Nothing, absolutely nothing, cuts a telephone conversation shorter with a prospect than a brusque, “I am not interested.”
The tele-sales arena across North America lies littered with “dead and wounded” telephone sales reps and prospectors that were slashed by these four words. Knowing how to how to respond to this objection can make your sales life a whole lot easier.
Why Are They Not Interested
When a prospect says, “I am not interested” (IANI) do they really mean it? Perhaps in some cases this is true but what prospects really might be saying is:
“I might be interested …but I have been inundated with sales reps who have wasted my time and I suspect you are yet another …so, I am not interested now!” or,
“I might be interested… but I have something more pressing on my plate and I don’t want to be bothered right now… so I am not interested now.” or
“I might be interested … but I am getting ready for vacation and I want to be out of here by 2:00 …so I am not interested now.” Or
“I might be interested … but on my own terms…so I am not interested now.”
The IANI objection is not so much that they are not interested but rather that you caught them off guard and they are not prepared for your unsolicited call. Their objection is not grounded in anything real or rational. Their objection is a “knee jerk” reaction which means it is automatic or spontaneous; an automatic reflex brought on by your unsolicited call.
By way of comparison, think of the times you have been to a retail store and a sales clerk comes up to you and asks “May I help you today?” The vast majority of us automatically respond by saying, “No thanks, just looking.”
Why? Because we don’t want our space invaded; we are not ready for a pitch; we don’t want to be sold. The same holds true for the unsolicited calls you make.
And the trouble is: we as sales reps tend to reward our prospects by murmuring an apology and hanging up. Prospects have learned that the IANI objection is a fast, easy and highly effective way to brush you off and if you continue to reward them, your days in sales will be agonizing.
What Not to Say
Of course, not every sales rep gives up so easily. A few manage rebuttals like:
“How can you say you are not interested when you haven’t heard what I...
