- Cold callers trying to sell me their products often point out my "flaws" and "problems," but they’ll never get my business that way.
The people who sell internet lead generation services make a lot of cold calls because they know we will never find them on the internet. And if we do, we probably won’t contact them.
They call us while we’re driving because everyone knows that those of us in sales are supposed to answer the phone and talk to people who sell stuff. And we are supposed to like it.
It’s the same with all those emails we get from salespeople. We are expected to be polite, and they want a response.
When I write an article like this, a bunch of people will let me know what a horrible person I am because of my super bad attitude about people constantly calling me and sending me stuff to get me to buy something that I am not even looking for or remotely interested in.
They don’t even listen
The people who are on the phone selling to me won’t listen to a thing I say. They remind me of my family. If they did listen, they might learn something. I have been in the business for more than 15 years.
Most of them have probably not even been in the workforce for 15 years, and often, the company that has the product that they are trying to sell me has been around less than three years.
How do they become experts in such a short period of time? How do they understand real estate in my area when real estate is local, and they are in California? Why do they call and say “Hi, I am John, how are you today?”
I would rather talk about a product I don’t need with a total stranger calling from California than about myself.
When I am asked how many transactions I typically have a year, I mostly want to hang up. That seems like such a personal question, and to be honest, the number isn’t important to me at all.
What I do care about financially is my bottom line. If I sell one $30 million house every other year, I’ll be doing just fine.
I’m not on Google?
The telemarketers tell me they can’t find me on Google, yet that is often where they get my contact information.
If fewer telemarketers in California can find me, then I’ll get fewer phone calls from them — and that’s a good thing.
I should work harder at not being found by them on Google. If potential clients can’t find me, that might be a problem; if salespeople cannot find me, I don’t see the downside.
I use Google Analytics; I have proof that my sites are on Google and that people find and look at them. At least two of my active clients found me by using Google, then contacted me and asked me if I would work with them. They captured me.
You’re not going to sell me
A recent caller told me that I have a problem and that he wants to help me. Have I ever asked for help? Am I even willing to admit that I have a problem? We have to admit we have a problem before we can get help. I’m not even at that stage yet.
Those of us who are in sales hear “no” all the time. People who don’t want to face rejection on a daily basis need to find a new job.
I would not — under any circumstances — send someone a follow-up email pointing out that a prospect has not responded to my first email if I had sent them an unsolicited email advertising my services.
I wouldn’t keep calling if they did not return my calls. In the world of sales, my lack of persistence is often taken as the sign of an underachiever. I can handle being called an underachiever as easily as I can handle being told no.
If telemarketing is the best way to sell to real estate agents, brokers and companies, perhaps someone can invent something better and call the companies (the same ones that call us) to see if they will buy it.
They won’t mind the call.
I’m sure they will just listen politely and ask questions. Just use a script, and tell them they have a problem — because they do. You can even tell them I said they have a problem if you don’t want to be confrontational.
Ask them if they want more business.
Share your success in capturing clients who are looking for products. Tell them their current methods of winning business are wrong. Let them know that you can’t find them on the internet.
And then just keep calling.
Teresa Boardman is a Realtor and broker/owner of Boardman Realty in St. Paul. She is also the founder of StPaulRealEstateBlog.com.
