Over the last several years I have been working with loan officers and realtors though seminars and workshops and assisting them with growing their business. Through seminars and individual discussions, I have been finding out something that is pretty consistent amongst sales professionals. Call reluctance. As in my previous blog post, I mentioned how the phone can look as big as the Grand Canyon. Trust me; I have been there before sitting in front of that phone bead of sweat running down my cheek wondering what the heck I am going to say. I was also thinking, "they don’t want to hear from me I am just going to be a bother", which by the way, really gave me a negative mindset before I even made the call. It was over before it began! Here is how I corrected the call reluctance issue. I stopped selling! (I can hear everyone say while reading this blog “Mike has finally lost it”) I took the approach of engaging in conversation with my list of relationships. It was really about asking questions and gathering information. It’s not about selling to the individual, but tapping into their relationships as well. I love the saying “we are made with two ears and one mouth” I would asking simple questions like “how is life treating you” then I would sit back and listen. Instead of being a sales person, I engaged in conversation and took a genuine interest in their life. What I ended up discovering is that most of the calls ended up being the opposite of what I had initially had set in my mind. Not only was it great to connect with my past clients, but just the gentle reminder that generated many referrals for me. Writing this blog reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from the movie “Tommy Boy” (1995). In the scene Tommy wants to order chicken wings but the server explains that the kitchen is closed and the fryers are turned of. Tommy then engages the server asks a few questions, and continues to explain how he takes such good care of his sale and then it blows up on him at the end. At the end of his rant, the server looks at him directly, and says she will turn the fryers on for the wings. Richard, sitting in amazement, explained to Tommy, “That’s what sales is all about” Tommy’s response was, “who cares if we did not get the wings they still had the pizza in the car” Meaning, he went for it and if they did not get the sale, he moved on. He stopped pressing. I think all sales professional have gone through a Tommy Boy moment. But again, the key is, don’t sell; just engage. Ask questions and meet the need of your clients. And remember “Chicken Wings”
Have a Positive Market Mind Set!
Great post Mike. It reminds me why I am in the business...to do what I do best, build relationships intuitively. We engage in services with people we know and trust and how better to do that then through building relationships. I will keep your positive mind set in focus when I go to make my follow up calls this week.
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