Today I faced an interesting situation with a prospect during outreach…
There’s this tool called TextBlasterPro where you can send SMS messages straight from your phone, and I tested it today by sending out 100 automated messages. Out of those, one guy replied back and said he was interested. So I told him that it’s completely free of charge because I want to use him as a case study, but I just need to ask him a few questions before setting everything up. Here’s where it went wrong… Before asking the first question, I sent him: “I’ll be asking you some questions to see if you qualify for our system. Is that alright?” He immediately got annoyed and told me “forget about it, man, bye.” At first, I didn’t understand why. I thought I was just being clear about the process. But then I realized the issue — it was the word “qualify.” When you tell a business owner they need to qualify for something that’s free, it doesn’t sound good. It makes them feel like they’re being tested or interrogated. And that’s why he shut me down. I asked ChatGPT for suggestions too, and here’s a much better way I found to say it next time: “I just need to ask you a couple quick questions so we can set this up properly for your business. That way we make sure the system actually works for you.” Or: “To get this running smoothly, I’ll need some details on how you handle customers and payments. Can I ask you a few quick questions?” See the difference? Now I am not “qualifying him,” I am making sure the system works for him. Also it sounds like I’m helping him too, not gatekeeping things from him. Lesson learned: In sales, wording matters more than you think. Sometimes you can lose someone, not because of your offer, but because of one single word, just like it did to me. P.S. Now I am thinking of going ahead & I still call him tomorrow and clarify things for him. Do you think that is a good move, guys, or should I forget about this lead all together?