Because we’ve been trained to think that, unless we’re constantly “moving a sale forward,” we may lose it, we keep calling back and leaving messages along the lines of, “Hi, haven’t heard back from you, so I’m just calling to follow up. Looking forward to hearing from you.”
Leaving insistent messages when potential clients stop returning your calls communicates that you’re trying to move the sale forward.
This in turn makes them feel pressure from you.
These kinds of follow-up calls tells them that your focus is on your agenda (not theirs) and that you have no awareness of the realities of their world that may be keeping them from calling you back.
When potential clients don’t call us back, we automatically start feeling fearful and anxious.
We’re afraid we might lose the sale, and that makes us uncomfortable.
We’ve been so conditioned to focus on the sale that we assume we’ve lost it if they haven’t called us or e-mailed us back.
The number one reason potential clients begin evading us is: They’re afraid we’re going to pressure them.
Chances are, they’ve had negative experiences with other advisors attempting to offer their services they weren’t interested in.
The solution?
Focus on the truth, not on the sale.
If you switch to focusing on finding out the truth, then the situation isn’t that you might be losing a sale — it’s just that you don’t know the truth yet.
Read this a few more times, and let it sink in. As you absorb it, you’ll start to feel a powerful shift.
You’ll start feeling less anxious, because you haven’t lost a sale. You just don’t know the truth yet.
And all you have to do is call back and find that out.
Keep in mind that you don’t know why your calls aren’t being returned, and that your goal is always to identify the truth.
You want to know the truth about the situation — whether the sale is going to happen or not — but you must approach your potential client in a way where they don’t feel your agenda is more important than theirs.
The best route to the truth is to take a step back.
Instead of trying to move things forward, consider moving things backward. Return to the place where you left off.
Your prospects will trust you and reveal what they’re thinking only if they feel like you’re on their side.
Once you’ve taken all this in and are feeling clear and comfortable, you can pick up the phone. Always start with a phone call. The last thing you want to do is start by sending an e-mail because it’s inherently impersonal and one-way.
If you can’t reach the person directly after several attempts, voice mail and email may be your only and last option.
You need to be clear in your own mind that you’re willing to assume that the breakdown in communication is something you triggered.
Here are some ideas to shift your mindset before you make the call:
1. Get Clear. Review any notes on past calls and bring yourself up to date regarding the person and the situation.
2. Let Go. You may find it useful to just sit silently for a few minutes with your eyes closed, breathing deeply and consciously, accepting that this sale is probably gone. Let it go, so that when you call there’s no part of you hoping or pushing for it. You need to decide that it’s really not about the sale anymore — it’s about learning for next time
3. Decide What You’re Going to Say. Put yourself in the mental place of focusing on the fact that you’re calling to apologize for something that went wrong along the way and that you’re assuming the sale isn’t going to happen.
Here are some examples of what you might say:
All the above languaging removes the sale from the picture entirely.
Very simply, what we’re talking about here is the kind of communication that most of would use with people we really care about, which is what they need to feel from you, that you care about them.