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There is a pressure-free way to reestablish communication when your prospect starts giving you the “silent treatment.”<\/strong> But first, it\u2019s important to understand why the situation has happened in the first place.<\/p>\n Most of us who sell get caught up in “hopeium,” a comical term that means we focus our hopes and desires on making the sale. But hopeium can be a trap, because it’s impossible for you to keep in mind your most important goal: to learn your prospect\u2019s truth.<\/p>\n When we fix our minds on the outcome — making the sale — we automatically begin anticipating how the process will go, and we also begin expecting that things will happen as we hope they will.<\/p>\n But if we\u2019re in that mindset and our prospect suddenly breaks off communication, we feel lost, anxious, frustrated, discouraged, and confused. We become preoccupied with what went wrong.<\/p>\n We may even feel betrayed.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes<\/strong>, by giving up your agenda and learning the truth about where you stand with your prospect –and being ok with whatever the truth may be. “But how can I learn the truth when they\u2019re avoiding me?” you may ask. “And why do I need to let go of the sale?”<\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s take the second question first.<\/p>\n If you approach your prospect while you still hope the sale will happen, you\u2019ll introduce sales pressure into the relationship. This will push your prospect away from you and destroy any trust you have developed with them. Instead, you can eliminate sales pressure by telling them that you\u2019re okay with their decision if they\u2019ve decided not to move forward.<\/p>\n In other words, you take a step back<\/strong> instead of trying to chase and follow up with calls because you\u2019re focused on getting a “yes.”<\/p>\n When a prospect gives you the “silent treatment,” it doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ve lost the sale.<\/strong> It just means you don\u2019t know the truth yet.<\/p>\n What you need to do is call and learn the truth.<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. You stop losing confidence in your selling ability.<\/strong> The “silent treatment” threatens our “hopeium.” We start blaming ourselves. We don\u2019t know where we stand — a painful state of limbo. Our self-talk is negative and full of self-blame, and we\u2019re on pins and needles wondering whether the sale will still come through somehow.<\/p>\n 2. You increase your selling efficiency and decrease your stress level.<\/strong> Once you learn the truth about your prospect\u2019s situation, you can either stay involved with the prospect or move on. I often say, “A \u2018no\u2019 is almost as valuable as a \u2018yes.\u2019” Why? Because it frees up your time to find prospects who are a better fit with your solution. This lets you work much more efficiently because you can quickly weed out prospects who aren\u2019t going to buy. Knowing the prospect\u2019s truth lets you walk away without that guilt-laden voice whispering, “If you give up, you don’t have what it takes.”<\/p>\n Learning your prospect\u2019s truth translates into tangible results that equal real dollars. You\u2019ll also put an end to the self-sabotaging stress that comes from living in “silent treatment” limbo.<\/p>\n 3. Sales pressure pushes prospects away<\/strong>. When you respond to the “silent treatment” with calls and e-mails, you\u2019re really telling them that you\u2019re determined to move the sales process forward — which means you\u2019re looking out for your needs, not theirs. This makes them mistrust you and run the other way.<\/p>\n 4. The “silent treatment<\/strong>” — totally breaking off communication — is how prospects protect themselves from sales pressure when they don\u2019t feel comfortable telling us their truth. The more we press, the more they run.<\/p>\n But the opposite is true, too. The more we relax and invite the truth, the more straightforward they\u2019ll be with us.<\/strong> Prospects feel okay sharing what\u2019s going on with them when they know we\u2019re okay with hearing it.<\/p>\n After Anthony and I had talked about some of these issues, he said, “This all makes a lot of sense, Ari, but I\u2019m still not sure what to say when I make that call.”<\/p>\n It\u2019s simpler than you might think.<\/p>\n * First, simply give your prospect a call.<\/strong> (E-mail and voicemail are very impersonal, so use them only as last resorts if you can’t reach your prospect after several phone calls.)<\/p>\n * Second, take responsibility and apologize for having caused the “silent treatment”.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” bottom_padding=”80″ overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none” shape_type=””][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]If you\u2019ve been selling for a while, you\u2019ve probably had at least one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[40,41,69,82,83,88,89,95,96,97,101,102],"class_list":["post-1523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs","tag-cold-call","tag-cold-calling","tag-insurance-sales","tag-mortgage-cold-calling","tag-mortgage-selling","tag-phone-prospecting","tag-phone-selling","tag-sales-prospecting","tag-sales-scripts","tag-sales-training","tag-telemarketing","tag-telesales"],"yoast_head":"\n![](\"http:\/\/brandbutter.io\/beta\/animationexplainers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/phone-call-400x398.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIs there any way to clear up the mystery?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The bottom line is:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Why is learning the truth so important?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Here are 4 important reasons:<\/strong><\/h5>\n
How to Reopen Communication<\/strong><\/h4>\n