Ask the Sales Doctor - Total Selling Systems

Warren Wechsler's
Ask the Sales Doctor

How can I grow my business if I can't make new calls?

Warren Wechsler, bestselling author and national sales and motivational speaker, provides many valuable resources free of charge to sales trainers and sales managers. Some restrictions apply to the use and distribution of this information. For more valuable materials, visit Warren's web site www.totalselling.com. All materials and content © Warren Wechsler, 2001 – All rights reserved.

Paul writes:

I want a new territory and my manager won’t give me one. All of my prospects have 'no soliciting' signs and only see people by appointment. After I make my calls on my current accounts, I have no way to make initial contacts. How can I grow my business if I can't make new calls?

Warren answers:

You know, when I got this question I thought it was a gag, that somebody just sent this to me. But I actually called Paul and talked to him. I felt very empathetic for him after I had a chance to talk to him, so I want to make sure not only that his question gets answered live but that it also gets answered. I'm sure a lot of my listeners face the same thing.

Let me tell you something, Paul. First you have to wake up and smell the coffee here. When people put up "no soliciting" signs on their business they're not trying to keep out professional people. I knew from talking to you that you're selling a business-to-business product with a service attached to it that's highly sought after, very much needed, and a very important part of what business people are looking for.

The reason people have those signs on the door is they want to keep the people out who are selling the velvet Elvis posters. "Oh, there was a fire in the warehouse, and we've got velvet Elvis posters." They're trying to keep out the people that come in with this little bottle and spray it on your carpet and say, "Yes, it's the magic cleaner." And what you don't know is the bottle they're using is a hundred times more concentrated than the one you're going to buy, which is one percent of what's in the bottle they used. These are the types of people that those signs are trying to keep out, door-to-door salespeople, peddlers, people who are quasi-legitimate, quasi-illegitimate.

You, Paul, conversely, are a sales professional. And the reason you're in those buildings is you are introducing yourself to people in the building whom you don't know while you are also calling on the customers in the same area. So while you're calling on your customers, you just so happened to have the opportunity to go out there and introduce yourself to potential clients in the same geographic area.

That's what you're doing. You're not soliciting. Soliciting is when somebody calls you at home during dinner and tries to make you switch long distance. Those are solicitations. All you're doing is introducing yourself, trying to find out who the right people are to talk to at these various companies, and then calling back for an appointment later.

You got that, Paul? You don't need a new territory. Your manager's right. Just go out there and make the calls. And if anybody tells you that you're soliciting, tell him or her, "No, I am not soliciting. I am simply making calls on my current accounts. While I am here I'm stopping off to introduce myself, to find out the right people to whom I can call back and get an appointment." You got that, Paul? You got that, listeners? That's what you do to build a business. Don't be afraid of those "no soliciting" signs.

This was a partial transcript from Warren Wechsler's weekly radio show. Warren Wechsler, bestselling author and national sales and motivational speaker, provides many valuable resources free of charge to sales trainers and sales managers. Visit Warren's web site www.totalselling.com Also, listen to Warren's weekly radio broadcast Wednesday's at 4:05 - 5:00 pm Central time, on KMCD-AM 1570AM. Shows are broadcast live on the internet at http://www.warpradio.com/asx/KMCD-AM.asx