I received this question from Vera:

Hi Tim,
I have been through the “Professional Inviter” a couple of times and continue to listen to the areas where I feel I specifically need help. One of the things I am still having challenges with is when I call people back after sending the online video is that they are never there. I have people that are very excited when I am talking to them but when I go to call back they just don’t answer. What am I doing wrong? I do the inviting and qualifying which I don’t have a problem with. – Vera

Thank you for your question Vera.

First off, well done on, “I do the inviting and the qualifying which I don’t have a problem with.” That’s a huge accomplishment! Also, I want to acknowledge you and your effort to get better and better.

If you were to picture the steps of a phone call as:
-Greeting
-Qualifying
-Inviting
-Close to Action
-Follow up

The fact that you say, “people are very excited when I am talking to them…” tells me that you’re being successful at the first three steps – greeting, qualifying and inviting. If someone doesn’t do what the two of you agreed to do (in the Close to Action step) it tells me that one or more of the following situations may exist:

1. You didn’t Close to Action correctly
2. You didn’t really do a good Qualify
3. They didn’t watch the movie yet, so they
   avoid you
4. They watched the movie and are not
   interested, so they avoid you

Let’s look at each of these situations in depth.

1. When you correctly complete the Close to Action step, both you and the prospect agree to do something. The prospect agrees to watch the movie and you agree to call them back to discuss it. These two things need to be made clear to the prospect so that it is an AGREEMENT. What makes this “incorrect” is when the agreement is too “loose.” If the person feels as though it doesn’t really matter whether they do their part or not then the result is either they don’t watch it or they avoid your call.
2. If when you did the qualify step you didn’t find out what they really needed, wanted or didn’t want then you’re operating on inaccurate information. So in some ways the whole call was a fabrication on their part. You can of course blame this on the prospect by claiming, “They didn’t tell me the truth.” But, as you’ve learned in Professional Inviter – it does you no good to blame the prospect – it doesn’t make you any better. What causes the prospect to tell you the truth about what they want is you being effective at the greeting step of the formula.
3. If the prospect hasn’t done the first part of the agreement (watch the movie) then they will avoid your phone calls because they feel bad about not keeping their agreement. The only thing you can do about this is to keep following up and leaving NICE and PROFESSIONAL messages.
4. And if they did watch the movie and decided it’s not for them, they may be avoiding your call because they don’t know how to say “no” to you. There’s nothing you can do about this but keep following up and leaving nice and professional messages.

Vera, I have so many times been in your position of wondering. In fact I’ll tell you that anyone who has made sizable money in this industry (or any sales position) has experienced this many times. I don’t believe success comes without it.

I explained those four situations above for one reason – for you to print them out and every time you get the “they’re not there” scenario, you can look over the list and realize all you can do is GET BETTER AT THE INVITING FORMULA and follow up exactly as I described in “Professional Inviter”. Once you know WHAT to do… and understand that’s all you can do… then you will let go of the feeling of “What am I doing wrong?”

For years I worked to perfect the follow up step. And I believe it is perfected. Call the prospect back 8 times in the next 21 days. Be as happy and compassionate on every message you leave as the first time you call them.

Compassionate means: Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. – Encarta Dictionary

The first step is for you to really figure out “what am I doing wrong?” To ignore that is arrogant. After you’ve gotten as good at the Inviting Formula as you can, then get out of your head and realize that for someone to not call you back (after they said they would) they must really be suffering. After all, it doesn’t take very much to say, “No thanks.” When you can get inside of them and feel the pain they must be feeling you will get a nice calming certainty that what you’re doing is very important.

With that calming certainty… call another and never doubt yourself again.

Tim Sales

P.S. That’s right. Never doubt yourself again once you know the Inviting Formula.
Professional Inviter gives you the calm confidence you have been looking for.

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