It happens all the time: your biggest account, the one you were sure was biting? They went cold. It’s been weeks and you haven’t heard from them.
The good news is that nothing is over until it is over. There are plenty of ways to restart the sales process without scaring away your lead or coming across too strongly. Here are just five of our top-recommended tactics that can help you unstick a deal.
The human brain is fairly unreliable when it comes to our memories. Our impressions of what was said and what happened can often drift pretty far from reality.
When it comes to a stalled sales deal — a time when our imaginations threaten to get the best of us — reviewing all prior communications can ground you back in reality. It can also help you pinpoint something you overlooked, like a concern the lead had or a promise that was made.
So, go back through emails and all recorded messages and look for a few things:
If you did miss something, or a stated deadline has passed, follow up with your lead immediately. Send them a polite email, or leave a message on their voicemail indicating that you want to restart your conversation if possible.
If you notice any indication of inconsistency or hesitation in prior communications, ask direct questions to help clear things up, like “Can you explain X to me in a bit more detail?”
Putting off your next conversation until a vague, unsettled date can only allow a lead to delay the deal forever. Instead, try to set a firm appointment within the near future to make the lead commit to another conversation. Do not pester them if they demure, but do ask “When, exactly, would be a good time?”
Sometimes deals get stalled as one side or the other gets tied up in minutia. While you can nitpick pricing and services all day, the real heart of the matter lies in your lead’s pain point and your solution’s ability to alleviate it.
Remind your lead of this goal, especially if they had an internal deadline to fix it, in order to rekindle their interest in the big picture.
The main contact point for your account may be too busy, may not be the real decision maker or may simply be turned off to your approach. You can often go around this person by attempting to contact others in their department and warm them up to the deal. Remember that a single person is often not as persuasive compared to a few colleagues sharing the same opinion.
Often, a client lead will go cold because the prospect has become numb to your messaging. One way to warm them up again is to show them that you understand their needs in a personal way.
Our sales team uses this opportunity to send a quick video through our video sales platform 2Win! Bridge. It can reignite your relationship and help foster connections on a personal level. One of our reps met with this reaction when he threw a “hail mary” by sending a sports-loving lead a personalized message filled with sports idioms.
He was also able to track views, shares, and follow up with clients all through 2Win! Bridge’s analytics and CTA features. If you think something like this could help you or your sales team, take a look at the benefits of our sales video platform to get started connecting with leads in meaningful ways today.