I was talking with a VP Sales at a tech company today and the topic came up of how difficult it can be to reach prospects. We were on the same page as he realized it takes numerous attempts to reach a prospect and he gave me an example of how he had to call one prospect in particular 4-5 times. Most reps would have given up by then we agreed. I said I bet the prospect apologized when you connected with him finally didn't he? He said YES. We have that happen all the time, it's an indicator of doing something right.
ARE interested, they know they asked for information or even had a great call with you already--there IS an opportunity, they just got so crazy busy they couldn't call you back. The fact you had to call them 4x is kind of embarrassing for them, and they really apologize they weren't available. You have their attention now...2% of sales are closed from a single attempt,
3% from two attempts,
5% after 3 attempts,
10% after 4 attempts,
but here is the whopper--
80% of deals closed after making from 5-12 attempts.Companies often do a "Did They Buy" Study on past leads that typically reveal that from 50%-70% of your prospects ended up buying something, but did they buy it from you? Prospects tend to take the path of least resistance, so if someone is making it easy to buy from them, by being available and persistent--they have increased their chances of getting the deal.
Jill Konrath's book, SNAP Selling, goes into great detail about the "crazy busy" world our prospects are working in. Today's sales reps need to navigate their prospects busy lives to connect, it's well worth the effort since the percentage of closed deals skyrockets after 5 attempts.


