A reader recently emailed me the following:
“Hi Bob, I love being in sales and want to make a difference. The company I just started working for is very focused on cold calling, and closing on the first appointment, which seems contrary to the approach in your and John’s book? I love this company but how do I reconcile this with the Go-Giver principles?”
My response:
Actually, cold-calling is a very legitimate part of sales. It’s certainly not as productive (or fun!) as when you have tons of referred prospects who are predisposed to buy from you. However, when there’s no other way to obtain these qualified prospects other than through cold-calling then that is the way to go. There’s certainly nothing inherently “contra Go-Giver” by doing so; not if what you’re selling is adding significant value to them.
Regarding a one-call close, the same principle applies. Remember, a sale, whether one-call or multi-call is a matter of communicating value to your prospect in such a way that they understand that they are receiving more in use value than what they are paying. When that’s the case they will buy from you whether it’s one call or after many calls.
At the same time, if they never feel they are receiving sufficient value in exchange for what they are paying, they will never do business with you, again, number of calls aside.
Some businesses lend themselves to a one-call close. {Note: the questioner’s business falls into this category.} Others do not, and to try and force that would be counter-productive, manipulative, and sale-focused as opposed to customer-focused.
Understand that with a one-call close type of business you’re going to have to — within that call — establish the know, like, and trust feelings as well as ask the right questions in order to successfully discover what they are looking to accomplish. Then, assuming they understand how the benefits of your product or service can fulfill their wants, needs and desires, they will take ownership.
The Go-Giver framework is all about focusing on bringing value to others. Do that effectively and you will prosper greatly in your business, regardless of how you find your customers and how many calls or visits before the sale occurs.
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