ONE OF the biggest hurdles salespeople encounter is “call reluctance”–and all salespeople experience it. New producers are afraid they are not qualified to talk to anyone who might answer the telephone; after all, they do not know insurance. Experienced producers can tire of being told “No,” so why bother? Besides, they know a good prospect just by feel. They may not call on others for any number of reasons: They have called on them before without success; they know a producer who has called on them and failed; they know the producer and/or company that currently writes the account and they are invulnerable. The average producer becomes impatient at wading through the “No's” to get the “Yes.” No matter how you slice it, call reluctance stems from not wanting to be told “No.”

A friend of mine once remarked, “I could never be in sales because the rejection bothers me. Good salespeople don't mind.” I immediately told him that nothing could be further from the truth. When salespersons are told “No,” it directly affects their pocketbooks, their standing in their agencies and, in some unfortunate cases, their self-esteem. I assured him that no one minds being told “No” more than a salesperson. Most people outside our profession have the opposite, mistaken opinion. What they fail to understand is that there is a big difference between not minding being told “No” (the common misconception) and the ability to recover quickly from being told “No.”

All good salespeople should mind immensely being told “No.” Questions they should consider asking themselves are: “Why was I told 'No'? What can I do differently to prevent that happening again? How will my next call be different? What can I do to make certain it doesn't happen again for the same reason it happened this time?”

If you're a producer and “No” neither hurts nor bothers you, then you're in the wrong profession. But here is a procedure to help you develop prospects and recover quickly from the “No” along the way.

Step No. 1: The first step is making cold calls on “suspects.” Suspects are those companies or individuals who may be viable prospects. Usually a cold call interrupts them from something they were doing or getting ready to do. Therefore, it is typically a good idea to send a letter before calling. A marketing campaign may consist of sending 10 to 25 letters a week to suspects. In the letter, you should commit to call them for appointments within one week of the day they get the letter. The “life” of a letter is about 10 days. Do not send more letters than you intend to follow up on. In other words, don't burn up suspects.

Step No. 2: Your job during appointments (or during the initial telephone call) is to determine which suspects are legitimate prospects. Getting “No's” while weeding out suspects should not be viewed negatively. It's simply part of the qualification process. Besides, being told “No” at this stage only means the suspects are not prospects at this time. Courage to make the calls comes from having a lot of suspects to contact, so compile a lengthy list.

Step No. 3: From the suspects, build a list of qualified prospects. This is your pipeline-your life's blood. Without a full pipeline, you will not have the fortitude to walk away from a suspect who is not going to become a viable prospect. Without a full pipeline, you will not have the courage to try to improve your sales process.

Step No. 4: After meeting with prospects, determine which ones are likely to be good fits for you and your agency. These are your future sales. Knowing you have prospects who have the potential to become clients gives you the courage to call others and risk the “No.”

Step No. 5: Present proposals to your qualified prospects.

You may be told “No” in Step No. 1. In Step No. 2, you may be told “No,” but you will not be told “Never.” You will not be told “No” during Step 3. Rather, you will decide if a prospect goes to the next step. You may be told “No” after Step 5. That's when prospects get the chance to determine if your proposition has sufficient value to them.

It takes a good marketing plan, hard work and courage to fill a pipeline. You have to call people and give them a chance to say “No”; you have to network where suspects get a chance to say “No”; and you have to ask for referrals, which gives people a chance to say “No.” You are going to have to acquire the courage to give them that chance.

Remember this, however. If you have done your homework correctly and you are calling the right people and companies, understand that they are not saying, “No, I don't like you.” Nor are they saying, “No–and never ask me again.” What they are saying is, “No, right now I do not have an interest in meeting with you,” or “No, right now I do not have the ability to help you.” “No” means “not now”; it does not mean “Never.”

By being professional and persistent, you will prevail. There are few things more frustrating than to think a prospect has viability, but you do not call them because:

–They are too big for me.

–I am too busy right now.

–I am above cold calling.

–No one I know can introduce me into that company.

–I will get caught up on my prospecting when things calm down.

Then one day you finally call the prospect and find out they recently changed brokers.

I urge you to not tell yourself “No.” Make the call, get the appointment and then begin the process of determining the future of the account.

Special Reports /

Strictly Sales: You can hear 'No' and still say 'No' to call reluctance

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