Face to Face Selling

Erik:

With one of my offline business adventures I regularly cold-call. And when I do, I don't have any time for people who need to be convinced.

I draw their attention to the problem (the dragon) and offer the cure (I offer to slay the dragon because I am the knight in shining armour come to save them).

If they say "No" I may or may not draw their attention to the problem again. If they are not interested with such low pressure, I walk away.

I can see far more people with such a take it or leave it approach, and land far more clients by doing so, than standing around beating (selling) the person into submission. Not to mention the low-stress to no-stress factor when I do it this way. In fact, doing it this way, makes it somewhat enjoyable.

Jaques Werth calls this High Probability Selling. And from reading the bits and pieces he leaves behind in certain articles and on his website: http://www.highprobsell.com/ I figure he would suggest an approach something like this:

"This is Erik Lukas with Better Decks R Us. We cleaning and restore decks. Is this something you want?"

Yes, quote them. No, thank them and move along. Read the article by Jaques about cold-calling by going here: http://www.highprobsell.com/fearofrejection.html

The difference between what you said in the script below and the one above is: The one above finds out if they WANT their deck restored whereas the one below find out if they want an estimate (which is like finding out if they are interested - and interested is NOT want)

> 1. "Hi, my name is Erik. Would you like
> a free estimate for restoring your deck to
> make it look like new again?"

> I think #1 isn't forceful enough,

Who says you have to be forceful? How would YOU like to be approached by someone offering something? Using the High Probability method or the hard sell method?

I can tell you from experience, and to repeat what I wrote above, the High Probability style has virtually no stress and can easily be done by someone new to sales, in my opinion.

As for getting them to phone you first. Use something like Hugh's flyer/technique: http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl?read=8242

Hope this helps somewhat.

Michael Ross
http://www.sowpub.com/greatideas/


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