We’ve all been there … A prospective customer shows interest and excitement in working with you. They’re responsive and friendly through the site walk, discovery meeting, and product demonstrations. Heck, they even remind you to submit your proposal before the due date because they want to make sure you get a fair opportunity to win their business. You submit the proposal … and nothing. After the “thank you”, there is dead silence and no replies for weeks (or months).
After you’ve delivered your proposal, the customer has everything they need. There is rarely any personal benefit to them for responding to your requests. Of course, you can try to create a sense of urgency by presenting a blue-light special at the end of the month, but that only cheapens you and your proposal. So, what can you do?
I’ve offered five ideas below, but the overarching theme to keeping your proposals from falling into a black hole is to prepare ahead of time. Before the proposal is requested, you need to start preparing for the black hole. Don’t get fooled – I don’t care how attentive they are to you right now. You’ll be in Downtown Rejection City after delivering your proposal if you don’t follow these steps.
Connect with more than one person on the decision-making committee. During the early stages of the process, be sure to connect with various influencers of the decision. This can be as simple as meeting with the HR Manager to understand how policies will impact the visitor management system. When the Facilities Manager won’t return your calls, reach out to the HR Manager.
Include offers with deadlines. Add different opportunities to the proposal and include deadlines. For example, if they’re able to issue an order by June 15th, then you’ll be able to deliver within two weeks. However, after June 15th, that lead time will increase. The difference between the impact of adding this to the proposal beforehand and calling on June 13th to create a sense of urgency is enormous. If they know it’s coming, and you prepared them for it, then you’re doing your job as a professional … not trying to manipulate them into making a quick decision.
Schedule an appointment to present the proposal. Schedule time before the proposal is completed to present it. Don’t wait. If they say no, then try again when you’re a day or two away from having it complete. If they still say no, then send it. There is a drastic increase in success for those that present their proposals, and there is an exponentially greater chance of securing that appointment if you ask for it a few weeks early. At the end of the presentation, schedule the next step with them and ask this powerful question: “What should I do if I can’t reach you? I know you’re slammed, and I don’t want to bother you.”
Drop a text about something unrelated. If you run across a relevant article or if your contact’s favorite team won a big game, send them a text message. Don’t bring up the proposal. They’ll likely respond with something like: “Sorry about the delay – call me on Tuesday.” (For more ideas on using text, check out our recent post Six Ways a Sales Person Should Use Text Messaging.)
Send a break-up email. After several attempts with no response, break up with them: “It seems that you’re not interested in working with us, so I’ll stop trying to schedule a conversation. Let me know if you’ve simply been busy and the project has been put on hold – I’m happy to reconnect later this year.”
These five ideas won’t turn around lost causes, but they will help keep the majority of your qualified projects from falling into the black hole of forgotten sales opportunities. Remember … these ideas have to be considered and planned early in the process.
