Everyone who has ever picked up a phone, or knocked on a door, or done any kind of “cold” calling, knows that 90% of the time, when you attempt to determine if there is any interest there, you get a resounding ‘no.’
So if you’re going to get a ‘no’ anyway, why not try asking a question that it’s ok if they say no to. Then continue with your probing.
The principle, is that of the ‘reflex no.’ That’s the ‘no’ you give a retail clerk when you come into her store, with $100 burning a hole in your pocket, reach for the item you have been pining over for months, and she says “Can I help you?”
“No, I’m just looking,” you reply. And then take the item to the till. In the background, she is pulling her hair out, and can’t figure out what she did wrong?
Simply put, she treated the reflex no like it was final.
Mike Ferry, the Real Estate Sales Trainer teaches people that the first question in a Real Estate cold call should usually be “When do you plan on moving next?” to which the anser (Never!) is so predictable, that he actually writes it into his scripts. What he also writes in, are four or five more questions to get past that ‘no’, and ascertain whether or not there is any real interest.
That’s the key, though, you’ve got to ignore the reflext no, and keep going. So if you are calling for a financial planner, and when you ask the question “Do you currently have a planner you work with?” – Expect them to say ‘Yes!’ (which in your case, is really a ‘no’), and keep going. “That’s fantastic, how long have you been with them? What kind of returns are you getting? How often do they update you? Do they have all of your business? And so on.
It all comes down to starting the conversation. And the only way to do that, is to ignore the first no, and keep going until you get to them talking. After that, it will become pretty obvious what you should do.
