‘We’re all sorted thanks”
Getting to the other side of those brush offs in your telemarketing.
Cold calling can feel like a thankless task if you take the brush offs at face value, but they are completely normal, rational human response to being interrupted, usually laced with a bit of doubt and a dash of distrust. It is fair enough, most people aren’t ready to trust you 30 seconds into a call. The job isn’t to push through with a pitch. The job is to stay in the conversation long enough to turn a brush off into a breakthrough and get to the other side. To get there its about understandig how they feel and having the next great question to ask.
At Your Lead Generation, we don’t treat objections as dead ends. We treat them as doorways, signs someone’s engaged enough to put up a defence and we prepare our response, and all this improves the more calls we make. Practise really does make perfect. As in most games in life p*ss poor performance is a result of poor planning. Objections are part of the game, preparation stacks the odds in your favour. You are not going into yes or no conversation, on this first call you are going on a fact finding mission.. Whether it’s contract dates, decision-maker details, pain points, or how their current setup’s performing, gather it, record it, and let that insight shape your follow-up. It’s not always about getting a ‘yes’ on the day. You’re collecting intel and context to shape your next move to be relevant when the time is right.
Preparing for the brush off
What are 5 key bits of information that you want to know about your prospect, if you focus on gathering some of those key facts as the purpose of your call it will help you with your conversation, information is a win. Here’s what may be useful to find out
- Are they using an external provider or handling it in-house?
- When does their current contract renew? Is it a fixed-term or rolling agreement?
- Crucial if the service is contractual. If we know the end date, we can time follow up activity perfectly and grade and date our sales pipeline.
- Who handles purchasing decisions?
- Is it an individual, a department, a team? Knowing who to talk to gold, how many hours in our lives have we wasted on talking to the wrong person!
- What’s working well — and what isn’t?
- This is where the opportunity is and the chat we want to get to. People need to feel “safe” to answer this so it might be long shot for you but it is the end goal and we always need our eye on the long game.
- Are there emerging issues they’re dealing with right now? Tie into something timely, this could definitely shape your next move by being able to send them article or some value around something very topical that they might be dealing with or know it is for them to face down the line.
This isn’t a grilling. It’s a human conversation with structure and purpose, and the more specific questions you can put to them the deeper conversation you can get into.
A lucky day
If we happen to reach someone who’s actively looking for what we sell, we take it as a lucky day. You can’t plan for that. Most initial cold calls aren’t about landing the deal right now. They’re about setting up the relationship. We’re learning about the business, the people, the process, the pain points of your market and finding points of relevance and opportunities. This conversation multiple times will really start to tell you about your message, approach and where your market are at in relation to what you are offering – seriously telemarketing is the way to validate all of that. Once we have spoken to 100 of your market we are starting to validate it, the message and see where any gaps are – these should be your goals too. Is how you are going about things connecting with them. Once you are connecting you will start to create a bank of qualified leads which are now more than just a name and job title, also this is where they start to get to know us and is setting us up for the commercial opportunity when the time is right for the prospect
7 common cold call brush offs
Let’s look at the common reservations you’ll hear — and how to consider respoinding to keep the door open. You will see there is always another question you can ask….
- We’re all sorted, thanks.
Smile. Be curious. Ask: “Great,what’s working really well for you right now?” or “How are you dealing with [insert relevant pain point or topical issue]?” - We already have a supplier.
Try: “When do you next review your suppliers?” or “Do you ever need extra capacity during busy periods?” Look for gaps, not to bulldoze, but to be useful when they’re let down. - We don’t have budget.
Acknowledge it. Then ask: “Are there results you’d like to see but can’t with your current setup?” Move the conversation from cost to value. - Send me an email.
Here we go, but don’t go quietly. Try Happy to, which of our three services sounds most relevant?” Or even cheekier: “I could send a boring email you won’t read, or we could just take 2 minutes now, your call.” - We do that in-house.
Curiosity again: “How’s that working day to day? Any parts you’re thinking of outsourcing as you grow?” Sow the seed, look for a gap or specific thing you can ask about. - Now’s not a good time.
Respect their time. But follow up with: “Can I book a better time?” Add relevance: “We’re a local provider, always nearby. It’s worth knowing what support you’ve got locally.” - I’m not the right person.
Good to know! “Who is?” Or: “Which department handles that?” If you can’t get a name, aim for the route in.
To summarise
Cold calling isn’t about steamrolling someone into submission, it’s about creating space for a conversation, a connection and looking for a future fit.
Most people will have a reservation. That’s not a problem, it’s a sign they’re human.
The real win is being open to those objections and brush offs, listening without defensiveness, and adjust your language, words, and approach. That’s where the magic happens.
And if you’re intentional about gathering insight on every call, even the “not nows” become valuable steps forward. There is always another question you can ask.
Need help turning your cold calls into a source of real insight? That’s something we would love to talk about.
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