How I Once Stalked a Customer with 60 + Touchpoints.

Okay so I didn’t literally stalk, but I pursued, nurtured, and followed up. The deal took a few years to close.

When I first started my business, my business brand and I were nobodies. When I sent out a message to a prospect who didn’t know me from a bar of soap, they were like, “So what? Who are you and why should we care?” I was just like the dozen others who had tried to contact them that week. I knew that out of the many other sales and businesspeople who were also stalking them, I had to have a long-term strategy.

Was my message good? It was. Did I speak about their values, pain and issues? I did. And I did reach the right people who needed what I had. But I was also strategic and understood the buying process, customer journey, B2B sales cadence, and touchpoints.

When I did outreach to a qualified lead or prospect, I didn’t just focus on one communication channel, but many. And what if they initially didn’t have a need, budget or desire to take action? If I believed that I could help them, and that they fit my customer ICP and persona, (which was very niche at the time) then I nurtured that relationship, even if that was from far and at a scale.

They say that you need at least 7 touch points in sales and over 20 brand touchpoints. I’m not too sure about the exact numbers, as it’s always changing. But what I can tell you is that I've had clients who I've had at least 60 + touchpoints with.

Also InsideSales.com conducted a study on 14,000 + sales cadences across 8,000 + companies and found that the sales cadences that had about 7 attempts, within a 2-week period, via various communication channels were the most successful in reaching a decision maker.

A sales cadence is a sequence of activities to increase probability of contact and qualification. A lead is valuable and expensive. Many salespeople simply pray that the ring tone goes to voicemail, and that they never have to speak to anyone. However, by following up, and by focusing on more than one communication channel, we increase the probability of successfully reaching that lead or prospect and qualifying them into or out of our pipeline. If they don’t like the sound of what we’re offering, then they can say no. We must always respect their no. In fact, we want to hear a no so we can know where we stand and move on.

So here is one of my many stories of a sales cadence and touchpoint journey.

Day 1. I made a cold call to a qualified lead. He was a GM on an account I was pursuing. It rang out so I left a short message. I quickly followed up with an email. From an internal influencer at that company, I was told that he was the key decision maker for sales training for their non salespeople (who were Employment consultants.) This internal stakeholder also told me that their Employment consultants had to make many cold calls and they were freaking out about this.

Day 2. Sent him a connection request via LinkedIn. I sent a simple, “I would love to connect message.” I know! I didn’t really put much effort into that message.

Day 4. I finally got through to another decision maker on that account. I was told that their GM who I have been trying to contact is the best person to speak with.

Day 7. I tried to reach the GM two more times within the 14 day cadence period. But my attempts were not successful. I had to let it go, otherwise it would be harassment. I decided to put him into my nurturing bucket and re-engage in a few months.

?Day 30. Connection request accepted. I noticed that he’s not a huge user of LinkedIn. I did not try to sell anything or pursue him on LinkedIn.

?Day 90. After a cooling off period, I decided to create another short cadence for this account. I truly believed that I could help his Employment Consultants. So, I made another attempt and got through to him on the first call. I made a brief intro and asked two questions. He didn’t believe that his Employment Consultants needed sales training, although they had to make lots of cold calls. He seemed adamant, so I wasn’t prepared to challenge him and rock the relationship. I asked if I could sign him up for my weekly newsletter where I share articles, and videos on sales tips and best practices for non salespeople in Disabilty Employment Services. I told him that he could share them with his team. He agreed.

Day 100 +?Through my mailchimp marketing campaign, the GM was sent weekly articles. Most of these focused on sales tips and best practices for non-sales staff in Disability Employment Services. You can say that the jargon and context in these articles was very focused on this niche industry. These emails were opened at least 76% of the time and shared with hundreds of staff at the company. Lots of nurturing touchpoints right here.

Day 730 +?More than 2 years later he makes an online purchase for about 18 webinar tickets for his staff. They were valued at $47 each, and the webinar was on making cold calls for Employment Consultants. One of his frontline managers saw this offer through the weekly newsletter and urged him to purchase some tickets as non-sales staff were very stressed about making cold calls to businesses.

Day 930 + About 3 months after his staff attended the webinar, the GM emails me. He asks for more info about the 1-day workshop + 3 months coaching program.?(To be honest, I should have followed up after the webinar, but I was working on several projects at the time.)

Day 1098 + After a discovery meeting, demo, proposal, several backs and forth, the deal is closed.

?But really, the sales starts after the deal has been closed. This is where the hard work begins. We must be able to deliver and help our clients get the results that they want. As well as sustain the relationship for years.

Now, was I consciously focused on this one customer by literally stalking him? No. Because I was pursuing and following up with many other leads and prospects. As well as running my business. I was simply following a basic sales and marketing cadence that have been taught to me by successful sales leaders. I also teach these on my sales trainings. But when I went back to My CRM to write this article, I chose to use this one case study. The reason, it had an extremely long sales cycle. I wanted to demonstrate that in sales, we need to be patient and continue creating touchpoints, nurturing leads and prospects, and continuously add value.

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