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I’m not talking about employee terminations here. I’m talking about when your customers or prospects dismiss your sales efforts.

Prospect: “I can’t meet with you until the end of the year Debbie. Do you have some literature you can send me in the meantime?”

Debbie has just been dismissed. We all know that prospects don’t read collateral material and they use the, “Can you send me some literature?” ruse to make you go away. It’s an objection. Remember, a customer or prospect objection is anything they do to get you to stop the selling process. They want you to stop selling them and they’ll come up with anything, whether true or not, to make that happen. Their goal is not to give you good information at this point; their goal is for you to leave them alone.

There are many kinds of dismissals. Another popular one is the, “Call me back in six months.” dismissal. Do you really think they want you to call them back in six months? They’re just buying some time.

So what do you do about customer or prospect dismissals? First, recognize dismissals for what they are. The customer or prospect is trying to disengage you. You may have engaged the decision maker at the wrong time, you may have the wrong decision maker or you might not be explaining your product or service very well. Do a reset on this sales call and correct whatever is causing the problem. Second, ask yourself if you are getting more than your fair share of dismissals. If you’re getting an inordinate amount of customer or prospect dismissals then it could mean that you are not contacting qualified prospects, you’re forgetting to develop the relationship with the customer or you’re not listening and getting enough information.

Everyone gets dismissals. It’s a sign that you’re out there beating the bushes. That’s a good thing. Just be careful not to take too seriously what the customer or prospect is saying when they dismiss you because it’s almost certainly not accurate information they are providing. When you get a dismissal understand it for what it is; if you are getting too many, then modify your sales approach.

Tags: objections

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