At the end of my blog post two weeks ago, How to Get Your Prospects to Stop Ignoring You, I told you that I’d share when and how to stop calling on certain prospects this week. And those are two questions to be answered: when and how.
When should you stop calling on nonresponsive prospects?
The rule of thumb that I use is to keep contacting prospects for twice the length of a typical period in which a prospect would have had an opportunity to invite you to compete on a sale. For example, if your typical prospect may have a sales opportunity of some magnitude every eight months, then call on your prospects for sixteen months before breaking up with them. I also suggest calling on a prospect a minimum of ten times before giving up. Obviously, these are rules of thumb and not exact science approaches. The important thing is that you define the parameters and commit to them. If not, you’ll be calling on useless prospects forever – always giving them another chance and thinking “but what if…”
How should you stop calling on nonresponsive prospects?
Whatever you do, don’t just disappear. Force them to be part of the decision. Before giving up, make your last touch a break-up email followed by a break-up voicemail.
The break-up email has two parts:
- Politely state that you don’t want to keep filling up their inbox and voicemail, so this will be your last contact unless they reply. Be bold about this. Don’t waiver or offer any halfway language. Tell them that they will no longer hear from you unless they reply.
- End the email by letting them know that you’re still interested in working with them, and then encourage them to let you if you should try again in six months (or after the holidays, during the summer, etc.). This last part gives them an out for ignoring you in the first place, and if they are interested in talking one day, they’ll reply.
Once you send the email, leave them a voicemail letting them know to look for your email, and then end it with: “As I state in the email, please let me know if it makes sense to try you again in six months.”
You’ll be surprised how many replies you’ll receive from this idea. The replies won’t necessarily be buying replies, but they’ll be incremental steps toward a relationship – which is all we should hope for as sales professionals.
