When prospects treat you like sh*t

Don't let their bad day become yours.

Anyone who has spent more than an hour or two prospecting by phone has encountered varying degrees of bad behaviour by the prospect.

From bad to worse, it tends to go something like this.

They hang up on you mid-sentence.

In any other conversational setting, this is plain rude. Prospects consciously or subconsciously feel they have all the power, and across a spectrum of personality types, they don't hesitate to exercise it depending on the mood they're in when they decide to answer the phone. (It sometimes seems they forget that they had that power, too, and still get pissed off at us for making the call.)

They cut you off mid-sentence.

Again, rude, and just so they can tell you they're hanging up on you. "Not interested." Click.

They interrupt you so they can actually berate you.

The one that inspired this article. No need to cite examples. IYKYK.

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Here's my advice. Always remember it's not about you. It's about them.

Throughout my career I've coached reps not to take anything that happens, especially during phone prospecting, too personally. The prospect's bad behavior isn't about you as a person. How could it be? They don't know you as a person.

They're responding emotionally to the situation. What their response does tell you is something about them.

Don't let them have a negative influence on you and your mindset.

I've found that empathy helps.

A little grace costs us nothing. We have no idea what's happening in their day or in their lives. Sure, they can and probably should, decide not to answer if they're having a bad day.

That said, there's no need for them to take their frustration, anger, fear, and other negative emotions out on anyone else. That includes salespeople who, on the whole, have chosen the noble profession of sales out of a desire to help people by providing a solution to a business problem.

Prospects seem to forget or ignore the fact that the Golden Rule costs them nothing, either.

To all my fellow sales professionals, especially those just starting out and to all you founders who are making "hero sales" for the first time: Don't take it personally.

Push aside the negative emotions a prospect's bad behaviour naturally creates.

Try thinking, "Wow. I hope their day gets better."

I'm betting yours will.