When Is it Time to Break up With Your Prospect?

Salespeople have been taught to be persistent in pursuing prospects. Many in the sales profession have been coached to say no to an opportunity or give permission to others.

Now you might be thinking. Wait a minute, there’s research that supports that successful people possess persistence and grit.

You are correct.

But it is important to note that 44% of salespeople give up after one follow up. (Source: Themarketingdonut.co.uk).?It also shows that if you follow up a web lead within 5 minutes, you’re 9 times more likely to convert them. (Source: Insidesales.com)

Persistence without the EQ skills of emotional self-awareness and reality testing, quickly turn a professional salesperson into a professional sales stalker. (And your parents raised you better than this).

Stats show:

·80% of sales require 5 follow up calls after the first meeting. (Source: Sirius Decisions)

·The average salesperson gives up after just 2 follow up calls. (Source: Sirius Decisions)

·44% of salespeople give up after 1 follow up call. (Source: Themarketingdonut.co.uk)

Let’s look at a hypothetical, yet often-too-real selling scenario. A salesperson meets with a prospect and the meeting goes well. The prospect and salesperson agree to connect in a couple of weeks. The salesperson sends out a calendar invite and the meeting invite is accepted.

Salesperson calls at the agreed-upon-time only to get voicemail.

There is no response from the prospect, so the salesperson sends a follow-up email.

Again, no response. The gritty, persistent salesperson leaves another voicemail, email, voicemail, email.

The gritty, persistent salesperson has now moved into a new role:?A sales stalker.

However according to Hubspot, 93% of converted leads are contacted by the 6th call attempt. In 2007 it took 3.68 cold call attempts to reach a prospect. Today it takes 8 attempts.(source: slideshare.net/JakeAtwood1)

Apply the emotional intelligence skill of reality testing which is the ability to look at situations for what they are, not what you’d like and hope them to be. The reality is that this prospect has made you the star of the movie, “He’s Just Not That Into You.”

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The reality is that this prospect sees you as a vendor, not as a trusted advisor.?

The salesperson is puzzled and discouraged. The prospect ASKED for a follow-up conversation. What went wrong??

Here are two sales tips that prevent chase mode and sales stalking.??

Tip #1. When you find yourself chasing a prospect, ask the question, “Should I have even agreed to a first meeting or worse, a second meeting?”

There is a very good chance the answer is no. You set up a meeting with a prospect that indicated interest, however, doesn’t fit your ideal client profile. As a result, there is a very good chance that this prospect doesn’t really need your product or service or isn’t willing to pay full value for such services.

According to Salesforce, 85% of prospects and customers are dissatisfied with their on-the-phone experience.

Stop trying to sell ice to an Eskimo! It’s time to break up with your prospect.

Close out the opportunity by leaving a nice, non-defensive message indicating that you are taking the prospect off your active follow-up list. Note the word “non-defensive.” Practice and listen to your tonality before leaving the break-up message.?A basic principle of communication is not what you say but how you say it.

The message can sound like, “Peter, it’s Jennifer O’Hare. Sorry I’m missing you again. I am getting the feeling that you’ve decided to move in another direction, so with your permission, I am going to take you off my active follow-up list. I don’t want to become a pest. If I have misunderstood, feel free to give me a call back.”?

Note that when leaving a voicemail for a prospect, the optimal length is between 8 and 14 seconds. Also remember 80% of calls go to voicemail, and 90% of first time voicemails are never returned. (Source: RingLead).

And my years of working with salespeople also has proven, one of two things will happen: (1) The prospect will not call back. Guess what. You got to the truth fast and you aren’t keeping an unqualified opportunity in your pipeline. (2) The prospect will call back because you demonstrated self-respect and the ability to walk away. You send a message to your prospect that you only work with committed prospects, ones that treat me like a valued partner.?

Examine the opportunities in your sales pipeline. It might be time to break up with prospects that are just not that into you.?