What Do You Say?

Greetings! Hey it's Wednesday.

Maybe you heard that an IBM computer is going to play Jeopardy against two of its all-time champions.

Ken Jennings is one of them.

He had an unprecedented 74-game winning streak back in 2004 when he finally got beat. Although a bit of a self-admitted nerd, that's what I hear, he actually capitalized a bit on his fame, wrote two books, appeared on several other game shows, did some speaking, even made The Guinness Book of World Records under "Most cash won on a game show."

That's smart marketing on his part.

Nancy Zerg. Bet you don't know that name.

She was the one who beat Ken Jennings, ending his winning streak.

She likely wasn't any better or smarter than him--she lost the very next game, leaving her personal streak at ONE--but she managed to stay close during the main part of the game, then knew the last answer when Ken didn't.

Game and streak over.

She had something else going for her at the time that certainly didn't hurt.

Confidence.

In interviews after her victory, she said that she knew HE would lose to someone eventually, and it just as well should be HER.

In contrast, she spoke to other contestants who before their games with Ken were already resigned to the fact that they would lose.

They said things like, "Coming in second to Ken Jennings isn't bad." And sure enough, they came in second. Or third.

So what is the mindset of your staff before their calls?

Do they pick up the phone feeling that they are going to succeed?

Or, are they expecting the worse?

I talked to a friend of mine, Chris and he told me the other night that he pays his PR C.A. $70 for every person that becomes a patient.

That means $70 in addition to their salary or hourly wage.

Now in my opinion, that rocks.

We tend to look for, create, and get what we expect. Let's look at some ways to avoid the negatives and stay positive.

Don't Assume Negatives

Too often sales reps assume the worst before a call, and then let that attitude come through in their voice on the call.

What's your team member doing when they call or answer the phone?


Their assumption becomes reality.

For example,

"I know you're busy so I won't take too much of your time ..."

EVERYONE is busy. If what you have is of VALUE, you earn their time, and they'll want to speak with you. I don't care if you're a doctor or you're a person in a small town, selling antiques, you have to create VALUE for people and writing handwritten thank yous, sending them newsletters every month, writing personal emails to them, etc does this.

"I imagine you get lots of stuff emailed to you and probably haven't had a chance to look at my material yet ..."

Instead, tell them that you are calling to review the material that you have sent them as a result of your previous call. If that call was strong, and they agreed to look at your material and do something with it, you should expect that on the follow-up call.


Don't Validate Their Resistance

When a prospect or customer gives resistance, don't put words in their mouth to validate the resistance.

Make them do it themselves. For example, I heard this on a call

Prospect (tentatively) "So we probably won't be doing this with you in the short term ..."

TEAM member: "Oh, so you're really not in a position to do it now?"

Prospect: "Yeah, ... right, we're really not in a position to do it now."

The Team member then said, "Can I call you back in about three months?", and the prospect said sure.

And why not?

The caller made it so easy! Instead, the team member should have remained silent after the initial resistance, since there might not have been much substance behind it.

It's interesting how, when people aren't telling the complete truth, feel compelled to keep talking when confronted with silence. If the prospect didn't volunteer further information, the caller could have said, "Oh, what led to that conclusion?"


This way, the caller finds out if the prospect is serious, or is simply brushing off the Team member.

Don't go into a call expecting resistance.

If you expect anything, expect success. And if you doubt anything, doubt your limitations.

Here's to making this your best week ever!

I hope this blog is helping you learn the secrets to marketing yourself. If you just apply some of the things I share with you, you're going to be wealthier, guaranteed. It's going to just rub off on you because it keeps you focused.

It works!

Dr. Carney