owe you a damn thing, including her time.
• Dropping the name of your mutual friend or associate does not instantly earn you a stamp of credibility in Charlotte’s mind.
• In the course of Charlotte’s life, she’s received a thousand unwanted solicitations in one form or another, and your call is #1,001.
• No one likes a pushy person, and no one likes feeling manipulated—(especially Charlotte.)

With those points in mind, I’d like to offer you a new approach.

First, I’m going to add a few key words for you to think about as you approach this conversation.

• Explore
• Possibility
• Open
• Discussing

And now, here’s a direct and honest approach to making your phone call:

Hello, Charlotte. My name is Chris Harris with RefuseOrdinary. I met with Brandon Smith over lunch earlier this week and we had a great conversation about the race both of you attended at Lake Anna this winter. He also mentioned you’d been away on vacation last week, and suggested I give you a few days to settle in before I reached out to you.

I work with firms such as JJ Associates and we’re having a lot of success with these companies. In a recent case study, our coaching services ramped up JJ’s billable production by 166% in less than 90 days.

I’m calling to explore the possibility you might be interested in learning more about what we offer. If this is something you would be open to discussing a little further, please let me know.

I can be reached at xxx.xxx.xxxx

Thanks

Let’s break down the major 5 differences:

1) Hi, Charlotte. My name is Chris Harris with RefuseOrdinary.

(Note: I’m not asking how she’s doing or how her day is going. It’s a lame question that screams Sales Call!)

2) I met with Brandon Smith over lunch earlier this week and we had a great conversation about the race both of you attended at Lake Anna this winter. He also mentioned you’d been away on vacation last week, and suggested I give you a few days to settle in before I reached out to you.

True statement. Brandon and I did have a conversation about Charlotte, and he did suggest I give her a few days before I call her. If this were an email solicitation, I’d cc: Brandon to reinforce the fact of our connection. In a best case scenario, I’d ask Brandon to contact Charlotte in advance to tell her he’d referred me, and that I’d be reaching out to her in the near future.

It’s a nice personal touch to put something about the conversation in the language because it legitimizes my having met with Brandon and gives the whole thing a more human and less robotic feel. It’s also good for me to remember that Charlotte will likely contact Brandon to confirm I’d had a conversation with him. If I BS anywhere in my intro with Charlotte, I’ve killed my credibility!

3) I work with firms such as JJ Associates and we’re having a lot of success with these companies. In a recent case study, our coaching services ramped up JJ’s billable production by 166% in less than 90 days.

True statement. I’m giving her a creditable example of my having previously worked with a company within the same industry as Charlotte’s. I’m also providing Charlotte with a measurable example of my results based on fact—not some a number I made up to impress her. If I’m effective in my call, Charlotte will likely ask around about me or perhaps even do a Google search on my company.

4) I’m calling to explore the possibility you might be interested in learning more about what we offer.

True Statement. I’m not assuming she’s interested. That’s the purpose of my reaching out to her in the first place. I wish to explore the possibility that she might be interested in learning more about what I do—and I made a point to name what I do in #3: coaching. It’s fine if her answer is “no, I’d rather not,” because I don’t want to waste my time setting up a meeting that isn’t going to go anywhere. I also don’t want to waste any of her time with a smoke and mirrors routine in an attempt to trick her into purchasing something she really isn’t interested in hearing about.

5) If this is something you would be open to discussing a little further, please let me know.

True Statement. All I want to know is if in fact she is interested, would she then be open to getting together for a discussion to learn more about what I do. And I’ve approached the whole call in a manner that specifically leaves that decision up to Charlotte—100%. I want her to know and feel that she is in control of this interaction and the decision to get together with me.

Gaining the interest, trust and respect of potential new clients is a delicate process, to say the least. Of course, no thanks to countless “professionals” who’ve come before us, sales calls have become synonymous with “annoying disruptions and a big waste of our precious time.” NO SOLICITING signs are widely posted on commercial buildings and around neighborhoods because we all want to avoid pushy sales pitches by overbearing sales people.

It doesn’t have to be this way with you. It is possible to approach sales with credibility, honesty, and integrity—to present your products and services in a way that is non-pressuring and not presumptuous. Aren’t these qualities you’d want to be known for anyway?

If more people initiated their professional relationships in this manner, imagine how the public perception of salespeople would change for the better!