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“Not interested.”
We hear this on cold calls all the time. And most reps treat it like a real objection.
It’s not.
It’s a reflex. A quick way for someone to get off the phone without thinking. Which is why logic doesn’t work here. You don’t need a better pitch. You need a better response.
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SALES
The 3-step method to save a dying cold call
The "not interested" objection is the single common objection in the all of cold calling.
And oddly enough… it’s not real objection. It’s purely a swat to get you off the phone.
They aren't actually contemplating your product. They’re trying to give you as little information as possible to justify a brisk hang-up.
So most reps either stammer and sweat <or> start pitching “the value” of their product as if the prospect were open to a logical justification.
This is an emotional objection that you need to handle with an emotional response.
In other words, we need to reveal the human behind the phone using humor.
We'll do that in three steps with what I call the Mr. Miyagi Method:
Agree with the objection to reveal the human behind the phone
Incentivize conversation to uncover the real objection
Get permission again to reset the conversation if this happened pre-pitch
Step 1: Agree with the objection
It sounds ridiculous, but step one is to actually agree with the objection. Remember, your prospect is in an emotional state and they are swatting at the pressure of the sale.
Therefore, when you agree with the objection, you remove the pressure of the sale entirely, and it gets your prospect to think “wait… they’re not gonna pitch?”
That sounds like this:
===Step 1: Agree With The Objection===
Angry Bill: "I'm not interested."
You: "Shoot, my bad Bill. If you were, you probably would’ve cold called me while I was walking my dog in a fugue state. |
Remember: Use humor to break the tension with dismissive objections. There's something about a faceless phone call that makes people think they can hang up on you.
This is how you put a face to the call and buy yourself 15 more seconds.
Step 2: Incentivize conversation
Now that you've humanized yourself, ask for the "why" behind the dismissal. Give them a multiple-choice exit that makes it okay for them to be blunt with you.
===Step 1: Agree With The Objection===
Angry Bill: "I'm not interested."
You: "Shoot, my bad Bill. If you were, you probably would’ve cold called me while I was walking my dog in a fugue state.
===Step 2: Incentivize Conversation===
You: "Just so no one calls you again, could you be brutally honest with me... is it that you’ve got a solution, this isn’t a priority, or you think I should go back to bootcamp for my crappy pitch? It’s okay if it’s #3!"
|
Okay, so now I got a kinda real objection! (“I’m too busy”)
Let’s say I already delivered my pitch, I’d proceed to sell the test drive as step 3 of the Miyagi Method.
But let’s pretend this happened before I even got the chance to pitch. In other words, I basically hit my opener and they said “not interested” (which means they have no idea wth we even do)...
Step 3: Get permission again if this happened pre-pitch
There is something psychologically about revealing the human behind the phone, then restarting the conversation now that they’ve decided to treat you like a human.
Ask for permission to pitch. This allows your prospect to mentally agree to listening instead of immediately resisting again the moment you share your pitch:
===Step 1: Agree With The Objection===
Angry Bill: "I'm not interested."
You: "Shoot, my bad Bill. If you were, you probably would’ve cold called me while I was walking my dog in a fugue state.
===Step 2: Incentivize Conversation===
You: "Just so no one calls you again, could you be brutally honest with me... is it that you’ve got a solution, this isn’t a priority, or you think I should go back to bootcamp for my crappy pitch? It’s okay if it’s #3!"
===Step 3: Get permission again===
You: "I get it Bill. My guess is this is a long shot, but I actually took the time to research you. Can I take 30 seconds to share why I wanted to reach out to you specifically, then you can totally tell me to kick rocks if it’s not a fit?" |
Now you’re back at the beginning of the cold call. That’s a wrap folks :)
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Team B2B Whales
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