What Going Radio Silent Means in a Sales 2.0 Economy
You have just completed a fantastic initial call with a prospect and . . . They like you, they really like you! Everything about your proposal looks perfect: your solution is right, the timing for implementation is discussed, the executive team is revealed. All the buying signals are vibrating and it all looks good. Good enough to forecast.
But then something—or rather, nothing—happens. After a few days, a few weeks, and now almost one month, you can't get them back on the phone or get them to respond to your emails. Somehow, as the old song goes, you just can't bring that "lovin' feeling back, and now it's gone, gone, gone."
How do you reconnect with a prospect that has gone radio silent on you? This was the hot topic in yesterday's webinar to an audience of almost 1,000, who all agreed they are struggling to revive a prospect in today's unpredictable selling climate. Here's what they want to know: How can you recapture the moment, climb back inside their heads, and recreate the connection you had in previous calls?
Here's how to get through the radio silence and get your prospects back on the sales frequency:
Identify the body. Are you chasing the right person? Make sure you are aligned with the Power Buyer and not the No-Po. It's important to sell to the person who has the power to buy—not the ones who will disappear because they don't want to say no and are not qualified to say yes. No-Pos can disappear easily because they like to stall and are commitment phobic.
Assume your prospect's information intake has been pronounced dead. They are overloaded, highly distracted, impatient, risk-adverse, and suffering from permanent hearing and listening loss when it comes to any sales pitching. They also like to self-educate, are very independent, and are definitely not monogamous. They are out there researching other solutions, considering different alternatives, or just staying put for now.
Keep it alive after 48 hours. Don't assume that setting a call-back date to follow-up by next month is going to give you a real pulse. Your follow-up strategies must start immediately after hanging up from your call and continue throughout the selling cycle. Design an integrated multi-touch strategy designed to slowly feed them bits of value-packed information.
Contact their family. The new family is the social network, and being part of their social, political circle goes a long way. Remember, people choose to do business with you based on how well others know you.
They are trigger happy. Listen for trigger events as this will give you a clue to what they have going and how this is shaping their world. Have they been acquired? Or have they made an official announcement or picked up a large contract? There is plenty of public information available about prospects now so, there's no excuse about not knowing. Take the time to learn about them.
For a Smart Selling Attitude Adjustment, listen to the on-demand webinar "Smart Selling on the Phone and Online: How to Dramatically Improve Sales Results" and learn what skills and tools will nurture leads and generate revenue.
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