In this article on Sales Call Reluctance, Frank Lee describes the Hyperpro and
the obsession this person has with the appearance of success.
"Perception is reality."
"You only have one opportunity to make a good impression."
"If you look successful, you will be."
"If you want to make money, get a tan."
Bill could recite phrases like these and often did. He looked the part. He
wore the right designer clothes, drove a luxury car, and lived in the right
neighborhood. The Kouros aftershave added to the allure as did the manicured
nails and carefully ruffled hairstyle. The first impression he gave was that he
was a highly successful insurance broker. This impression was enhanced within
the first 5 minutes when everyone he spoke to learned that he belonged to one
of the most prestigious golf clubs in the country, knew the right people (he
always dropped a name or two), and was currently thinking of trading his BMW
for a Mercedes. You could not blame people for thinking he was also a top
producer.
Appearance Is Not Everything
What Bill did not disclose was that these trappings of success were part of
a carefully constructed sham. While he did make just enough money to maintain
the pretense, he was steadily sinking into a pile of debt. The image had
consumed much of his financial resources and was now starting to eat into his
emotions.
What people did not see was the frightened Bill, the Bill that lay awake at
night wondering how he was going to make that next car payment. Common sense
told him to trade for a cheaper car but that was not acceptable to him.
"You can always sell yourself out of trouble," he told himself,
quoting yet another guru-like saying.
Bill's manager often spoke about Bill in management meetings. He found
himself defending his poor performance. Bill was a likeable person even when he
appeared to be somewhat arrogant. Then there were those big deals Bill was
working on. Bill often reminded him that if even one of them closed, he would
be the largest producer the company had ever seen. The other managers were less
tolerant but then they did not have the pleasure of working with Bill every
day. They looked at pure numbers and came to the conclusion that Bill was just
not cutting it.
"The other agents are selling well. Why does Bill not do what they
do?" one misinformed manager asked.
Bill's manager responded that Bill was different. He had this ability to
get bigger deals. "Besides," he admitted, "I don't think
Bill has the stomach for those smaller cases." Actually, Bill had told him
they were beneath him.
Another manager retorted sarcastically, "Sounds to me like he has big
case-itis."
Bill's manager promised to work harder with him, even go out on calls
with him. He knew even as he said this that it was not going to happen. Bill
had always managed to avoid having him ride along. He had lost it the last time
he had insisted. Bill felt that his manager was treating him like a novice. He
was a veteran and did not need to prove his mettle to his sales manager.
Cold Calls? Are You Kidding Me?!
When I first met Bill, his company had just issued a request that all agents
make a minimum number of cold calls each day. Most of the other agents had
grumbled but soon realized that they had no argument against it and they did
them. Bill went ballistic.
His manager had asked me to help Bill. He felt that he was salvageable and
was willing to invest in getting him on track. Not today!
In his small but immaculate office, Bill was spouting profanities. I
listened for a few minutes and then asked him why he thought this was such a
terrible thing. He told me that he was producing enough business and had no
need to make cold calls. It was okay for the other agents because they
obviously needed to drum up extra business but he worked purely on referrals
because that was the more professional way to do business. "You just have
to rub shoulders with the right people," he told me confidentially. When
he finally calmed down, he agreed that cold calls would probably not do any
harm even though he was above all that. He would get the office secretary to
make his.
Happy that he had found a solution through dialogue with me, he leaned back
in his expensive chair and told me we were now going to talk about cigars and
fine wine.
Shameless Manipulation
"Do you know, Bill, that I have worked with some of the best
professional sales people in the world and they tell me that they prefer to
make those cold calls themselves."
"Really?" Ben was mildly interested.
"Yes." I continued, "They regard those calls as their life
blood and don't feel comfortable trusting such an important task to a
secretary who did not have the skill and talent that they had. In fact, one of
the most professional sales people I have ever met told me that he religiously
makes two cold calls every day. This is a person who makes nearly a million
bucks a year in commissions. He told me that he felt those two cold calls every
day were sacred. He was not about to turn those over to an amateur."
Ben was more than mildly interested now. "These top guys do it
themselves?"
Bill started making cold calls that same day. Predictable? Of course.
Shameless manipulation? Guilty! However, it was needed to get Bill started on a
long road to recovery from an exorbitantly expensive call reluctance habit
called Hyperpro.
Hyperpro Call Reluctance
Hyperpros are people who are over-concerned with image. They spend a great
deal of time physically and psychologically checking themselves out in the
mirror. Appearances become more important than earning the right to the
appearance. They avoid situations in which they could possibly look bad.
Looking good is more important to them than making a sale. That manager was
right about Bill. Hyperpros often suffer from big case-itis, always chasing
that big case at the expense of smaller, more attainable sales.
Hyperpros make image an end in and of itself. It's almost as if
they're using symbols of success as a way to compensate for their own lack
of self worth. It's as if they're saying, "Maybe you don't
like me but did you notice that I'm wearing a Rolex?"
Hyperpro Call Reluctance is funny when it occurs in your competitor but not
so funny when it gets closer to home. It's costly because it causes you to
avoid sales situations just because you may look bad. It makes you avoid
admitting mistakes because that makes you look bad. It prevents you from
allowing sales managers to ride with you because they may find things about you
to criticize. It stops you from asking for help because that makes you look
vulnerable and not professional.
One former Hyperpro sales person I know once told a group, "It hit home
how much this was costing me when I watched them tow away my Mercedes because I
could no longer make the payments, when I could not buy Christmas gifts for my
kids because I did not have the money. That's when I fully realized how
much this call reluctance had prevented me from doing the things that had made
me successful in the first place."
I found out about Hyperpro Call Reluctance many years ago. I was a novice
insurance sales person. One day I came across a sales legend, the best
insurance sales person in town. I actually trembled when my prospect told me
that he was a client of this famous salesman, I'll call "Mr.
Sales." I made all the right placating statements and exit gestures and
then got out of there fast. After all, I could never compete with someone of
his stature.
Two days later, the prospect called and asked me to come back.
"Why?" I asked in disbelief. It turned out that he had told Mr. Sales
he had spoken to me. Mr. Sales reacted by disowning him! "If you're
going to talk to stupid idiots like Frank Lee, then I don't need you as a
client." I got the business that day.
Back then I had no idea what Hyperpro was. All I knew was that I could now
target the mighty Mr. Sales because all I had to do was to get his clients to
tell him that they had spoken to me. I didn't know the word
"Hyperpro" back then but I learned that I could predict how Mr. Sales
would behave. I don't think Mr. Sales realized how much money he had
contributed to the Lee foundation.
And Bill?
Bill took the SPQ Call Reluctance Test that confirmed the behavioral
evidence we had seen in living color. When I explained the test report to him,
he did not believe me. He went home, sulked for a few days and then asked his
sales manager what he thought. He didn't believe him either. But he did
believe himself. Bill was smart enough to count. He realized that he was going
down fast and he needed to do something to salvage his career and earn the
money that would allow him to maintain his expensive lifestyle.
It took some time before he would admit it. When he finally did, we were
able to help him take a baseball bat and beat it all the way out of the park.
Today he still lives in that expensive suburb, still wears Kouros aftershave,
still has regular manicures, still plays golf at that prestigious golf club,
and still wears his hair in that carefully-ruffled, non-conforming style. He
did upgrade his car to the Mercedes and he expanded his designer wardrobe to
include Versace. The difference is that Bill can now afford it all.
Bill still looks good and still makes incredible impressions on people but
this time it's genuine and he feels good, not guilty, about it.
Other Sales Call Reluctance articles include the following:
Call Reluctance, the
Fear-Free Prospecting and Self-Promotion Workshop, and all related terms are
copyrights and/or registered trademarks of Behavioral Sciences Research Press,
Dallas, Texas. Sales Academy, Inc., is an Advanced Authorized Dealer for the
Call Reluctance® Program. Frank Lee is an international expert on
Call Reluctance®. He can be reached at (800) 898-3743 or at
. He welcomes calls or email from salespersons and sales managers
even if just to chat about the call reluctance problem.