Roman Kniahynyckyj — December 17, 2016 Follow @kniahynyckyj
Inbound leads are beautiful things. Someone has a business problem, searches for a solution and finds your website. They convert on a landing page and you have a conversation with them. You may even have multiple conversations with them. But then, like Santa after he delivers his gifts and partakes of your (almond) milk and (vegan) cookies, they disappear. That lead becomes an opportunity is stuck in never-never email land. Here’s what to do next.
Meditate on Your Emails
I’m not asking you to go transcendental here. Look back through your CRM and reflect on the emails you’ve sent. Are they repetitive? Does each new email offer value? Did you send the email to simply check it off your ‘To Do’ list? How many sent emails have gone unresponded to? Typically, you’ll see that email just isn’t doing the trick anymore. Your lead might be speaking to multiple vendors, has selected someone else, or maybe is trying to determine how best to navigate internal decision channels. At this point, you’ll need to move beyond email but still offer value.
The Offer of a Joint Call
Even if your lead is a VP or Director level they may not have purchasing authority. They may have dotted line reporting up to a Director of Operations or Director of Purchasing that they’ll need to sell internally to or get approval from. If you don’t have a sense of the org structure (you should by now), try and find out. A call to a stuck lead may go a little like this:
“Hi Betty, it’s Jake. Just circling back on the proposal. Wanted to let you know if you needed me on a call with you and [Director of Op, Purchasing, CEO] to discuss [the solution to your business problem] I would be happy to do that…”
Ask your lead to bring you in as an educator and informer. They may not know the best way to sell internally so this will put them at ease and know that you’ll be there to support them.
The Offer of an On-Site Visit
Depending on the size of your sales budget and the potential size of the deal, you should offer to visit your lead in person. Lunch or dinner with a prospect always softens the relationship and allows them to see you and your company as more than a website or an email address. It also gives you the opportunity to meet with your prospect’s colleagues. Showing up in person, when other vendors haven’t, could ultimately be a huge differentiator for you. Not only does it show extra effort to close a deal it also highlights your desire to build a relationship.
The LinkedIn Reminder
LinkedIn is always a good place to keep tabs on your prospect. Have they connected with a competitor? Commented or liked any relevant articles? Changed companies? They’ll also be able to see you visited their profile which will serve as a gentle nudge to remind them they haven’t given you a yes or no answer yet.
The key to any of the above tactics is to get out of the email loop and leave a voicemail or try to have a voice to voice conversation. It may be too late but the deal is stalled so it’s time to try a new approach. Go forth and prosper you rising sales superstar!
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