He who asks the questions controls the conversation.
Unless of course you ask a dumb question.
One of the worst things that you can do at the beginning of a cold call is say…
May I have a moment of your time?
You may think that you are being respectful and polite, but in reality you are killing your chances of having a successful call.
Why?
Because by asking this question, you are giving the prospect the power to easily get rid of you:
You:
May I have a moment of your time?
Prospect:
Sorry but I am really busy right now. Call me next week. Goodbye.
In an instant, you lost control and you muffed it by asking a dumb question.
If you ask for a moment of his time, you likely are doing so because you are know that your phone call is an interruption. And you may have thought that if you nicely and politely interrupt your prospect, that he will also be nice and polite and talk to you.
The fact is though that only sales people making sales calls ask if they can interrupt the person they are calling.
You see all unscheduled phone calls are by definition interruptions, regardless of who they are from.
Friends, coworkers, and close business associates don’t ask for permission to interrupt though. And people take those calls all the time.
Only sales people ask to interrupt. So asking that question immediately tells the prospect that you are selling something, and they will try and get rid of you before you can start selling.
Instead what you should do is get their attention by asking a pain or problem question.
Ask them if they are experiencing a pain that people who purchase your product commonly experience.
If they are experiencing such a pain, you will have succeeded in getting their attention, and they will immediately want to engage you in a conversation.
And they will completely forget that you have interrupted them.
Controlling the sale is all about getting attention pains and desires that your prospects care about. Ask them questions stir up their emotions, and they’ll start spilling their guts with you showing you exactly how to sell them.
Discover more ways to get your prospects to want you to sell them on your products with the Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program.
Sell with Pride,
Shameless Shamus Brown
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