Sales Blow-off or Bad Timing?

How to Know the Difference

“I’m an SDR making outbound sales calls (cold and warm), and there are times when I get the prospect on the phone, and after I introduce myself and give the reason for my call, they reply back with something along the lines of it not being a good time for them to talk – How do I know if this is a Blow-off or just a Bad Time to talk?”

OK what I like here is you mention, “There are times” that this happens to you, which is different than if the MAJORITY of the time you called, you were given the brush-off by the prospect.

Since this is happening every now and then, it would appear that your OVS (Opening Value Statement … What you say after “Hello, my name is…) is NOT the problem – and that’s a good thing.

To identify if the prospect’s response is a blow-off or just bad timing, I respond with this:

Prospect: I’m actually getting ready to head into a meeting and can’t talk now.

Salesperson: No problem – I can send you an email with my calendar schedule if you like – this way, you can pick a time that works best for you; would that work?

Prospect: Yes, that would be great.

Salesperson: Ok, I’ll take care of that. Before I let you go – is this something you would like to discuss ________?

OK now… couple things…

• The “is this” refers to the WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM pain point/value proposition you mentioned in your Opening Value Statement (OVS). We’ve already established that you have a fairly successful opener as evidence that you are OCASSIONALLY getting a “can’t talk right now” response.

• Your prospect will have two primary responses to the “is this something you would like to discuss?” It’s either going to be a solid YES but right now isn’t a good time, or they will confirm that they really aren’t that interested.

I’ve found that handling it this way frees me from chasing uninterested prospects while helping me zero in on those who need and want my help.

– Michael Pedone