Sales Call Reluctance: a critical factor in sales performance

WHAT IS IT?

Sales Call Reluctance (SCR) is one of the main psychological issues holding back many salespeople from succeeding. SCR can manifest in a broad range of ways:

  • Preoccupation with worst-case scenarios
  • Tendency to prepare too much
  • Over-concern with image or credibility
  • Avoidance of group selling opportunities
  • Guilt or shame about “sales” as a career choice
  • Fear of being perceived as pushy or intrusive
  • Fear of selling to people in a senior or high-status role
  • Fear of asking for referrals
  • Fear of using the telephone to prospect
  • Natural tendency towards argumentativeness

At the heart of the problem, SCR is an emotional issue that each affected individual salesperson must deal with on a daily basis.

DOES YOUR BUSINESS HAVE A PROBLEM WITH SALES CALL RELUCTANCE?

If there is a large difference between the number of contacts, referrals and leads that your best performing versus worst performing salespeople generate then it is likely SCR is having an impact on your business.

If your business has ever invested significant amounts of capital on sales training programs that did not then translate into increased revenue then SCR could be one of the reasons. That is because, irrespective of the skills of a salesperson, if they do not overcome SCR then they will never be able to reach their full potential as a salesperson.

WHAT SOLUTIONS DOES HC PROVIDE TO COMBAT SALES CALL RELUCTANCE?

  • Pre-employment screening of candidates using the SPQ-Gold assessment tool.
  • Assessment of incumbent salespeople using SPQ-Gold development reporting tools.
  • Targeted SCR training courses.
  • Diagnosis of SCR weaknesses at an organisational level.

WHAT DOES THE SPQ-GOLD ASSESSMENT TOOL ASSESS?

Validity Indicators – Three scales that assess whether we can rely on the test taker’s responses as accurate.

Motivation / Energy Levels – Four scales that assess the amount of energy that salespeople arelikely to have available for prospecting activities.

Sales Call Reluctance Types – Twelve scales that assess the types of SCR that are impacted the specific test taker’s sales performance:

  • Doomsayer: Preoccupation with worst case scenarios
  • Over-Preparation: Tendency to prepare too much
  • Hyper-Pro: Over-concern about image or credibility
  • Stage Fright: Avoidance of group selling opportunities
  • Role Rejection: Guilt or shame about “sales” as a career choice
  • Yielder: Fear of being perceived as pushy or intrusive
  • Social Self-Consciousness: Fear of selling to people in a senior or high-status role
  • Separationist: Refusal to mix business with personal friends
  • Emotional Emancipation: Refusal to mix business with family
  • Referral Aversion: Fear of asking for referrals
  • Telephobia: Fear of using the telephone to prospect
  • Oppositional Reflex: Natural tendency towards argumentativeness
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