Jill Konrath | Selling to Big Companies

Addressing the Elephant in the Room

Admit it! There are some subjects related to your product, service or solution that you dread talking about. Perhaps your offering isn't the most "leading edge." Maybe your pricing is much higher than competitors. Or maybe you're a boutique firm without the full spectrum of services of the bigger companies.

Whatever it is, you hope like crazy that your prospects won't bring it up. Yet you know deep inside that the topic is unavoidable. No matter how hard you try to dance around the elephant in the room and pretend its not there, it's just a matter of time before someone asks about it. Then you stumble through a lame response that makes you sound like a total patsy and your credibility plummets.

So what's a seller to do?

Don't Blow it When Your Prospect Answers the Phone

The use of voicemail has become so pervasive these past few years that sometimes you wonder if you'll ever talk to another human being again.

Frustrating as it may be, over time you begin to accept it as the new norm. You expect to get voicemail and in a perverse sort of way may even relish it. It enables you to make that check on your "to do" list, showing you tried to get in but once again had no luck.

And admit it ... leaving a message is a whole lot easier than talking to a person who says they have no need, throws objections in your path or slams the phone down on you.

In fact, the prevalence of voicemail can lull you into a sense of complacency. So much so, that you're entirely unprepared for that rare moment in time when your prospect absent-mindedly picks up the phone.