This is a big mistake that most salespeople do; they pitch without considering the mental and physical state of the prospect. If the prospect is not settled, they will present physically but absent mentally. This is not a good situation when it comes to closing the sale.

I once visited a certain school head in a bid to sell my best-selling academic book to his school. The principal was very busy doing some reports that he was to submit to the district education office that very afternoon. I noticed that the principal was busy but I did nothing to avert the effect of the situation. I hurriedly pitched the sale and guess what happened, the principal ended up objecting to the sales pitch that killed the sale. He was objecting to just push me away and give him time to work. No matter how I tried, he still did not want to give me his time at that moment. He told me to leave my number with the secretary and promised to call me later. Fortunately, he called after several days and explained to me that he was very busy that day. We ended up closing the sale afterward.

I learned that the prospect can raise an objection that is not real because they do not want to listen to you at that moment. You may get a prospect who is mentally disturbed or physically busy. Any time you try to sell anything to them, they will push you away because the sale is not a priority to them at that time. This

does not mean that they will not need to buy your product later, it just means that you pitched at the wrong time.

Many pushy salespeople will meet a client who is not settled and they will insist on making the sale. This is a recipe for failure. When you meet a prospect who has undergone a heartbreak that morning, it is not in your best interest to start talking to them about your product that very day. They care less about you and your product at that time. The product is not their priority at that point.

An emotional person will rarely use logic. Emotions have a way of suppressing rationale. Emotional people will exhibit sheer ignorance or great arrogance because their reasoning is suspended. This is not the best kind of prospect. However, emotions play a vital role in the sales process as we shall see in the next chapter. As Robert Kiyosaki says in his best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, use your emotions to think but do not think with your emotions. The best kind of emotions, in this case, is the ones that your sales pitch produces in the prospect, not the ones the prospect already had before you arrived.

It is also very unprofessional to pitch the sale over the first call. The first call should be used to get an appointment with the prospect not to talk about your product. During the first call, you can introduce yourself and your company and then ask for an appointment. The appointment should not be at your convenience but at the convenience of the prospect. Let them suggest the time and the venue of the meeting. Tell them the exact amount of time you need from them and be sure to observe the

time when you get the appointment. Be sure to be warm during the first call. Always give genuine smiles over the phone. This will create a sense of friendship and closeness with the prospect.

When the prospect suggests the time and the venue, they will be more inclined to honor the appointment and give you their attention during the meeting. Of course, they will give a time when they will be free, and thus, you will get 100% of their attention at that time. It also allows the prospect to feel that they are in control and this is a good feeling for any prospect. A prospect who feels in control will be honest and will not have any reason to defend himself by denying you the sale. Once they feel in control, they will want to prove that they are in control by giving you the sale. People who are in control hate to disappoint the people under their control. To them, the price will never be an objection. They would rather postpone the sale rather than deny you the sale and this is not a bad thing for you the salesperson. It is better to make a sale in the future than to lose the sale.

When you realize that the prospect is not settled, quickly offer a solution that suits you before they give a fake objection that is aimed at pushing you away. When I realize that my prospect is busy, I quickly acknowledge the fact and offer an alternative solution to avert the situation before they push me away. For example, when I realize that the principal is busy I quickly say, “It seems that you are busy and I would not like to take your time at this point, can I talk to your deputy instead, and then we will inform you about our deliberation?”

90% of the principals will say yes to this request and I love the situation. The deputy will listen to me attentively because I have been referred to them by their boss. They will feel good because they have been given a sense of control by their boss and they will want to assert their authority by authorizing the sale. The deputy is also good because they are not directly linked to the finances and so, the budget to them is not a problem. I always make this sale. After the deputy has authorized the sale with the explicit authority of the head, I quickly deliver the products and report to the head afterward. When dealing with the deputy, I can tell them how we do it with other heads and they will be intimidated to deny me the sale. This is the easiest sale to make. I love the situation. This is the best way to deal with the situation instead of rescheduling the meeting. Rescheduling the meeting will become an extra cost to you and you will also delay the sale. Rescheduling the meeting also means that the meeting might happen or might not happen. Passing the responsibility to someone else is a win-win situation for you and your prospect.

In whatever you do, make sure the prospect is settled both physically and mentally. This is the only way you can close the sale. If they are not settled, they will give a fake objection to push you away and this will affect your revenues and your commission. More so, you will lose the time and effort you have invested in the sales process.