It seems like an obvious and stupid question doesn’t it?

When can you know a sales prospect is not interested in your offer?

You know when he says he’s not interested, right?

Not necessarily. Let’s say you’re calling someone on the phone, you don’t know each other, and before you can get to square one, he says he’s not interested.

What is he not interested in? Is it in speaking at that moment, listening to a presentation, or your product or service, specifically? You just can’t KNOW from this statement.

So, you might try to reply with a transition phrase, such as “Well, I appreciate that, but” and continue from there.

If he comes back again, with the same or a similar line, well, the game should be over, and we should let him go, with a nice phrase such as, “Thanks for your courtesy.”

Next?

But how can we know when someone is no longer interested if we have communicated many times and possibly visited and made a formal, written proposal? Let’s say we’ve called back, left voice and email messages and we’re getting zip, in return?

Can we infer the deal is dead, we blew it, or we’re too expensive, too late, or just too anything for his or her tastes?

Maybe, but it’s just a guess, at best.

All of us who have more than a few years of sales or business experience know that miracles happen. A prospect that you thought was deader than dead a few months before might call you and be hot to trot, or you might contact him and hear the same happy news.

Personally, I like to see the nails in the coffin before I am convinced a deal is dead.

So, if I get silence after having numerous contacts, I’ll wait a spell, and then try again, perhaps offering a new service or product or piece of information in my message.

And sometimes, I do feel a pulse and the deal comes back to life!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com