Call
Reluctance: When Salespeople Need a Checkup from the Neck Up
Part Three
Call-Reluctance Case Study #2: Suzy
Note: The following
case study is a fictional account of a salesperson loosely based on an actual
salesperson the author has known or has been associated with.
Suzy has been selling for Superior Security for over three
years and has enjoyed moderate success. She knows her product and is passionate
about the need for professionally installed Security Systems. However, Suzy
lags behind most of the other salespeople in her company. Even salespeople,
that started well after her, not as knowledgeable as she is, regularly
outperform her.
During a sales meeting, Suzy’s sales manager asks one of the
newer salespeople, Melissa, how she managed to get going so quickly. Melissa’s
sales were even with Susie’s after only working six months for the company.
Melissa’s reply was that, shortly after getting the job, she did as the sales
trainer suggested. She mailed a short announcement note to everyone she knew
informing them of her employment with Superior Security Systems. Once again, as
instructed, she followed up each letter with a personal phone call asking for
their assistance. The notes and calls paid off. She began getting leads from
friends and relatives.
As Suzy listens to Melissa’s story, she says to herself, “No
way! No way will I involve my family and friends. I haven’t up to now, and I
won’t in the future.”
Why does Suzy feel as she does? What is so hard or
distasteful about calling on friends or relatives? Suzy apparently feels there
is a problem with it. Do you?
Suzy suffers from two contact style problems. First, Suzy is
hesitant to call on friends, which is a symptom of “Separationist Call Reluctance.”
She is emotionally resistant to mixing business interests with friendships.
Salespeople with this malady find it difficult to prospect for sales among
personal friends or even to ask them for referrals. She avoids even telling
friends about what she does for fear of the perception that she is attempting
to sell them.
Second, she is hesitant to call on family members,
“Un-emancipated Call Reluctance.” She is resistant to mixing business and
family. Salespeople with this problem find it extremely difficult, if not impossible;
to prospect for new business among family members or even ask them for
referrals. Suzy feels this way despite her firm belief in her company.
How did Suzy acquire these career-limiting psychological
maladies? Was she born with them? Were they developed through her training? Did
management in her company subliminally suggest them? Had she suffered an
earlier traumatic sales experience that caused her to feel as she does?
People aren’t born with the fear of calling on or selling to
friends or family. That feeling is acquired, taught by people whose opinion
they respect.
Well-intentioned sales trainers can plant the seed through
their suggestions regarding how their trainees should develop new sales
opportunities. Management can pass along their bias. And certainly negative
sales experiences, perhaps with a friend or relative attempting to sell to her,
or a former company whose entire focus was having salespeople sell to friends
and relatives, could have deeply influenced her call reluctance.
George W. Dudley and Shannon L.
Goodson
– The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance: Earning What You’re
Worth in Sales.
When you gaze into your psychological mirror do you
recognize this person? Is it you? Is it someone you know, or that works for
you?
If you suspect you or someone you know has this problem there is a test you can administer that will help ferret out the problem. Contact me by email and I will direct to a professional you can get help from.
985-778-1571
Book Title by Lou
The Formula for
selling Alarm Systems
Surviving in the
Security Alarm Business
Managing to Sell
Gerencia de Ventas
Efectiva
Order Lou’s New CD –
Handling Objections & Closing the Sale
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