Rouse Your Silent Prospects

Getting a prospect on the phone or receiving a reply to an email is one of every salesperson’s biggest challenges. However, it doesn’t have to be. There is a golden rule for getting a response from a silent prospect: If you want a response, ask a question the prospect can answer. While this concept may seem elementary, there is an art to crafting emails and voicemails that will elicit a response from a qualified prospect.

Getting a Response to an Initial Call

If you are trying to set up an initial meeting with the prospect you are calling on, call and email the person. The effect of combining approaches will make your message a bit more memorable, and easy to respond to for both email and voicemail people. The key is to use the same wording for both messages and send them at the same time. Both the voicemail and the email should include your name, phone number, company name, reason you are calling, and your phone number again.

The reason statement should be the shortest possible abbreviation of your lead source. For example, if you received a referral from Roger Smith, your reason statement should be “regarding Roger” or “regarding Roger Smith.” If you acquired the lead from a trade show, the reason statement should be “regarding the trade show;” or if you met at a networking event, the reason would be “regarding last week’s conversation.”

Shortening the message to a single word seems to work the best, according to studies where sellers carefully tracked their ratios following this training. For example, if you are selling your product or service to an insurance company, you would leave a message for Prudential that says “re: Met Life.” When they call back (and, they will), you finish the thought by saying “we’ve done a lot of work with insurance companies like Met Life and I thought we should get together to discuss.”

Avoid using emails as an opportunity to type your entire sales pitch or provide your manifesto to strangers (avoid the “See attached 400 page document on why we are so great”). Instead, emails should read like reminder notes you leave for your spouse or roommate. The business version of “please don’t forget milk today” might be something like “confirming our appointment for Tuesday.” You might even leave out their name and all niceties (such as “greetings”). Just get to the point. Your Blackberry-reading receiver of this message will appreciate this more while they walk and read.

Asking Questions the Prospect Can Answer