Is It Time to Close the File On That Stalled Prospect?
Posted by Robert J. Weese under Sales Skills
As sales professionals we’ve all most likely had this problem with a prospect at one time or another. They were a hot prospect sending you all the right buying signals and then all of the sudden they switched off. Now they don’t return your calls. They are unresponsive to your emails and you are left in sales limbo.
Do you keep calling? After all when you last spoke they were set to proceed. Now they are missing in action. What can you do?
I would like to share a quick little tip that works well. If you had a good relationship with the prospect and you are willing to take a last shot to see if the person is still engaged, send them an email that says you are going to “close their file”.
Simply state that you have tried to reach them by phone and email and since they are not responding you would like to close the file. Let them know if their situation has changed and they are no longer in the market for your product/service it would be best to close the file and move on.
To see an email template example, download EMAIL TEMPLATE TO RESTART STALLED PROSPECTS from the B2B Sales Connections Free Download Centre
You will be amazed at how many times you get a message back almost immediately apologizing for their lack of communication and telling you the project is still a go but they were caught up in a more urgent internal problem.
Lets face it in the world of sales you can get “yes”, “no” and “maybe”. I want to hear yes, or no because they are answers that give me a clear next step. Getting tied up with the clients who are a maybe can drain you and waste a lot of valuable selling time.
By taking a minute and offering to close the file, no questions asked you will be surprised how many valid prospects let you know they are still interested but not ready at this moment. Most often the person will tell me their new time frame or suggest we reconnect. Armed with their permission to proceed I will reconnect with them when the time is right and advance the sales process.
AIM HIGHER
Robert J. Weese
B2B Sales Connections
This technique works. I call it the “wind-down” letter or email.
So if it works, why don’t more salespeople use it? Most salespeople won’t use it because they would rather keep on dealing with a bad prospect than no prospect and that’s why their sales funnel gets clogged with crud.
Use Bob’s idea and get the crap out of your sales funnel so that the real sales opportunities can flow through.
Brian I have to agree. Too many sales people would rather hold on to the faint hope something will happen which is a huge waste of time instead of making it happen and moving on if the account is dead.
A “no for now” is much better than a “maybe” on a sales rep’s prospect list!
This is really a great tip. I myself have been contacted by a few clients lately and I try to maintain contact with them each week after the initial call. However, after sending several emails and calling them, I haven’t gotten a response and I am left wondering they still want to work with me or not. For most parts I just let them go, but I will try this reminder and see how it works.
Thanks!
Thanks for your comments Nina. I am not sure that just letting a prospect go is the best course of action. I think it is better to develop a system so you can decide when it’s best to contact next.
For more information, you may want to check out the post “Persistence vs Harassment – How Many Calls Should You Make?” at the link below.
http://www.b2bscblog.com/2011/01/25/persistence-vs-harassment-how-many-sales-calls-should-you-make/sales-skills
Thanks again for your comments. Good luck to you!