Have you ever called a lead to find that from the moment they picked up the phone they sounded as though they were non business like, perhaps not too motivated or didn’t appear to be committed to doing much? 

Did you then decide that they really weren’t worth spending any more time with and rapidly wound down the conversation? 

If you have – Beware! Your initial judgments are probably losing you more money and opportunities than you would care to know! 

I called someone the other day who fitted one of the above descriptions. Most would have written him off I suppose. However, I’m interested in what’s between the covers of the book not the cover itself. 

A few more questions later and we hit the “heart” button! We discovered he was well versed in personal growth and started to talk about his need to change, and was really looking for something to get his teeth into. 

As he talked his voice increased in tempo, you could feel him sitting up a little straighter and he started focusing more on what he wanted. The effect of the dialogue was beginning to release him from the bondage of his own mind. To paraphrase the great chef Emeril, he came up “a notch” into the heady atmosphere of “I’m ready to look at and do something”. 

It would be hard to believe I was talking with the same person. What happened though is that the REAL person had showed up. Not the person who initially answered the phone. 

If you’re ONLY looking for the “I’m ready to do it NOW” person you’ll be turning your calling into a numbers game and lengthening your odds. 

However, you’ll find there are more people who are perhaps one or two notches from being ready to do it now but will move there if the right person comes along to talk with them like a human being and not a machine. 

And there are more of these types of people around than the other! 

If you bowl these people over with an attitude of – “You’ve got to convince me in 3 minutes that you’re prepared to change right now” – you’ll miss them and the potential opportunity. 

The whole idea of dialogue is to allow the both of you to explore with each other what each is looking for and why. It’s not about convincing or pushing the other person into making a decision. It’s about two human beings talking with each other and exploring possibilities. 

When you call, sometimes people are tired from a long day or from a family challenge. Perhaps they are in the middle of something or have just got up from working a shift. How could you know what is happening in their lives at the moment you call? 

If you’d like some examples of how to use questions to open up a conversation that appears to be a dead end, then my audio program “The Magic Question That Turns ‘No’ Into ‘Yes‘” will be very helpful. 

For example, Role Play number 5, called “How To Help People Motivate Themselves To Make Changes in Their Life”… covers a situation where someone starts out being shut down and not very communicative and then ends up being open and enthusiastic to know more about the business opportunity. 

So give them the benefit of the doubt. Ask a few more “Right type of questions” to help them organize or reorganize why they asked for help in the first place. Give them a little time to show up and it will assuredly show up in your bottom line.

About the Author

Michael Oliver is an internationally recognized trainer, speaker and author and the founder of Natural Selling, the only sales training program designed to really eliminate rejection and objections. Visit his blog and signup free to get blog updates by email, along with the latest news, free advice, additional resources, and a lot more! Go now to http://naturalsellingblog.com. While you're at it, check out http://www.naturalselling.com.

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