It's "Call Me After The Holidays" Season.

Its here!

It's time for my annual reminder to be on the watch for the, "Call me after the holidays," stall, put off, objection, whatever you want to call it.

You’ve officially entered "Call me after the holiday" season, which is roughly mid-October through January 1st. When you hear this it’s really easy, after you hear it a few times, to start believing it's reality.

"Okay, I'll call them after the holidays,"

But I want us to see it for what it is. A blow-off. (Just like complaining about the Chicago winter is a blow-off)

It's a blow-off!

If you were calling them from, say, the fire station, and you called and their house was on fire, and you said, "Hey, I'm calling from the fire station. Make sense for me to come visit you?" They’d say, "Yeah, how soon can you get here?”

But if you called and they didn't have a fire, and you said, "Hey, calling from the fire station, just like to stop by," they’d probably say, "You know, I don't really have a need now. Kind of busy, but you know what? You can call me after the holidays."

Pain would be the fire.

If they have pain, they'll clearly see you before the holidays, assuming they're not going to be out of town or something like that. But no one's out of town for six weeks, are they?

So, when we're hearing this, I want us to see it for what it is. It's a lack of pain.
Part of our role through our 30-second commercial, the right stories, or the right questions, is to get to an issue. To if they have pain. That will get us to get in the door, and to at least have a conversation.

So when I hear, "Call me after the holidays," there's a few responses.

One could be, just real simply:
"Appreciate that. Let me write that down, but let me ask you, why do you want me to call you after the holidays?"

Another one is:
"Hey, let me write that down, but let me ask you, what's going to be different after the holidays from what's happening now?"

Or, an alternative would be:
"Hey, let me write that down, but let me ask you, some people say, 'Call me after the holidays,' and they're just trying to be polite, and kind of get off the phone. They really don't have interest, so if that's what's happening here, just tell me. I don't want to call you after the holidays unless you really want me to call you."
If they say, "Yeah, call me,” you should say:
"Okay, I'm just curious. Why would you want me to call you after the holidays?"

So it's about hanging in there.
It's about identifying that objection when it happens and being ready for it.
Ask yourself the question, when you get the next, "Call me after the holidays," what's your response going to be?