Month: October 2023

If Spammers Do It – Don’t

by Carl Ingalls and Paul Bunn

If you look like a spammer, talk like a spammer, and walk like a spammer, most people will delete your message or hang up on you without caring what you have to say.

So, as a general rule, we avoid doing the things that spammers do. A lot of High Probability Selling is the opposite of what they do (but there are a few exceptions).

Here are a few things a spammer is more likely to say than someone who is not a spammer.

  1. On the phone, saying, “How are you today” before mentioning the purpose of the call.
  2. On the phone, taking too long to get to the point, and sticking rigidly to their script.
  3. An email that starts with, “I just wanted to…” or any other first reference to themselves. Like the recipient cares about what the sender wants.
  4. Mentioning their previous unsolicited messaging, as if you should feel guilty for ignoring them. “I was wondering if you got a chance to review my previous email.” Like you really need someone checking to see if you did your homework.

There are a lot more. You are welcome to add your thoughts in the comments below.

Exercise: The next time a piece of spam email lands in your inbox, take a close look at it. Pay special attention to the things that irritate you, and write them down. If you can, also write down why those things irritate you. Do the same with a spam phone call. Then think about how you want come across to prospective customers.

A Word That Says It All

There is a single word we say to a prospect that demonstrates one of the most important ways of how we are being. It’s a very simple word that says so much.

Can you guess it?

When we respond to something the prospect says, it’s usually the first word we say.

It signals acceptance. It’s an early indicator that we are not going to try to change someone’s mind.

If you are an experienced practitioner of HPS, and can’t think of this word, it may be because you use it automatically, without being conscious of it.

If you can’t figure out what the word is, don’t worry. It’s ok.

And that is the answer. That’s the word. It’s ok.

Simple Selling – Why Is It So Hard?

The simplest way to sell something is to find people who want it. That’s the basic idea behind High Probability Selling (HPS). But why is it so hard to do?

We complicate things. We go far beyond just finding people. We try to change their minds. We try to get them to do something we want them to do.

These are deep habits, and they are very difficult to let go of. However, changing those habits is necessary to be successful when applying HPS.

There must be some kind of emotional reward that reinforces our need to influence or persuade other people. Here is an article that talks about such rewards: “How to Break Up with Your Bad Habits” by Jud Brewer.

We will discuss this in our next HPS Community Forum (scheduled for Thu 12 Oct 2023 at 10am USA Eastern Time on Zoom). If you want to attend, please Contact Us and please provide an email address where we can send you the Zoom sign-on details. Anyone with an interest in High Probability Selling is welcome. No charge.