Pest or Persistent
Priya Sachdev
FractionalChiefSalesOfficer.com | Business Coach | Sales Practitioner & Coach | Ageism Activist | Certified Master Facilitator - Miller Heiman Methodologies | Mentor in Residence for Startups in Okanagan
How frequently do you follow up? What do you say every time you follow up? What's the rule of thumb for sellers? When does follow up become spam? How long do you keep the engagement going if the prospect goes cold on you?
As a seller if these are questions you have always struggled to find answers for, welcome to the club !
The best and the worst thing about being in sales is no Formulas work !! Everytime you think you found the answer the situation changes.
Here is something I learnt from my mentor - be persistent but don't be a pest ! To understand this first you have to move from the mindset of "I want to make a sale" to "I want to help you buy cause am confident my product, service and/or solution will bring value to you".
So while one can't really determine if you should follow up every two days or two weeks what is important is that your follow up is a reason to create engagement.
To avoid being a pest, stop sending messages like "Have you made a decision yet?" ,"Do you have an update?", "our offer will expire".
Instead in every occasion to follow up, use it to build engagement (read mind share). Firstly use the omnichannel approach - engage through emails, calls, Messages, Social platforms. Secondly, in each interaction share something that is relevant to the buyer - could be an article you read, a blog you wrote or information that you found.
Ask yourself what will this prospect not know or not have access to if I didn't send them this message.
I know this is not easy, but then who said life is easy or selling is easy !
B2B Content Writer for Technology & SaaS Companies ?? SEO-optimized blogs, case studies, sales pages & more ?? LinkedIn Profile Optimization ?? LinkedIn Ghostwriting & Consulting ?? Dog Lover
3 年Great perspective, Priya. Always providing some type of value in your outreach can go a long way in avoiding the “pest” label.
Sales Director - BigSpring - A lifelong skilling platform (WEF Tech Pioneer 2020)
3 年Priya Sachdev Great read! Sell what you strongly believe in, since that will really help in driving persistence and will bring more value to your customers.
Helping Sales Professionals Use LinkedIn and AI to Build Their Business and Brand | Digital Sales Consultant | LinkedIn & Sales Navigator Training
3 年Every salesperson struggles with this Priya! Bringing value to every engagement helps you to be perceived as a resource rather than a pest.
Customer Success & Sales | Enhancing Client Satisfaction through Data-Driven Insights, Technical Expertise, and Quality Assurance | Driving Revenue Growth and Operational Excellence | Lean Six Sigma | DMAIC | Dog Lover??
3 年Thanks for this! Definitely there is a silver line between being persistent vs being a pest and each situation requires a level of discernment to determine when you are being the one or the other!