In a recent post, I wrote about a sales representative's unsuccessful attempts to persuade me to do business with her bank by repeatedly calling and demanding to speak with me after she had been told that we were not interested in changing banks.  I noted that she was more focused on her objective (making a sale) than she was in listening to my response (we're not interested), and then asked, "Why would any intelligent person believe that she could annoy a prospective client into doing business with her."

The story emphasized the point of my post: stop thinking about what you want and instead think like a client.

Gerry Riskin, one of the world's premier consultants to law firms, learned about the post on Twitter, and asked me a compelling question: "What should the banker have said / done?"  After I sent him several thoughts on what my stalker could have done to increase her chances of success, Gerry suggested that I supplement my article to explain those options.

Gerry, as usual, your advice is sound.  Thank you for improving the discussion.

Let's follow up on the premise of the article, i.e., the best way to achieve your business objective is to subordinate your objective to the needs of your client or prospective client.  Stop thinking about what you want, and instead think about what your client wants.  With that premise in mind, what should the sales rep have done to increase her chances of success?

Her first mistake was in making a cold call.  Yes, I realize that if you make enough cold calls, you will stumble across somebody who is fed up with his bank and looking for an opportunity to change.  Cold calling is, however, a highly unproductive way to build your business.

If you insist on making cold calls, don't be surprised if your prospective client cuts you off before you finish your pitch.  You are interrupting his schedule, his routine, his plans.  It is as though your prospect was sitting down to read a good book, visiting with a dear friend, or working on a solution to world hunger when you burst into his home, stormed into his living room, and demanded that he give you his undivided attention.

"Hey, look at me!  Whatever you are doing can't possibly be as important as I am.  Stop what you are doing, and pay attention to me.  I NEED TO MAKE A SALE!!"

Cold calls are ineffective because they demand that your prospect think about you and what you want.  The sales rep compounded her mistake by continuing to barge into my office after we had asked her politely to leave.  She should have accepted my decision graciously.

The sales rep's second mistake was in not spending the time to warm up the call.  Strangers make cold calls.  When you know the person on the other end of the line, the call becomes warm.

I recently received a telephone call from a client I had not spoken to in years.  After a few pleasantries, he launched into a sales pitch about an investment opportunity.  Though I was not interested in the opportunity, the call was warmed up because I knew him.

Look for any way possible to warm up your calls.  As Harry Beckwith wrote, "Get out, mingle, meet.  Ignore Groucho Marx's policy of never joining a club that would allow him as a member; join a club.  (But never take up an activity or join a club in which you are not truly interested.  You will lack affinity with the other participants — a key to a lasting relationship.)" 

Market yourself and your company effectively so that your cold call is warmed up.

The sales rep's third mistake was is not taking the time to turn my firm into a hot prospect.  If she really wanted to do business with my Firm, she should have learned about us.  I doubt that she knew anything about us other than we are a law firm and, by golly, she wants to sell to law firms.  (Never mind what the law firms want.)

In today's era of information, you have no excuse for not knowing everything about your prospects.  If you really want to know about my Firm, you should read every word of our website, www.gfrlegal.com.  We regularly publish online press releases.  Read them.  Find out what groups I belong to and learn all you can about those groups. 

Find a common link — friend, business associate, organization, or cause — between you and your prospect.  Don't try to sell.  Once you have identified that common link, work to build trust and confidence.  When you build the foundation of trust and confidence, you will begin to Think Like a Client.

It takes longer to Think Like a Client, but it works.  You cannot annoy anyone into doing business with you.