How to respond to "Is this a sales call?" ?

Yes it is, im trying to sell you to the thousands of people who are looking for your service each month but cant find it.

If you have been doing great with your cold calling, then I would just forget about that last call and keep on going to the next. No matter what you are going to get those people that throw you off a little bit. It happens to all of us and it sucks. But worrying about the outcome of a one off call will never make any money for you.

Honestly she has had way too many bad calls. People who barely speak english that have nothing she wants.

Just be honest and if someone like that hangs up who cares.

But if you can answer in a good way and honest way you will get them to listen.

"Yes it is. Would you be willing to give me a moment of your time? I know you get a lot of sales calls but I believe that I may be able to help your business grow."

Just be nice and fast and to the point. I can see myself being like her after a few calls. At a certain point the people you are calling are tired of wasting their times and the time of the people on the phone.

If you are local to her that alone will make you stand out which is why I always tell people to do true local first before going into cold call blasts. I don't care if you call, mail, or walk in but local to local is always going to close more. And unless your town is small or you have massive local compeition you should be at about 10 employees before you need to start hitting other markets.

This made me chuckle.

That is all.

Ryan

Believe me, we've all been there in some form.

My biggest problem was always talking too much on the initial call back. I've lost a number of deals because I couldn't shut up. I remember one in particular where he was practically begging to have me take over some work but I talked myself out of that one by never landing the plane.

Painful.

That sucks when that happens. I sure have done it myself over the years.

Turns out my Mom really did know what she was talking about when she told me I have two ears and one mouth for a reason. I was probably to busy talking to hear her.


Posted from Warrior Forum Reader for Android

How about this answer...and let's assume you are attempting to sell a website or SEO or some marketing method to help them obtain customers.

"Nothing. I’m not here to sell you anything because I don’t know if I can help you in any way. I’m only calling to find out if you have any issues tied to improving your ability to bring in more customer traffic to your establishment (or business)."
This an Ari Galper approach..some may not like him..his method may not always get a fast sale though.

Michael,

I've been cold calling since 1985 and still get that question. My best line is:

"Yes, it is. Do you make the buying decisions for the company?"

Then there is follow up conversation unless she hangs up. :-)

It doesn't always work. Since I am not a guru w/a $197 WSO about to launch I thought I'd throw in the truth about it not always working. To further extend the truth, NO LINE will work everytime. But what my line does do, at least what I've discovered, is it knocks the gate keeper off their pedestal for a moment.

37 years of cold calling has taught me to shrug off (but cash the checks) even the successful calls. Why? Because you never know what the next call will bring.

My point: Just keep calling. It is amazing what happens when you don't give up.

Best of luck to you.

Tom

I always say yes when Im being asked if this is a sales call. Im not doing any cold calling, but the company Im working for is a huge company that sells domains so we could easily get thru gate keepers because they actually have an account with us.

I would like to quit this job and have my own business, but right now, Im still learning the ropes to running this type of business.

I wish I can call all these leads as my personal leads to sell my own service. but I'll get fired! ahahaha!

One of the great things about the forum, is all the different types of advice one can get, it has a huge diversity, allowing people to answer the same question a 100 different ways.

IMHO, this one promotes lying, and i don't agree with it at ALL

I was a manager of a telemarketing company for 8 years and that reminded me of another supervisors approach to questions like that. He had his callers tell the person that it was a "courtesy call". People see through those types of responses anyway, so you might as well be honest and if they hang up you can get to the next call faster rather than making them made by trying to be deceitful.

"Is this is a sales call?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'd be a pretty lousy doctor if I prescribed anything without first talking with you, wouldn't you agree?"

Then ask if the person who has responsibility for whatever it is that you do "under their umbrella" is available.


You could use my "little unsure" method, as well. And not get into this situation.

If it's your decision maker asking the question, and not the gatekeeper, flat-out answer "Yes, this is a cold call." Even-voiced, matter-of-fact. Most CEOs and business leaders came up through the sales channel, so they know what it's like to cold call. They respect you for having the guts to do it.

Depends on what you are pitching... how the offer works as to what I would say here....a general rule is "No Ma'am we are just about calling your website...Maybe you can help me, do you know who I might talk to about that, am I asking for the right person"?

Sometimes it gets you through, sometimes it doesnt...

Asking a secretary to be helpful is like throwing a frisbee with your dog, it distracts them, jerks their attention back to why they are the best person for their job, and away from their skepticism alot of times...

"Oh yeah, I can be helpful...I know everyone here...".

Again, that will work on some personality types, but not all.

The ole ninjetsu mind trick...

Scott Voss has a great report on that somewhere around here I think.


Mr. "T" : "Eddie Murphy I heard you been tellin jokes about me..."

Eddie: "No you didnt".

Mr. "T": "Oh, well...maybe I didnt".

This is why doing little seminars is a good tactic for new businesses.

If you look around your town you will find offices etc to rent very cheaply especially if you become a regular.

So my answer to this is always no we are wanting to invite the owner to a small function.

Another way is to bamboozle them with technology.

Is this a Sales call?

No this is not a sales call but about new technology called QR Codes.

Have you heard of them?

I learnt somewhere a long time ago to respond with mirror the question, introduce new content ask them a question to take the focus off you

Quentin

I was actually thinking about this more last night and remembered I do this myself when people are calling. I usually let them get 2 seconds into their pitch and stop them and ask, "what are you trying to sell me?". If they respond honestly, I always listen for a reasonable time. If they go into one of those boiler plate responses, no, we are just....I tell them all you had to do was get to the point faster and you didn't...so put me on your DNCL. I think it's a symptom of gettin' old.

Just a heads up if i asked that question(I'm not a gatekeeper and neither was the guy in the OP) and soemone said no or gave me a line here is how I would answer.

"That's too bad I like spending money so i'll find someone who is here to sell me soemthing" And I would hang up.

Why? Because if you don't have confidence in selling what you are selling why should I listen? If you can't convince yourself I need your service how can you convince me?

Believe in your product or service. Believe that if I don't buy from you I am losing money you could bring me. if you believe that confidence will shown through.

You know why I hate getting cold calls? Cause they never are selling something they believe in. They are ready a script and 99% of the time reading it badly. The words are not their own. They don't believe their words either.

But when you are selling for yourself it is your script. It is your words. And it is your company. You can and should have confidence in it. if you hire people to cold call you should teach them why we want your service. Make them confident that if I say no it is my loss. You do that and me and most everyone else you talk to will notice. You will get our attention and if the service fits you will get our business.

Maybe this has alredy been said but I have been in sales for a bit over 20 years now and this has always been my answer to that on an initial cold call, "I am not hear to sell you anything. The purpose of my call to you today is to set up an appointment to better understand the goals of your company and learn about how you are currently marketing your company and then if it makes sense offer you some ideas on how you can grow your company and increase your overall profits. Are you available tomorrow at 2 pm or this Friday at 3 pm?"

Notice that I did not ask a Yes or No question. Always just ask for the appointment and not ask, "Do you want to meet with me or not?" I talked about maybe helping the company increase their profits and made it non salesy. What do you all think??

I have a background in sales with some of the largest companies in the world. It depends on where you're calling into but MOST places its better to be honest and act lost than trying to barrell through the gatekeeper.

Be a human, and you'll get a human response.

So if they asked is this a sales call?
You can say gee I don't know yet. I just asked for ____ because I "saw their profile" or "they are the only one on your webpage" basically make up a reason why you're asking for them.
Then explain who you are what you do and why, based on initial research you think you could help. It doesnt hurt to throw in a competitor or other local business as a reference if you have helped someone else in the area. And then just ask if they feel the person you were asking for is truly the right person or if they think someone else might be a better fit. This should be very very quick... like less than 30 seconds and very high level. You need to practice this so its general enough not to bore them but descriptive enough that a simpleton understands what you're talking about.

Sometimes you'll get nothing (athough this is higly doubtful, then at least you know this company has an ANTI solicitation policy and are probably going to be a PITA anyway)

A vast majority of the time you will get a direct line, and/or an email of the individual they are recommending... why are they more willing to give it to you... because it feels like it was their idea. This is at least another point of contact, and once you get the format of their email string for the underling.. chances are you've got it for the president or whoever else you want to contact.

Be sure of one thing only when you call, that is that you can provide value to XYZ types of companies and how you MIGHT be able to add value for them. Everything else you should act lost on and ask lots of questions around. Ask for help... It's OK not to know everything before you pick up the phone. They just want to know the service you're offering is somehow related to their business and you're not completely wasting their time.

Also remember that a vast majority of the time you won't have a meaningful conversation with the right contact on the first call. It usually takes several calls to establish a dialog... this goes back to the idea of how to eat an elephant.. one bite at a time.

Hope this helps. It's a lot easier and usually more effective than the old school dismissive style of cold calling