“I’m the wrong person…”
Sometimes that’s true. Sometimes that’s not, and they’re just trying to avoid talking to you. Either way, you need to have a game plan on what to do.
If you haven't heard me talk about the 3 steps to handling an objection using the Mr. Miyagi Method, here’s the magic framework:
- Agree with the objection to remove the pressure of the sale.
- Incentivize conversation to get them sharing more about the objection.
- Sell the test drive. What will they get out of meeting with you (or in this case, allowing the name drop) even if they don’t buy?
Let’s break each step down.
Step #1 – Agree with the objection
Joe (Head of Demand Gen): “I’m the wrong person for this call.”
Armand (trying to sell 30MPC sponsorships): “Hey Joe, totally get that. I guess I picked the wrong roulette color because it's usually either the Head of Demand Gen or Content who manages media partnerships.”
I agree with his initial objection to remove the pressure of the sale. I want to let him know that his answer makes sense, I guessed wrong, and I should probably reach out to someone else.
That allows us to ask who that person is in step #2.
Step #2 – Incentivize conversation
Armand: “Just so I don’t reach out to the wrong person again, it’s probably Jane who heads up content right?”
Joe: “It's probably Jane or someone on her content team. But again, this isn't my domain, so she would know better than me, I'm not sure.”
This works because Joe is in one of two situations:
- He was lying to avoid the cold call and now he will tell the truth because he doesn't want me calling Jane
- He was telling the truth and now we know
Now that we know he’s in situation #2, our approach changes a bit. Normally we’d want to “sell the test drive” with him, but we actually need to get his permission to help us sell the test drive to his colleague.
Step #3 – Sell the test drive (rather, the name drop)
Armand: “Really appreciate you sharing the context here with me, Joe. Just so I don't come off as a total goon or get ping ponged back to you, is it cool to let Jane know that you and I spoke when I reach out to her later today?
Joe: “Yeah, that's totally fine.”
We're not trying to get Joe to agree to a meeting, we need to sell him on why it makes sense for him to help us get a meeting with Jane.
So we're going to give him the following reason: we don't want to send a completely cold call Jane's way and sound like a total goon.
And to make him likely to agree...
- Let him know we're ALREADY going to reach out
- Ask for the name drop, not the referral (this is too much work for a stranger)
From here, I’ll usually write a new email to the referral with the subject line: Spoke with Nick. You’ll get a reply.
