← The Art of Sales with Art Sobczak
The Art of Sales with Art Sobczak
319 How to Inspire People to Get Back to You (And Why You Shouldn't Need To)
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You are listening to the Art of Sales. Everyone sells every day and this is your source for conversational real world sales and prospecting methods that you are comfortable using and that get results you'll help people buy instead of pushing them into being sold. Here's your host, Art Sobchak. There is so much talk today about getting ghosted and what are you going to do about it? Well, I've got some tough love truth about it. Also what to do to minimize and even prevent it from happening. And then I've got some real world, conversational, non salesy, high status ways to get responses when you're having trouble getting back in touch with someone. All right, so let's get started. So one of the biggest challenges that sales pros face is getting messages returned. The fact is, unless someone has a compelling reason to respond to you, your request is just going to sit there with all the others. It never moves. Hey, look at your own pile of things that need your attention, including those that involve responding to someone. I would bet that you've got some that have been sitting there for quite a while. So what makes you respond to something right away or put it off or just ignore it completely? Well, let me start with some blunt truth here. If you're constantly sending follow up messages hoping for responses, something likely went wrong in your initial conversation. Yeah, it's your own fault. Most salespeople are complaining about the symptoms and not even realizing there's a disease. Of course there are things that are urgent that get immediate attention, but the rest, they get prioritized or completely ignored. Some create what I call impulse curiosity. We're interested enough right at that moment to do something about it. Now, of course this is what you should be doing and I cover this extensively in my Smart Calling college training program. And if you want more information on that, you can Simply go to smartcallingcollege.com but right now I'm going to give you the nutshell version of the framework of how to prevent the non response in the first place. That's the better alternative right? Now, by the way, all of this assumes that you're not just calling or emailing someone with some lame request like hey, here I am, please call me back so we can have a meeting. That always gets deleted or ignored. Right? So I've got the four non negotiables for getting a or getting movement for for a follow up. And as I always say, the success of your follow up is directly dependent on the strength of what took place before. So let's cover the things that need to happen in your initial conversations and communication. So first they've got to understand exactly what's in it for them to take the next step. This isn't about just sending generic information or saying, hey, let's talk again. So based on what they told you about their specific challenge, you're giving them something that is directly going to help their situation. So instead of I'll send you some information, you can do something like, hey, Mike, based on what you told me about your challenge with reducing costs in your supply chain, I'm going to be sending you three very specific case studies of companies in your industry who solved this exact problem. And they all saved an average of 30%. So next time we'll talk about how this applies to your situation on our call Friday morning. Also, number two, we need to get mutual agreement on those next steps. So this means specific actions, specific timelines, specific outcomes, not vague promises, but clear commitments. So, for example, so Kate, I'm going to send you those three case studies by Thursday morning and we'll talk about them Friday at 2:00'. Clock. And so you'll have had time to review them with your team like you mentioned, and then we can discuss which approach makes the most sense for your company. That works for you, right? Number three, make sure there are some mistakes and consequences. They need to understand what happens if they don't act. Now, these are not threats, but it's the natural business consequences that come from doing nothing, for example. So you mentioned wanting to get this resolved before fourth quarter when your busy season kicks in. Now, if we don't move forward by the end of this month, that timeline is going to be shot. You'll be dealing with this problem during your busiest time of the year. Right. And then finally, commitment and confirmation. Get them to confirm what they agreed to and repeat it back. Now, this isn't being pushy, it's being professional. For example. All right, so just to confirm, you're going to review the proposal with your team by Wednesday and we'll reconnect Thursday at 3pm to discuss any questions and next steps. Right. So when you do this, I mean, not responding becomes virtually impossible because they'd be breaking their word, not just ignoring a salesperson. And if you just do these simple things, you're going to greatly minimize the chances of getting ghosted. And that's your best approach. Okay. Now, with all that said, I'm a realist. Also, even the best conversations sometimes go silent. There are a number of different scenarios here. Right? Of course, you got the flakes there's some change priorities. There might be internal politics, there could be genuine emergencies, times you're dealing with someone else's mess or thought you had a great conversation, but clearly something got lost in communication. And of course, like with anything, context is everything. So what happened up to this point? Did they contact you first to ask about your services or did you reach out to them? How many conversations did you have? What were the results? How did you end the previous conversation and what were the specific next steps, if there were steps. So keeping all this in mind, here are some ways to at least have a shot at getting someone to take action. So the first one I call assuming no interest, and I use this one all the time, you're letting one someone know that after repeated attempts to reach them, you're going to have to just assume that this isn't a priority for them right now. Now note that this should be used after you've had a quality conversation where they did show interest and they said that they were indeed going to take some action, but then they went silent. And yeah, the flakes fall into this category, as I like to call them. They are out there. So in your messaging, whether it be a voicemail or email, you might say you might come a bit confused here since I haven't heard back after several attempts and after our previous call where you were interested in saving money on your shipping costs. Hey, if I don't hear back, I'm going to just assume that that line item is not a priority for you right now. Hoping I'm wrong. And if so, just call me back at give your number or reply to the email I'm going to be sending you right now. Next. We have deadline pressure. Hey, a lot of people, myself included, put things off until the last minute. I mean, we fully intend to take action, it's just that, hey, we'll take all the time we've got to do so. And if there's no deadline, well, things can keep moving down the priority list. So with these people reminding them of the deadline can get some action. For example, Pat, quick reminder that the special pricing in the proposal is good until the end of the week and after that time it does go back up. So I know you said you wanted to take advantage of that savings, so please call me at next. We have scarcity and fomo, so if you've got something that's limited, appeal to their fear of missing out. Hey, we talked about you taking advantage of the special release of the reserve collection since you felt it would appeal to your Audience now we are down to the last 10% of the supply. I'd really hate to see you miss out, so give me a call at so that we can get this locked in for you. Next, we have negative consequences. If there are any negative consequences from them not acting, point those out. It could be a delay in something they want missing a deadline or just their problem continuing. So, Jim, you mentioned that you wanted to get the training done in the first quarter, and we're already pushing that because of the planning and development time that's going to be involved. We can still do it, but I do need to hear from you this week in order to make that timeline work. Next, we have the final attempt strategy. This was more powerful than assuming no interest because it creates urgency without sounding desperate. So Pat, this is my final outreach on this. After this, I'm assuming you've got it handled and I'll be focusing my attention on companies that are ready to move forward. And if I'm wrong about that, just hit reply or give me a call at at next one. We really have to be careful with and use it in very specific situations, only where it's appropriate and it's called moving forward anyway. And again, should only be used carefully and only when it's totally appropriate and ethical. And what it involves is you're telling them that if you don't hear from them, that means they're okay with you moving forward. So for example, let's say that they have an automatic renewal coming up on a subscription or a previous purchase, so you could leave a message like, Dave, I'd still like to speak with you about the plan you're on that does renew next week. And there are a couple options that we introduced this year that could help your team and would be great if we discuss them before that renewal kicks in. So please call me at or email me with several time options that work for you. And if I don't hear from you, your existing plan is going to renew as scheduled. Again, make sure you're being completely ethical and legal with this approach. I shouldn't even have to say that, but I do. Don't use it to ever manipulate or pressure anyone into something that they haven't genuinely already agreed to. The next one is called the consultant flip. This positions you as a resource, not just as a vendor trying to make a sale, for example. Hey Pat, I've been thinking about your situation since we last talked and I've got some ideas that might help even if we don't end up working together. So it could be worth a quick chat to share those thoughts. Hey, sometimes an outside perspective can be valuable. My number is next is called Social Proof Pressure. Hey, people hate feeling like they're missing out on what others in their industry are doing. For example, Matt, I was just talking to a few other manufacturing leaders this week about this exact challenge and two of them said they wish they acted on this six months ago instead of waiting. And I hate to see you in the same spot because you're kind of similar to them. So it could be worth a quick conversation. And then finally, we've got video messaging. Hey, a personal video message can cut through the noise when text or just voice alone isn't working. Keep it short, casual and focused on them. Remember to smile. Hey Sarah, I was thinking about our conversation about whatever the specific topic was, and I've got a few thoughts that might help you too. And then fill in with the benefit, of course. Hey, keep it short under 30 seconds and make it personal. All right, now with all this said, I've got some mistakes that really kill response rates. So keep these things in mind. Sounding desperate is one of them. There's a huge difference between being persistent and being needy. Confident professionals follow up because they've got value to offer, not because they're worried about making their quota. Next. And this applies to almost everything. Talking too much, too many words. People scan emails, they don't read novels. So get to the point. Third, generic messages that can be sent to anyone get deleted. If you can't tell from your message that it was specifically written for that person, you better rewrite it. And fourth, no clear next step. Always make it easy for them to respond by telling them exactly what you want them to do. All right, so here's the bottom line. People do respond a lot. And if it's going to be to you, you need to give them a good reason. Every time you find yourself sending a follow up message, hoping for a response, ask yourself, what could I have done in a previous conversation to make this follow up unnecessary? And that's where the real learning and professional development takes place. Now if you want to learn how to have those prevention conversations, the better first conversations that I talked about here at the beginning. Again, that's exactly what I cover in the Smart Calling College. Actually, I cover every part of the professional sales and prospecting call there. We have thousands of graduates that have been through this program and you can join them and check that out @smart calling college.com smart callingcollege.com all right. Hey, you know what time it is the art of the sales. That's right. It's time for the quote of the day. And today's quote comes from me. And what I always like to say is, the best follow up is the one that you never have to make. All right, so in conclusion here, just remember, confidence beats desperation every time. If someone's not responding, it says nothing about your worth as a professional. Stay confident, stay professional and keep moving forward. Now go out there and make it happen. Thank you so much for investing your valuable sales time with me today. Until next time, go out and make it your best sales day ever. I'm Art Sobchak.