316 How to Win Every Sales Call (Even When You Get a NO) - The Art of Sales with Art Sobczak

Summary4 min read

Episode 316: How to Win Every Sales Call (Even When You Get a NO)

Release Date: June 25, 2025
Host: Art Sobczak, Cold Calling and Sales Trainer
Podcast: The Art of Sales with Art Sobczak

Introduction

In Episode 316 of The Art of Sales with Art Sobczak, titled "How to Win Every Sales Call (Even When You Get a NO)," Art delves deep into transforming the conventional approach to sales calls. He challenges listeners to redefine what constitutes a "win" in every interaction, ensuring consistent progress and reduced fear of rejection.

Redefining Success in Sales Calls

[00:24]

Art begins by addressing a common frustration among sales professionals: ending calls with a sense of rejection. He shares a personal anecdote from his early career at AT&T, where making numerous prospecting calls without immediate success left him disheartened. His manager's pivotal question—"What else did you accomplish on those calls?"—shifted his perspective, highlighting the overlooked victories beyond mere approvals.

Notable Quote:
"What if the problem isn't the result of the call? It's how you're defining success in the first place." [00:24]

The Pitfalls of a Narrow Success Definition

Art identifies a prevalent issue in the sales mindset: measuring success solely by securing a sale or appointment. This limited perspective fosters a cycle of disappointment and avoidance, leading salespeople to shy away from high-stakes calls and, consequently, shrink their pipelines.

Key Points:

Win or Lose Mentality: Viewing each call as a binary outcome—success or rejection.
Avoidance Behavior: Steering clear of challenging prospects to minimize perceived rejection.
Pipeline Shrinkage: Reduced call volume and risk-taking result in fewer opportunities.

Embracing Multiple Avenues to Success: Secondary Objectives

[03:10]

Art introduces the concept of secondary objectives as a strategic shift to redefine success. Instead of fixating on a single outcome, sales professionals are encouraged to identify various achievable goals within each call. This approach ensures that every interaction yields value, irrespective of the primary outcome.

Notable Quote:
"Real sales pros don't go into calls hoping for one outcome. They come prepared with multiple ways to win." [03:10]

Examples of Secondary Objectives:

Learning about the prospect's decision-making process.
Identifying another contact or influencer within the organization.
Gaining insights into the prospect's current solutions or challenges.
Building rapport and trust for future interactions.
Testing new messaging or qualifying questions.
Securing a referral to another potential decision-maker.
Confirming if the prospect is not a fit, thereby refining the CRM.

Case Study:
Art recounts a success story of Jill, a client who, despite not securing a meeting initially, uncovered valuable information about the prospect's expansion plans and current vendor struggles. This intelligence eventually led to closing a $200,000 deal six months later.

The Three Call Challenge: Implementing Secondary Objectives

[10:45]

To facilitate the adoption of this mindset, Art proposes the Three Call Challenge:

Primary Objective: Define your main goal for the call (e.g., securing a meeting or sale).
Secondary Objectives: List three additional goals that add value or advance the conversation (e.g., gathering information, building rapport).
Post-Call Review: Assess which objectives were met and reflect on what was learned.

Actionable Steps:

Preparation: Clearly outline your primary and secondary objectives before each call.
Execution: Engage in the call with the intent to achieve multiple outcomes.
Evaluation: After each call, review the accomplishments to recognize wins beyond the primary goal.

Outcome:
Adopting this strategy transforms callers into "rejection-proof" sales professionals, fostering continuous progress and reducing the fear associated with phone calls.

Transformational Training: Ultimate Sales Professional Program

[18:30]

Art highlights that the secondary objective strategy is part of his comprehensive Ultimate Sales Professional (USP) course. Previously exclusive to his private coaching group, the program is now being made available to the public.

Program Highlights:

Mindset Rewiring: Shifting perceptions to embrace multiple success pathways.
Behavioral Changes: Enhancing preparation, presence, and confidence in sales interactions.
Long-Term Success: Building habits that lead to consistent and fearless sales performance.

Call to Action:
Listeners are encouraged to visit ultimatesalespro.com to join the early priority notification list and gain access to exclusive bonuses upon the program's public release.

Conclusion and Inspirational Quote

[23:15]

Art wraps up the episode with a motivational quote to reinforce the day's lessons.

Quote of the Day:
"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." – Henry Ford

Final Thoughts:
Art emphasizes that redefining success through secondary objectives empowers sales professionals to make meaningful progress in every call, ultimately leading to greater achievements and a more resilient approach to sales.

Key Takeaways

Shift Your Mindset: Broaden the definition of success to include multiple objectives per call.
Implement Secondary Objectives: Identify and pursue additional goals beyond the primary sales target.
Consistent Evaluation: Regularly review call outcomes to recognize and build upon various wins.
Embrace the Challenge: Engage in the Three Call Challenge to instill this strategy into your sales routine.
Invest in Growth: Consider enrolling in the Ultimate Sales Professional program to further enhance your sales skills and mindset.

By adopting these strategies, sales professionals can transform their approach, reduce the fear of rejection, and consistently achieve progress in every sales interaction.

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Transcript2 lines

[00:02]
A
You are listening to the Art of Sales. Everyone sells every day. And this is your source for conversational real world sales and prospecting methods that you are comfortable using and that get results you'll help people buy instead of pushing them into being sold. Here's your host, Art Sobchak.
[00:24]
B
Let me ask you something. Have you ever finished a sales call and thought to yourself, oh, another rejection, just like always. Maybe you didn't book the meeting. Maybe they weren't engaged on the call. Worse, you didn't even get past the opening. Well, if so, you're definitely not alone. I remember early in my corporate career with the old AT&T. One day I made 47 prospecting calls and got zero interest. I was dejected. But then my manager asked me one question that changed everything. He said, what else did you accomplish on those calls? Well, turns out I learned a lot, but I was so focused on the no's that I missed all the wins. But here's what I want to challenge you with today. What if the problem isn't the result of the call? It's how you're defining success in the first place. In this episode, I'm going to show you how to get a win on every sales call. How's that sound? Even if you don't get the sale or the meeting. Hey, and this is not theory. It's not mindset fluff. This is a tactical shift that you can make immediately. One that will remove fear, rejection and hesitation from your calling process. And this comes straight from my new Ultimate Sales Professional course, which until now has only been available to members of my private coaching group. But depending on when you are listening to this, we're opening it up to the public in the coming weeks. Or if you're listening to this later, it's already open. And this is just one of the many transformational and powerful strategies inside of it. All right, so let's start with a hard truth. Most salespeople make a call with one outcome in mind. Well, if I get the appointment or sale, this was a win. If not, it's a loss. And I was rejected. No, that's a dangerous and false mindset. Why? Because when you define success that narrowly, you open up yourself to a constant disappointment, which you will realize most of the time. And then, worse, you start avoiding calls altogether because you've trained yourself to expect rejection. And here's what happens with that. Win or lose thinking. You start cherry picking your calls. You dial the safe prospects first. You avoid the big fish because rejection hurts. Hurts a lot more when the stakes are higher, and pretty soon, oh, what do you know? You're making fewer calls, you're taking fewer risks, and you're wondering why your pipeline is shrinking. But here's the shift. Real sales pros don't go into calls hoping for one outcome. They come prepared with multiple ways to win. So here's what changes everything. Secondary objectives. This is how you stay in control. This is how you win. Even when the big yes doesn't happen yet, here's how this actually works. A secondary objective is anything you can accomplish or really even try on a sales call. It's not the sale or the appointment. The secondary objective does not rely on the person at the other end of the phone or on the other side of the desk, because we can't control them. We can only control what we do and what we think. Let me give you a real example from one of my training clients. So Jill called a prospect for a meeting. Didn't get it. But during the call, she learned that they were expanding to two new locations next year. Got the name of the VP who handles that, and discovered that their current vendor was struggling with delivery times. So she got three huge wins. And get this, six months later, she closed a $200,000 deal. But, oh, this was a failed call. Yeah, not so much now. On any given call, your secondary objectives might include learning more about their decision making process, discovering the name of another contact or influencer, getting insight into what they're currently using, uncovering a potential challenge or a future opportunity, building rapport and trust for a future outreach, identifying a better time to follow up, leaving a positive impression so they recognize your name next time. Maybe testing new messaging or qualifying questions, maybe asking for a referral to someone else in the company. Maybe you're simply confirming that they're not a fit and you get rid of them from your CRM. Or at the very least, you learn something from the call, which you can always do. Every single one of those is a win. And when you show up with a list of potential wins instead of just one, guess what you become. Rejection proof. Because now a no to the appointment or the sale doesn't mean failure is that rejection. It might still be a successful call because you got some intel, you got some insight, maybe you started a relationship or you've simply made your call that much, your next call that much better because you learned something. So here's a tip I give to every coaching client, every training client. Before each call, ask yourself, what are some ways that I can win even if I don't accomplish my primary objective. And those are your secondary objectives. You'd be shocked at how that one shift changes everything. Your tone, your confidence, your presence on the call. Because now you're not grasping for a yes. You're creating progress on purpose. So here's what I want you to do. Let's call this a three call challenge. On your next three prospecting calls, and by the way, we don't need to limit it to three. I'd like you to write down your primary objective and that's what you want them to do. Your ideal win. Maybe the meeting or the sale. Then I'd like you to list out three secondary objectives. Other ways that you can create value or move the conversation forward, or even something that you could just attempt. And after the call review, did I win on any of those? Or anything else that you could accomplish or even attempt on that call. Oh, by the way, here's the kicker. Track your results from here on out with these calls. I'll bet you'll find that your failed calls start producing more value than your old ones ever did. Where you said you got rejected. Now when you do this, congratulations. You're no longer a person who's just doing sales and hoping to avoid rejection. You're that much closer to becoming an ultimate sales pro. Someone who plays the long game and wins consistently because they define success in a way that that keeps them taking action. Now here's the thing. Look. This secondary objective strategy, it's just one of the many strategies in my ultimate sales professional transformational training program. My existing exclusive coaching members are using this stuff right now to completely transform how they approach sales. And the results speak for themselves. And this is not about scripts or hacks or tactics. It's about rewiring how you think, who you are, how you prepare, and how you show up in your habits so that high level B2B sales becomes natural, fearless and consistent. So we're opening up the full USP Ultimate Sales professional program to the public very soon for the first time ever. Until now. Again, it's only been available to my private coaching members and they're getting results that honestly blow me away. If you want to be the first to hear when we open the doors and get access to some very cool bonuses as well, just head over to this site, ultimatesalespro.com ultimatesalespro.com and get on the early priority notification list. And remember, you don't need to win the sale to win the call. Show up with more ways to succeed and you'll never fear the phone again. All right. Hey, you know what time it is? Your attitude will be, I am what they say. It's the art of the sales quote of the day. That's right. It's time for the quote of the day. Today's quote comes from Henry Ford. And Henry said, the only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. All right, thank you so much for investing your valuable sales time with me today. Until next time, go out and make it your best sales day ever. I'm Art Subcheck.