Ryan Dohrn explains why prospects say no immediately: they have a stranger-danger reflex. Skip the self-introduction and open with a success story mentioning known clients instead. Build familiarity first through LinkedIn, then expect to hear no four times before yes on the fifth outreach.
Questions this video answers
Because most people have a built‑in “stranger danger” reflex and they don’t recognize the salesperson; bad, overly‑salesy introductions reinforce that reflex.
Don’t start with a self‑introduction. Open with a brief success‑story hook mentioning known clients, prime the prospect’s mind, build familiarity via LinkedIn before the first contact, and be persistent—expect four “nos” before a “yes.”
Chapters
Hey friends and fans, Ryan Dohrn here, your friendly neighborhood sales coach, and we're answering your listener questions sent in to ryan@ryandohrn.com. Thanks for your questions, keep them coming. Love to get to all of your listener questions. We get a lot of them though, so don't forget, subscribe down below wherever you're listening or you're watching the podcast or the video YouTube channel. You don't want to miss any updates. Lets us know you appreciate these as well. Give us a like, you know, as well if you like the video. All right, first question sent in from Ron in Calgary. Hey Ron from Canada, appreciate your questions. Ryan, why is it that all clients tend to say no as a default? I don't even have a chance to get anything out of my mouth and they're immediately saying that they're not interested. Any help is appreciated. So Ron, I can tell you emphatically and unequivocally, it's probably not your fault. A lot of times in the sales business, we've just been ruined by a lot of other bad salespeople that have potentially come before us. Now, it could potentially be a training thing for you, and so let's talk through that. For example, if someone picks up the phone and you say, hey, it's Ron calling from Company ABC or from media company XYZ or magazine or radio station, the reason that most people can say, hey, I'm not interested, is because They don't really understand what it is that we actually do for them, or you've caught them at a bad time, or you're not a known entity to them. So think about this. I say it all the time, stranger danger is real. As a kid, you were hopefully raised correctly. Thank you, Mom and Dad. You're hopefully raised correctly not to talk to strangers. Now, that was a problem for little Ryan. Ryan never has met— never met a stranger. I love to talk to folks. But most people that are normal, most people don't like talking to strangers. They just don't. That's why you see people go to a cocktail party, they immediately scan the room and they're looking for somebody that they know. Now, I'm weird. I'm looking for people that are standing alone. Maybe that's somebody I can sell something to or maybe I'm going to meet a new friend. But because stranger danger is real and because most salespeople are salesy, most people's default is no, I just really just don't have time for this. So one of the things that I'd suggest you, no matter what it is that you're selling out there, is you actually don't introduce yourself first because it sets yourself up for getting a no. Instead, I like to start out when someone answers the phone like, hey, it's Bill, you know, how can I help you? I like to start out with a success story model. So I might say, hey, oh hey Bill, we're working with Company A, Company B, and Company C and they're loving it. I want to start out with something like that. Then he might say back to me, he or she might say back to me, they might say back to me, um, who are you with again? Who is this? Oh, I'm sorry, it's Ryan from such and such, and we're working— and I repeat it again— we're working with Company A, Company B, Company C, and they're loving it. I'd love to leverage what we've learned working with them to help you be successful as well. So what I'm suggesting to you is that even though it sounds like it might be sort of a sales trick, if you will, I'm just encouraging you to prime the pump, okay? Prime the conversation for success. Priming is not new. Priming has been used in advertising for years. The best example of priming is this: if I tell you to not— do not think of the color red, what does your brain naturally do? It thinks of the color red. If I said don't think of the color red, you know, your brain thinks of the color red. When I immediately start out by sharing success stories Or examples of competitors or clients or whatever, it makes somebody's brain go, no, wait a minute, what now? What is that? So it gets them off of the no default and into more of a consideration mindset. Now, the other thing you can do to beat stranger danger, Ron, is you can really focus in on making sure that as you're seeding these people, dropping little seeds in front of them, or creating a breadcrumb, if you will, or path like that, that you can also just kind of make sure you're a known entity to them. Work hard to Follow them on LinkedIn, like their stuff, comment on things. Just don't expect that the first time you reach out, you're immediately gonna get a decision, an answer of yes. Just try to be a little more strategic in that effort. So, Ryan, I hope that's helpful to all of you out there. No, unfortunately, is the default. And so what we have to do is make sure we recognize that most customers are gonna say no 4 times before they say yes on that 5th outreach or that 5th attempt. So you've gotta use math to your advantage. All right, friends, keep your listener questions coming. Also love to come to your office or your sales conference, get your team all pumped up for success. Reach out to me over at ryandohrn.com. All right, friends, more listener questions coming your way next week.
