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If you’ve been in the industry long enough, you’ve probably heard these traditional sales mantras:
- Never give up until you make the sale
- Persist until you overcome their objections
- If you’re committed, there’s always a way to make the sale; if you don’t make it, you’re just not committed enough
- If they don’t want to buy from you, you haven’t tapped into their pain enough
- Either you sell them on you or they sell you on their objections
The implicit message is: “keep pushing them until they either say yes — or say no.”
Makes you want to take a cold shower after reading those, doesn’t it?!
Of course, you don’t follow any of those ideas any more, because you know how they can break trust with your prospects – and how uncomfortable the make you feel.
Often times though, advisors do feel a deep sense of guilt, if they had a great conversation with a prospect, then they chase them with no return communication, forcing them to walk away.
You tell yourself: “I’ve given them my best, if they don’t appreciate my value, then that’s their problem, I’m not going to chase them anymore.”
It takes a lot of mental energy to be wound like that, especially if you start second-guessing yourself about why they never called you back.
But, what do you do if you have an initial prospect meeting and you determine they are not a fit with you?
How do you handle that with grace, so you both disengage unscathed?
Learning to walk away may be the hardest part of selling because we’ve been so conditioned to pursue anyone who we believe could benefit from our services.
Once you decide that you aren’t, here is some trust-based languaging to end the conversation graciously:
- “My only goal today was to see if we are a fit together and if I can truly help you. It sounds as if in your particular situation, I’m not the best person for you, I hope you’re ok with that, and I’m happy to refer you to someone else who probably is a better fit.”
Or, if they are a fit, and you aren’t afraid to state the way you work (no chasing!), you can say:
- “If you’d be open to it, it might make sense if we schedule another time to catch up again, on our calendars, that way we can avoid chasing each other back and forth…and I can be available to you to answer any further questions you might have…would you be open to that?”
Keep them on the calendar, and you’ll never have to feel guilty again having to chase and then abandon a perfectly qualified potential client.
Related: How To Stay on Track in Your Sales Conversations
Get your Free copy of Ari’s best-selling book "Trust In A Split Second!" here and you’ll also receive a Complimentary Sales and Lead Generation Consultation (value $995.00). Ari Galper is the world’s number one authority on trust-based selling and is the most sought-after high-net-worth new client acquisition expert for financial advisors. His latest book, “Trust In A Split Second!” has become an instant best-seller among financial advisors worldwide.