Leads never get better

I agree completely with what's in the book, and what you quoted.

The only exception is a generic statement at the beginning like "I just want you to know, that I have no intention to buy anything today" or "We talked about it, and decided that we won't buy one, but go ahead and show it"

See, these aren't objections, their just reflex defenses. They say that to every salesperson. But if I continue for 15 minutes, and they give me another stall, or don't seem to be coming around, I'll stop.

But if they say "Right now, we are restructuring our company"...that doesn't go away, at least in my experience.

Asking a few more qualifying questions, like their buying history, will tell you if you should continue.

Yeah, I called a guy last week, and right away he gave me a meaty objection. But the speed in which he said it, and his tone, told me I had a new client if could deal with his REAL concern, which is he doesn't trust anyone haha, or at least that's my take so far until I talk to him some more.

By the way, I've been using your Sales Prospecting book (combined with a modified tracking system I learned in a book called Prospect Factory) and its working like a charm. Just called a new firm in the Midwest this morning and closed the order right in the same call. Shama Lama Ding Dong.

Leads absolutely do get better!...
In time IF you know what to watch for and react at the correct time.

First off let me say this.
I agree with the initital statement and what is in the book as well for the most part.

It points out that you really need to figure out what the real objections to the sale are and if those do not change the sale is still dead.

What I want to add to the conversation is this.
I have used the knowledge of what the real obstacle was to close many sales in time simply by waiting for obstacles to evaporate. Closed one yesterday using this method.

Prospected someone that sells the rental of storage units.
His off the cuff objections were things like "our site is fine" and "we tried online marketing before and it didn't do much".

I dug deeper. Found out that there was no real motivation to do more because they were on average at a 95% rented out rate SO the real obstacle to the sale was legitamite lack of need for more advertising.

Fast forward 9 months and I see that a major competitor opens up 5km away. I call up and ask what percentage of their units is currently rented. Down to 70%! This lead is now much better :-) He was so happy to hear from me. I was now the guy with the life preserver.

Easiest sale ever with much more money involved due to wanting an aggressive and fast approach to fixing their problem with a long term solution to ensure it did not happen again.

So to those struggling I would say find out what the real obstacle is and note it then keep an eye out for changes in circumstance and give the lead another pass.

Since I have been doing this since 2002 I can generally close a few clients monthly that originally came into my funnel a year ago or more. I keep in touch with useful info from time to time so when I come back around they feel as though they know me.

I keep a detailed prospecting database with notes that include obstacles and I track all the touches I do over time. Some days when I am bored I punch up a few records, look at the obstacles that existed in the past and then check to see if they are gone.

What is really cool is that if you know the exact obstacle that blocked you in the past then the new conversation is simple. "so are you still at a 95% rental rate?"