The Prospect Pulse Check – 3 Tips On Communicating With Prospects That Have Gone Cold

Often, as a salesperson, we think that reviving customers using “magical sales CPR” is easier and faster than getting a new prospect.

You cannot spend a significant amount of time with dead customers.

They’re cold and they’ve gone cold for a reason. You want to spend the majority of your time with new prospects that want to buy your services, have a budget to spend, and express a need right now.

Beware Of Distractions

The first tip is to understand that customers may go cold if they are distracted by a change in their business. For example, there could be a change of ownership or maybe they had a bad sales quarter and are not spending any money on outside resources.

If you are selling to a small business, maybe they have added one or two new employees in production and they have not been focused on anything else going on in the periphery.

These distractions have nothing to do with you, it’s just that your prospect’s business goals have changed. It’s important to find out as much as you can on what the distraction is so that you can determine how often (if at all) you should reach out to the prospect and how likely it is that they will eventually buy from you.

Be Direct And Just Ask

Find out why the lead or business went cold by simply contacting them and asking. Check back with them to determine if your services were not the right fit, if the customer went in another direction, or if they are ready to revive the conversation.

You can do this in a well-crafted email, a phone call, or a scheduled visit. You do want to go through your funnel and understand why a lead goes cold. Once you know that, you can determine which leads to pursue with pace and which to let go.

Do Your Homework

Go to their website, specifically their press releases, and determine if there is anything new that has happened in their business. Check out their social media, specifically, LinkedIn.

If they have hired someone new, they are growing. If they have gained a new major customer, they are growing. If they are promoting their employees, they are growing.

Reach out and congratulate them, celebrate their success and then ask the qualifying questions about how you can be supportive with the services or products you offer.