It should be illegal to cold call a businiess schlepping your latest and greatest service solution that helps businesses like mine........

Thanks and have a blessed day.

My family and I are fortunate that it's not.

signed,

A b2b salesman

With that said, I try to be as respectful as possible of customers' (or potential customers') time. If someone tells me they're not interested in what I sell, I will flat out ask them if it's ok to call them again later down the road. If they ask me not to, I won't. Also, I'm selling a product that is specific to a pretty specific industry so the people I'm calling all potentially have a need/use for what I sell...I'm not just calling every business out there and harassing them.

But, from a saleman's perspective, try to remember that the guy on the other end of the phone is just a dude, like you, who is just trying to make a living for himself and his family

Does your company not have sales people? Do you just rely on your existing client base and have no plans to grow that or you just wait for all of the potential customers to flock to you? Or do you use instagram influencers for marketing purposes and wait for the business to roll in?

I receive many sales calls in my business and only entertain a very small % of them. If the person comes across as pushy they will not receive my business. The ones that really get under my skin always call while we are extremely busy. I usually just hang up on those as they know the business and the busy times.

If someone tells me they're not interested, I'll thank them for their time and give them my number and ask them to call me if anything changes, and we'll leave it at that. I cannot tell you how many times I've had people thank me for the "low-pressure" approach. There is a fine line between being persistent and being pushy. If you don't know EXACTLY where that line is, you're much better off to err on the side of caution.

We don't like it anymore than the customer but we have to eat too. Fortunately I have enough referrals after 15 years that I no longer cold call but when I did I was always mindful of the time I was asking for. If they were busy I left a card and caught them my next time through. The most effective way to sell and not make them hate to see you coming is to tell the customer the truth up front and always do what you say you'll do. In other words, under promise and over deliver.

This guy gets it . Wish everyone thought like that

You are 100% right, and it seems so obvious........yet a lot of people (particularly the higher you go up the management ladder) just don't get it.

The ladies here were having a big laugh yesterday about the lies they are told by folks trying to get in to see folks. If you lie, you're done here before you ever get started. We even had our cell numbers taken off our cards. Someone would come in, be told we were unavailable, ask for a card. They would then go to their car and call the cell from the parking lot, saying the receptionist told them we could be reached at that number.

Professional sales people call you if they’ve determined that your company potentially has a need for their solution & they can present a clearly understood return on your investment (time & money)

Unprofessional sales people waste your time

There’s a difference

I'm not in sales and couldn't be, but my father was a helluva salesman. He said the biggest factor to selling any large ticket item is to make a friend before you even think about selling them anything. Seams to be true. I'm not buying anything from someone that I perceive to be a jackass.

One of the first things I learned in my sales career was that I have to sell myself first. The second thing was to sell my company and finally the product. Trick is that #1 has to be nailed down first or the rest won't matter. If they don't like me it won't matter if I'm trying to GIVE them something, they won't take it. People buy from people and people buy from people they like.

if by “friend” you mean a trusted business partner/advisor, then that’s 100% true ... we can be buddies after i’ve helped you solve a legitimate business problem & either made or saved you money ...

Imo car and door to door salesmen, time travel guys, etc are the mostly the ones being pushy / agressive / deceiving and leave a bad staste in peoples mouth for 'salesmen'.. but as someone who worked in sales for a while I never stop them & always let them finish their pitch and try let them down easy

Have to have a relationship first before you can grow business! I am in sales, but have an established customer base. Thankful I don’t have to cold call on new customers anymore.

The longer I am in sales the more I’m realizing not to call on everyone. I focus my time where my relationships are and where customers come to me, not just me going to them.

[I wonder how many of you sales people have your number on the do not call list?

I wonder how many sales calls you take from cold callers?

I mean they gotta eat too right?

My frustration is with the email that I receive from a sales person about their company/product that really explains nothing of what they do. They just want the 15-30 minutes of my time. They never get it with that approach.

Jeremy

I am on the do not call list and still get several a week. I'm not nice and I'm not tolerant of it but a phone call is a lot different than an in person cold call. If there was a no soliciting sign on the door I moved on. I never wanted a merchant to feel pressured or obligated and was always mindful to move on when it was time to do so.

I'm not sure what reaction you were hoping for but if you were hoping most people would say sales people have no right to go out and attempt to make a living you're probably not going to get much support.

I’d tell my Secretary to put on her big girl squirrel covers and do a better job of screening calls. Either that or a simple “no thank you. . .have a great day.”

My problem is I don’t know how to be appropriately nice in my initial indication of a lack of interest. “No Thank you, I’m not interested”. Doesn’t seem to get their attention, even when expressed in a polite fashion multiple times. So my next level of negative response tends to be along the lines of increasing volumetric ranting about, “Why the @&$&@$ don’t you @&$$&@@@&$&’ers listen instead continuing to “Always be closing”?