I, like you, take a fair number of incoming sales calls. I don’t have (nor want) a gatekeeper to screen them away. If it’s a recording, I put the call on hold and forget about it. If it’s someone reading a script poorly from a company that I don’t care about, I’ll do the same or just hang up. Occasionally, it’s a real sales call from a real person and although they may have a script or an outline, they are trying to engage me in the conversation. I’ll often play along to see what happens.

Last week I took a call from a person that I’ve “seen around”. Carries himself well. He’s the principal. Friendly. Gives no appearance of being incapable, professionally. I like him, and if somebody asked me about him, I’d say something like, “Seems like a good guy, but I’ve never heard him talk about the stuff that he does and I don’t know anyone who uses him”. Truthful, but not exactly an endorsement.

OK, so back to the call. He calls and says, “Hi, Rick this is _____.” I reply, “Hey, _____! What’s happening? How was Christmas?” We exchanged a few more pleasantries and _____ said, “Well, Rick, this is my official sales call.” I replied with something like, “Cool.” but I thought, “It’s about time.” We met several months ago. _____ is in a very competitive industry. I have someone that does what he does for me. I have several people in my network that do what he does. (Interestingly, I can only remember one other “sales call” from any of the others.)

So, he told me that he’d like to schedule a meeting where we could talk about where I am, what he does and then he’ll go away to do a proposal for me. I replied that we’re expecting our first grandchild any minute (still waiting as I write), we have new kitchen cabinets being delivered on 1/15 and the plumber’s coming to redo our bathroom before that. I have important business events happening on 1/17, 1/20 and 1/24 that all need preparation, a cruise scheduled for the first week in February and the kitchen will be installed shortly thereafter. The only other things that I kinda expected was a trip to Mexico before we opened up our beach house in early April.

How’s that for a stall? I not only put him off for almost two months, but he understands how busy I am and believes that it would have been impossible for me to meet with him. Now, here’s the truth. I HAVE NO COMPELLING NEED TO MEET WITH HIM! I DON’T KNOW WHAT, IF ANYTHING, HE’S EVER DONE FOR ONE OF HIS CLIENTS THAT I NEED DONE. I DON’T KNOW IF MY GUY HAS UNDERPERFORMED. HE WANTS TO SCHEDULE A MEETING AND HASN’T PUT ANY SPECIFIC ITEM ON THE AGENDA AND WITHOUT AN AGENDA ITEM, WE’LL NEVER MEET. Am I too busy to meet? I suggest that most of _____’s clients are busier than I am, but forget the rest of them. Since I spoke with _____, I’ve developed a stuffy nose. If I still have it on January 2nd, I’m gonna call my doctor and see him ASAP! I will make myself available when he is available. Why? I HAVE A COMPELLING NEED!

_____, I’ll agree that we should meet, but we should probably talk about what we could do for you rather than what you can do for me. Your move.