Salespeople - Here are 3 Ways to PREVENT Radio Silence

For anyone in sales there is nothing more frustrating then when a prospect, who just a few days ago was very interested, will no longer call you back. This situation of zero response to voice mails and emails has become known as Radio Silence. The flat line of no noise, no response gives every salesperson a frustrated and anxious feeling.

For the salesperson who is experiencing Radio Silence will always hope for the best. They think that the prospect maybe on vacation or just busy working the purchase request through the process. But more often then not the Radio Silence turns out to mean something closer to losing interested or no decision. The deal has lost it’s momentum and is a lower priority or non at all. As they used to say in “Sex and the City” “He is just not that into you”.

Radio Silence like most things in sales is best prevented versus responded to. Meaning that if you understand the decision process and you guide the prospect through it you will be able to prevent Radio Silence completely.

Below are the Top 3 ways to prevent Radio Silence:

• Have several points of contact within the account, never only one. Maintain a cadence of scheduled milestones and calls with each of them. This will give you greater insight into what is really going on and if scheduled calls are missed that is a clear sign of a loss of momentum. Always us a calendar invite with reminders so that it is on their calendar and viewed as important.

• Exchange cell phone numbers as soon as you have can. Just explain that you find texting a fast an easy way to exchange information. You will find that people will respond to a text much faster and consistently then return a call or email. This may not work for every person but it is becoming great way to get information exchanged fast. The failure to return a text is far more telling the a unreturned email or voice mail.

• Always use quid-pro-quo. If you know what your prospect is going to want and you know when they will ask for it, you can be ready to ask for what you want. If you they are going to want a custom demo then you can use that to ask for an understanding of the organization or an intro to their manager. If they want a proposal you can ask for your VP to meet with their VP. The best and most effective time to ask for something is when the other person wants something. Matching what they need with what you need is the simplest way to maintain momentum through out the decision process. If you are always giving the prospect what they want, when they want it you are not selling you are servicing. You need to be working together with your prospect and they need to respect your time and value as much as you do theirs. Without quid-pro-quo the prospect will only communicate when they want something and will go Radio Silent when they do not.

If you apply these three actions to your sale you will find that Radio Silence will no longer be a part of your deals.

Here are some other related post that you maybe interested in:

STOP FOLLOWING UP!!!

HOW TO FIND THE REAL DECISION MAKER

Please comment with your ideals about how to prevent or deal with Radio Silence.

If you listen to PodCasts, check out mine “The Brutal Truth about Sales & Selling”.

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Brian