We have all heard prospects and customers tell us “I will call you.”
Let me tell you the definition of “I will call you.”
“I will call you” equals “I will never call you.”
In 1978 when I started Proforma, all I had was some business cards and an answering machine. My answering machine was an older type machine that had a limit of 20 messages. Every day in those early days I made at least 20 calls a day. Mostly field calls. Going door to door in industrial parks and business towers and talking with decision makers. Many of those people would tell me that they didn’t need anything now, and that when they did they would tell me, “I will call you.”
After several months in the business, at least a thousand cold calls, and at least a few hundred people telling me, “I will call you,” I started to worry that my answering machine wasn’t big enough.
However, within six months in the business I learned that “I will call you” really meant, “I will never call you.”
Here’s the best solution when people tell you, “I will call you.”
1. Tell them “Thank you,” and that you look forward to working with them in the future.
2. Ask them if it’s ok to call them if you don’t hear from them by a certain date (they will always say yes).
3. Put that date on your calendar. If a prospect follow-up isn’t on your calendar, that prospect is “dead,” and all the time you spent prospecting to meet them is just wasted time.
The bottom line is that sometimes “buyers are liars.” It’s OK. You’ve probably done it yourself with a salesperson. Just flip their “I will call you,” which has you “out of control” into a “if I don’t hear from you by a certain date, I will call you.” That way you are in control of the sales process.
