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An experience today

by Celltactics
15 replies
I am new here and have been gleaning a lot of info from these threads, so thanks to all who post. I was out cold calling today and just and to share my experience.

I am building a mobile directory and am offering businesses in my niche a free listing in hopes of one day being able to help them with other services we provide ( mobile sites, sms marketing, etc).

So today I walked into a tanning salon knowing full well I will get the owner today. I was told last week exactly when she worked, name, description, everything, by an employee.
I asked if she was (name) and when she said yes I introduced myself. The salon was dead. No one in the lobby and only one car in the lot. This empty sort of disgusted look came over her face and she just stared at me.

I told her what I was about and that I would like to give her a free listing to help promote her business. I explained that the directory would be like a network of service and product providers all in the same niche and it would help everyone get more customers. Again I stressed that is was free.

She said in a rather snotty tone, " why would I let you use my name to promote your business? If you want my business in your directory, you'll have to pay me for it."

Now I have been selling for awhile so I was able to withhold my emotions and not react. I just said "hmm, I hadn't considered that perspective", but I am not promoting my business. I am promoting yours and others. My business wont be listed."

She asked if I had any materials I could leave because she didn't have time to talk as she was very busy. I did and I thanked her for her time and left.

I sat in the car for a few before resuming my quest, just chewing over what she said. I was amazed and wonder if anyone here would have been too.

My takeaways were:
She's an easy mark so hates salespeople.
She thinks her business is of great value to the community.
She doesn't have enough sense to realize another business person who could potentially recommend her business just left with a really bad taste in his mouth and wont likely say anything positive about her business.
She is just stupid.

Happy NOT to have her in my directory.
#experience #today
  • Profile picture of the author sweetcrabhoney18
    Soo... if she calls you tomorrow and wants her free listing .. you'll say no??
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    • Profile picture of the author Celltactics
      Originally Posted by sweetcrabhoney18 View Post

      Soo... if she calls you tomorrow and wants her free listing .. you'll say no??
      Oh probably not. I'll put her in there if she wants to be.
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    • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
      Originally Posted by sweetcrabhoney18 View Post

      Soo... if she calls you tomorrow and wants her free listing .. you'll say no??
      That's actually pretty interesting. The prospect in this instance made an immediate negative assessment of the OP and he definitely seems to have felt that -- so would anyone really want to work with a difficult counterpart? (from either perspective!).

      Now, it's possible a different introductory approach could mitigate this type of occurrence and we might never uncover that we have freddy cruger as a customer until something blows up. But instead of just offering a free something, which kicked off an alarm bell for this prospect, attempting to relate to real issues/pain that is found in the niche might help to make a better first impression. Enough of one that we could at minimum:

      1. Bring some clarity to that pain by attaching a dollar value to it (which could lead to an opportunity to present our solution).
      2. If that pain is not real in the prospects world, we could ask what is and take that intelligence on to the next n-th prospect we meet.
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      • Profile picture of the author Celltactics
        Originally Posted by jamesfreddyc View Post

        That's actually pretty interesting. The prospect in this instance made an immediate negative assessment of the OP and he definitely seems to have felt that -- so would anyone really want to work with a difficult counterpart? (from either perspective!).

        Now, it's possible a different introductory approach could mitigate this type of occurrence and we might never uncover that we have freddy cruger as a customer until something blows up. But instead of just offering a free something, which kicked off an alarm bell for this prospect, attempting to relate to real issues/pain that is found in the niche might help to make a better first impression. Enough of one that we could at minimum:

        1. Bring some clarity to that pain by attaching a dollar value to it (which could lead to an opportunity to present our solution).
        2. If that pain is not real in the prospects world, we could ask what is and take that intelligence on to the next n-th prospect we meet.
        This is the kind of stuff that lead me to post this experience. To get me to see things from another perspective. Much appreciated.
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  • Profile picture of the author umc
    Maybe she got bent out of shape because she's tired of sites like Yelp taking her likeness and using it to promote other businesses. A friend of ours has a handyman business and Yelp uses their name and such as part of their directory of sorts. My friends had no choice, Yelp just decided to promote them, and then when they wouldn't pay for the spot Yelp not only advertised other paid handyman services on their page, but allowed someone that never even did business with them to leave a nasty review. So, what do they get for their "free listing"? Well, they get to help Yelp promote paid advertisers if people look up their handyman business on Yelp and look like garbage while doing so because of a false negative review.

    So, you see this business owner and get all high and mighty after she disses you. Maybe instead you should look at what might have made her react in such a way and find ways to help her. Surely she won't be the only person out there with a bad taste in their mouth over such "free listings" that often turn out to not be quite so free. Now, of course, she could just be a nasty person devoid of many positive personality qualities, but when people react so viscerally to your presence, maybe you could learn something from her reaction and find an opportunity to connect.
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    • Profile picture of the author Celltactics
      Originally Posted by umc View Post

      Maybe she got bent out of shape because she's tired of sites like Yelp taking her likeness and using it to promote other businesses. A friend of ours has a handyman business and Yelp uses their name and such as part of their directory of sorts. My friends had no choice, Yelp just decided to promote them, and then when they wouldn't pay for the spot Yelp not only advertised other paid handyman services on their page, but allowed someone that never even did business with them to leave a nasty review. So, what do they get for their "free listing"? Well, they get to help Yelp promote paid advertisers if people look up their handyman business on Yelp and look like garbage while doing so because of a false negative review.

      So, you see this business owner and get all high and mighty after she disses you. Maybe instead you should look at what might have made her react in such a way and find ways to help her. Surely she won't be the only person out there with a bad taste in their mouth over such "free listings" that often turn out to not be quite so free. Now, of course, she could just be a nasty person devoid of many positive personality qualities, but when people react so viscerally to your presence, maybe you could learn something from her reaction and find an opportunity to connect.
      Well high and mighty is a bit much I think. I am just accepting that not everyone wants to play. There are plenty that will. I appreciate the comments though.
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  • Profile picture of the author DWaters
    Not sure if this will help but you may want to check it out - I was recently listening to a set of tapes from Tony Robbins (The Power Within You) and he covers techniques to build repore with individuals and how it can help you instantly get along with people you need to deal with. I expect that youtude will have some of his presentations available.
    Your invitation to be listed in your directory may not have been presented correctly, not that you didn't expain it well but that it was not right for that individual. Everyone percieves things differently.
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    • Profile picture of the author Celltactics
      Originally Posted by DWaters View Post

      Not sure if this will help but you may want to check it out - I was recently listening to a set of tapes from Tony Robbins (The Power Within You) and he covers techniques to build repore with individuals and how it can help you instantly get along with people you need to deal with. I expect that youtude will have some of his presentations available.
      Your invitation to be listed in your directory may not have been presented correctly, not that you didn't expain it well but that it was not right for that individual. Everyone percieves things differently.
      Good advice. I'll look into that. I might even have those tapes now that you mention it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
    Could it be that she is much smarter than you are willing to give her credit for?
    As a business owner, she knows that you have to charge for the services that you
    offer, in order to have a viable, sustainable business.

    That's how it works in the real world.

    If you want her or any other business owner to take you seriously, charge what your
    service is worth.
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    • Profile picture of the author Celltactics
      Originally Posted by Ron Lafuddy View Post

      Could it be that she is much smarter than you are willing to give her credit for?
      As a business owner, she knows that you have to charge for the services that you
      offer, in order to have a viable, sustainable business.

      That's how it works in the real world.

      If you want her or any other business owner to take you seriously, charge what your
      service is worth.
      I went to three other tanning salons today and they were all busy. I had to wait in line to talk to the person behind the counter. In all three the person was polite and the owner of one even apologized for making me wait AFTER I told her why I was there. Sadly, this gal in the OP is not smarter. She is rude and unprofessional and it shows. Her business looks like it is about to go under and this is the busy season around here for tanning.

      As to charging "what it is worth", what's your issue with a small business man trying to help out his follow business owners for free in order to get the word out that he even exists? So no one else has had any issue with my free offer.
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  • Profile picture of the author charbrown
    This is why I prefer cold calling instead of walking into a business cold. On the phone you can sort quickly. I used to work for a brokerage house and my cold call script was literally 4 short sentences, the last one being,"would you like some more information?" If I got a no, my goal was to be dialing the next number before that person could hang up their phone.
    I didn't try to rebut their no, I did'nt ask questions. I just said thankyouverymuch, and hung up. The thing is, always opened up at least one new account for every 120 dials.
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  • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
    I think there would be a frillion threads if people posted every time they got a "no".

    ...OP, have you considered phone prospecting? There's a ton of good info around this section!
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    • Profile picture of the author Celltactics
      Originally Posted by charbrown View Post

      This is why I prefer cold calling instead of walking into a business cold. On the phone you can sort quickly. I used to work for a brokerage house and my cold call script was literally 4 short sentences, the last one being,"would you like some more information?" If I got a no, my goal was to be dialing the next number before that person could hang up their phone.
      I didn't try to rebut their no, I did'nt ask questions. I just said thankyouverymuch, and hung up. The thing is, always opened up at least one new account for every 120 dials.
      Originally Posted by jamesfreddyc View Post

      I think there would be a frillion threads if people posted every time they got a "no".

      ...OP, have you considered phone prospecting? There's a ton of good info around this section!
      Not a real fan of the phone. I prefer the face to face. And the post wasn't as much about the no as it was about her comment that I should pay her to promote my business.
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      • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
        Originally Posted by Celltactics View Post

        Not a real fan of the phone. I prefer the face to face. And the post wasn't as much about the no as it was about her comment that I should pay her to promote my business.
        Reading the OP I took it as she nailed you down as selling something right away --- which she was correct. That in conjunction with not offering a solution to a problem that SHE HAD.

        I told her what I was about and that I would like to give her a free listing to help promote her business.
        You are not offering her a solution to any problem because you don't even know if exposure of her business is a problem in her business. In other words, she qualfied out because of need.

        How could you have even gotten to ask her if this is a problem if you are getting picked-off as someone trying to sell something? You need to change something in your intro.

        My takeaways were:
        She's an easy mark so hates salespeople.
        She thinks her business is of great value to the community.
        She doesn't have enough sense to realize another business person who could potentially recommend her business just left with a really bad taste in his mouth and wont likely say anything positive about her business.
        She is just stupid.
        And here she qualified out on personality fit with you.

        You could have very quickly and swiftly consulted with her over the phone and qualified on all of these things (you could also check to see if she could afford your services too!).
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Lessard
    First I commend you for giving it some thought to see if there was something you missed or could do different.

    I have learned a few important lessons that relate to this.

    1. Some people are just rude or in a bad place so don't take it personally and just move on. If just naturally rude they are usually the ones that have no customers and cannot figure out why. When I was younger and met someone like that I could get very confrontational. Now that I am a bit older I am much more relaxed about it, smile and walk away. I have also lived long enough to know that I have not walked a mile in their shoes. They may have a significant other dying of cancer or be facing some sort of other catastrophe in their life and they are like a loaded gun ready to go off so again it is nothing personal.

    2. Situations like this are often a blessing in disguise. Imagine if they signed up for your discount special and then you had to deal with them constantly for a long term. When I used to take on hundreds of clients I observed that about 5% of my lowest paying clients took up about 80% of my time!

    Good luck.
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