Subscriber Discussion

When Do You Stop Chasing A Potential Customer?

Sean Patton

•Aug 31, 2018

Phone calls with left voicemails, follow up emails, one last voicemail, break-up email, added to an email newsletter... there is only so much one person can do. When I was an integrator, I had a generally low threshold for chasing new accounts placed on me by my company/sales manager (as long as we continued to build the revenue from our existing customers, and land reference accounts from manufacturers and existing customers). I have the feeling that is not the case with manufacturers sales reps, and larger integrator reps.

How much pushback do you get from your sales manager if you stop mentioning them in your weekly sales review meetings?

There were questions about this every week in the Security Sales Course. I think everyone is looking for a "golden rule" to live by, afraid if they don't make that one last contact, another company (or worse, another sales person in their company) will make that one last attempt that finally makes it through.

What is your "last chance" contact before mentally moving completely past an opportunity?

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Undisclosed Manufacturer #1

•Aug 31, 2018

There are no dead leads.

I'll decrease the frequency of my interactions as time goes on, but I'll never give up entirely. Our industry has such a long sales cycle that any interaction is essentially just planting a long-growing seed.

Just this week, I picked a whale out of my company's dead-lead pile, because a single factor had changed, reviving the entire deal. Admittedly, this was sheer dumb luck on my part, because I didn't know about the factor at all, let alone the fact that the factor had changed.

One thing I've learned, however, is that the more often you contact customers, the more chances you have to get lucky and call them just as they're starting a new project or something.

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Sean Patton

•Aug 31, 2018

In reply to Undisclosed Manufacturer #1

What the are thresholds for that lead making it into the "dead-lead" pile? Is it a sales manager that makes the decision to put it there, and does the original salesperson get any credit or a chance to work on the deal?

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Undisclosed Manufacturer #1

•Sep 03, 2018

In reply to Sean Patton

The original salesperson makes that decision. And of course I'll share credit; we partner up and work in teams a lot in my office. I might carry the ball for the last ten yards but it would be dumb and short sighted to ignore the guys who passed it to me.

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Sean Nelson

•Aug 31, 2018

Nelly's Security

We generally wont stop contacting unless they say something concrete such as "No, we will never do business with you"

Unless we hear something like that, we will continue to pursue.

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Sean Patton

•Aug 31, 2018

In reply to Sean Nelson

Are you calling them, or followup emails, both?

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Sean Nelson

•Aug 31, 2018

Nelly's Security

In reply to Sean Patton

Both. What I have found is that emails alone just get ignored or in some cases, not even read. Just emailing alone is a very weak way of prospecting and generally gets no results.

However, calling and following up with an email is very effective. Even calling to leave a VM is good.

We then send physical items as well. Depending on the cusomer, sometimes free samples. Goodies and documentation also do well.

Oftentimes, when you contact the customer, they are either too busy or they just politely listen to what you have to say and then move on with their business, and they will even just throw away the stuff you send them. This is to be expected. The key is for us to always be on the tip of their mind. Their will eventually be a time in which you will be "remembered" for something specific they need, or when their other vendors let them down. They wont remember you if you never call them or call them once and forget about it. The sales process for us can be very long when it comes to cold calls. I used to do this alot more than we do now, but it would sometimes take 6 mos to get a customer which was "Average" i guess.

Given the long sales process, it can be very discouraging for some people. The key is to continually build up a pipeline, and thats hard to do when you really havent had any results in a couple of months. Expectations must be set for the long sales process as it is similar to building a business.

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Undisclosed Manufacturer #2

•Aug 31, 2018

Be in the right place, right time.

The problem with, "right time" is it's not always possible to know when that time is.

Resultantly, you need to persist so that when that, "right time" happens, you're there and in front of the opportunity.

At the same time it's important not to annoy the potential opportunity into ignoring you.

Very fine line between persistence and annoyance.

I generally find asking the question, "is it ok if I continue to contact you regularly" as a pretty good hedge against crossing the line of annoyance.

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Undisclosed Integrator #3

•Aug 31, 2018

I usually stop when they serve the restraining order, or shortly thereafter.

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Marco Sanchez

•Aug 31, 2018

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #3

Bahahhahahaha!!!!!! Yes!

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Undisclosed Integrator #4

•Aug 31, 2018

It depends on the client. I have one I have been pursuing for over a year but they respond back, and the project has been delayed due to financing, city etc. It is new construction. I have others I kick out of the CRM after 4 or 5 contacts if they ghost me.

I signed up for the sales course and I missed EVERY session since I was so busy. Hopefully, I can see the recordings.

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Sean Patton

•Aug 31, 2018

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #4

Just go to the Sales Course Page and you can view the videos, or download them for offline viewing/listening:

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Undisclosed Integrator #5

•Aug 31, 2018

UI4,

You should be able to see the recordings; but, check with Sean Patton at IPVM first.

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Undisclosed Integrator #6

•Sep 04, 2018

Never.

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David Leinenbach

•Sep 04, 2018

My Will instructs burying me with my basic sales kit. I figure there's gotta be at least a few unwanted intruders trying to get into heaven, and should things go the other way for me, there's half a chance someone's gonna need a fire alarm.

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Undisclosed Manufacturer #7

•Sep 04, 2018

If I can't reach them / non-responsive they will get an email & VM at least once a month. Eventually they will will talk to me and if their not interested in meeting or listening in the next 60-90 days then I'll touch base once a year and monitor to see if situation changes

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