| I was just leafing through some of my sales | | | | machines, or even tractors? |
| training tips that I place in articles and sales | | | | Not that many. Even the most eccentric New |
| seminars. | | | | Yorker won't commute to work "On a Deere," so |
| One of them pertains to maintaining "flow" in | | | | market enlargement is, practically speaking, out of |
| conversations with the timely injection of | | | | the question for combines and harvesters. |
| transition phrases. | | | | Farmers are your market, and with consolidation |
| I use the example of a person you call who says | | | | and the rapid disappearance of family spreads, |
| right away, "I'm pretty busy right now." | | | | there aren't that many to call, so you had better |
| You can offer to call back, politely say goodbye, | | | | cultivate strategies for keeping those folks you |
| or you can parry the statement with a transition | | | | have on your short list on the phone, or |
| such as: "Well I appreciate that and I'll make it | | | | otherwise interested in hearing from you. |
| brief." | | | | On the other hand, if your prospecting base is |
| Your decision as to what strategy to employ will | | | | relatively large, you may not have to parry or |
| be informed to a major extent not by your | | | | address objections, at all. |
| personal style or even your training in using | | | | At the first hint of resistance, you can seek out |
| transitions, important as these considerations are. | | | | the next set of ears. |
| Your strategy will be governed by the size of | | | | Beware of sales training that is so doctrinaire that |
| prospecting universe that you're phoning into. | | | | it implores you to ALWAYS do this or that. |
| Example: One of my clients is a large distributor | | | | Your particular marketing universe will, to a large |
| of farm equipment in the Midwest. How many | | | | extent, determine the tools you can use. |
| prospects can buy HUGE crop cultivation | | | | |