It always bothers me that salespeople tend to call month after month with nothing to say except, “Do you want to buy our service now?” and a month later, “How about now?” and so on. First of all, this sounds desperate and second, it sounds like they haven’t thought for a moment about me. They just want my money. It is actually similar to dating. A gentleman might ask me on a date, and I accept. Then, if I am not so sure about a second date, I am only going to run for the hills if he is continually calling and saying, “Do you want a second date now?...How about now?....How about now?”. Frankly, this would give me a slight concern that nothing else was going on in his world. In a work context, when selling products, a better approach I have tried over the years has been to find reasons to call that do NOT include asking for the sale. I made up ten but I’m sure people could suggest more here and I’d love to hear them. Here are mine:

10 reasons to call a prospect that do not include asking for the sale…

1. I read an article about your company in …..

2. Congratulations on winning…..

3. I have just been speaking to/working with ‘x’ company and it made me think of your situation…

4. I read a report about your sector struggling – how is that affecting you…

5. I referred someone to you, so expect a call from…

6. I might need YOUR services. Have you got a moment to tell me about them…?

7. I want to refer you to someone but need to clarify what you do in my mind…

8. There is this great event coming up that I thought you might be interested in. Do you want to travel and go together?

9. We have just changed how we do things here….

10. We have added a new service and just want you to be aware for the future…

I think this approach might be a useful one in the dating game as well if there are any men or women out there wondering how to make that brave second call. Why not call and say, “I was thinking about your interest in ice-skating and I read about a special deal to the Guildford ice-skating rink” for example. Happy dating and selling everyone.