Tag: Email & Voice Mail

How to Follow-Up with Prospects and Win Business

by mike

A while ago, my wife and I renovated our new home, and as part of this grueling process we had to get many quotes from all different kinds of people. This ranged from window replacement people, plumbers, electrical contractors, painters, tile companies, contractors, fine craftsman, window treatment companies – the list seemed endless. After they finally showed up and saw the work, their next job was to deliver a quote (usually by email). As a sales trainer, the next part seemed pretty straight forward to me – and that’s for them to follow up on their quotes, right?

Would you believe that over 90% of these people NEVER followed up on their quotes? I am absolutely amazed by that! It makes me understand and believe even more in a card I once saw on sales:

SALES STATISTICS
48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop
ONLY 10% of sales people make more than three contacts
2% of sales are made on the first contact
3% of sales are made on the second contact
5% of sales are made on the third contact
10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

Interesting statistics, aren’t they? I always follow up with prospects – and many, many times as well – and that practice alone has made me more successful than 90% of my competition. And after my recent experience with these contractors, I’m even more convinced that just following up regularly gives you a significant edge over your competition. Here is a sample follow-up campaign (emails and phone calls) I use that you can adapt to your sales cycle:

Email #1:

After my initial phone call with a prospect – whether they want information or links to my website – I always send a separate email thanking them for taking the time to speak with me:

Dear (Prospect’s name),

Thank you for taking a few minutes today to tell me a little about your company and what you are trying to accomplish. It sounds like if I can help you (repeat their specific needs here), then there might be a fit between our companies.

I’ve sent you over the (brochure, specs, job scope, whatever you promised – as well as a meeting request) and look forward to our next conversation on (confirm time for next contact).
If you have any questions before we speak, please don’t hesitate to call me back on my direct dial phone number: (Your number).

Once again, thank you for taking the time to speak with me, and I look forward to continuing our conversation next (week).

Sincerely,
(Your Name)

Email #2:

My next contact comes two days later. It always includes something that might be of interest to my prospect. Here is a sample email:

Dear (Prospect’s name),

I was thinking about you and thought you would enjoy seeing/reading the following article: (Name of an article, company brochure, white paper, something related to them). I think this is in alignment with what you’re trying to accomplish.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you. Once again, my direct phone number is: (Your number).

Looking forward to speaking with you next (day and time of appointment).

Sincerely,
(Your Name)

Email #3:

My next contact comes with a phone call on the date we have scheduled to speak next (You DID get a specific day and time for your next contact, right?). Often times before this I will also send out an automatic meeting reminder as well. My opening for this call is very assumptive and avoids common mistakes such as: “I’m just calling to follow up,” or “I’m just calling to see if you had time to read the material I sent you,” or “Did you have time to go through our website?” etc. Instead your opening call should something like:

“Hi _________, this is ________ ________ with (your company), how’s your Monday going?”

You know ________, I’ve been looking forward to speaking with you today. I’m sure you looked over the information I sent and probably have some questions, so tell me, where would you like to start?”

Again, always be assumptive, and obviously vary your opening based on whether you’re doing a demo (re-qualify in this case), or simply assume they’ve done what they committed to doing and then ask a question to get them to reveal what they are thinking.

So, by now – by this second conversation – I’ve reached out to my prospect five times! (The first is the email with my information, the second is the email, “Thanks for taking the time,” the third is the meeting request, the fourth is the next email with additional information or an article, and the fifth is the automatic meeting request. Including this follow-up call, I’ve now reached out to my prospect six times! But this is just the start….

After my presentation, I get a specific day and time to follow up again, and I will send another email article or white paper in-between this. And if my prospect isn’t available when I call back, I call them several times a day during the week until we connect – and, of course, I also send emails.

In addition, any prospect in my pipeline also goes into my Send Out Cards campaign, from which they get a physical greeting card from me in the mail each month until they buy. (See this amazing card system here: www.sendoutcards.com/mrinsidesales)

On average, between emails and phone conversations and meeting reminders, my prospects get between eight to twelve contacts within the first two weeks. And then they get a card in the mail each month as well.

Lastly, if a prospect goes dark during or after this, I always send them my “Should I Stay or Should I go” email which gets me a response over 65% of the time – even when every other method fails to get them to react. Here’s what it is:

Subject line: (Prospect Name) Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Dear _________,

I haven’t heard back from you and that tells me one of three things:

1) You’ve filled the position or you’ve already chosen another company for this.

2) You’re still interested but haven’t had the time to get back to me yet.

3) You’ve fallen and can’t get up, and in that case please let me know and I’ll call 911 for you…

Please let me know which one it is because I’m starting to worry.

Honestly, all kidding aside, I understand you’re really busy, and the last thing I want to do is be pain in the neck once a week. Whether your schedule has just been too demanding or you’ve gone another direction, I would appreciate it if you would take a second to let me know so I can follow up accordingly.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kind regards,”

If this email made you laugh, then think about getting your prospects to laugh as well. Again, this email gets over 65% of my prospects to email me back and let me know their status. Try it, it works.

As you can see, having a follow up system – and sticking to it – will put you ahead of over 90% of your competition. And if you’ve qualified a lead properly in the beginning, then this kind of perseverance is often enough to win you the business the majority of the time.

Prospects Hiding Behind Voicemail? Here’s What to Do…

by mike

I received the following email from regular reader of my Top 20% Ezine:

Good morning Mike, Bob Martin here in Denver.

Mike, I wanted to thank you for your e-mails like this one I get from you, I’m a huge fan and have learned so much from you over the years. If you’re looking for topics, I have one to suggest:

You know what I’d so much like for you to share your wisdom with us on? How to deal with a horrid issue these days, people who hide behind their e-mail and voice mail and ignore you, won’t reply, won’t engage, makes me crazy! Besides being rude it’s unprofessional. Sad commentary on our business environment today. I’ve tried enticing them with new information, using curiosity. I recall a webinar I was part of with you and another trainer where she suggested a “voice mail campaign” great idea and yet…not much results, What suggestions would you share with your following on how best to handle such a frustrating problem?

Take care Mike, have a great 2015!

Bob Martin I Account Executive

Bob – thanks for the topic, and, yes, this is a frustrating problem, but one you CAN do something about. Here are some suggestions:

1) If this is a regular problem, then the first thing you need to do is make sure you’re qualifying properly. Many times, when you’re speaking to influencers (and are unclear of how much influence they actually have), they are quicker to put you off and not return calls. The reason for this is that they’re not directly invested in the outcome. So the solution is to make sure you know their role, and, if possible, get through to the decision maker in the beginning.

2) If you can’t do this – or even when you get through to the decision maker – get a commitment and an appointment from them to reconnect with you to give you an update. The important thing here is to let them know that even if they don’t have an answer yet, or if that answer is they aren’t interested, it’s still important for them to let you know that. Tell them you simply want to know how to follow up appropriately, and you’ll need some sort of an answer so you can do that. Tell them you can take a no as well as a yes, but it’s important that they commit to take a follow up call.

3) Also, get an idea of their schedule and when they’re almost always at their desk and available to speak for five minutes. Simply ask, “(Prospect), if I need to connect with you briefly, what is almost always the best time to just have a five minute check in call with you? In other words, when are you almost always at your desk and available?” Write these times down and call during those hours.

4) If they don’t make the agreed upon appointment time, then send them an email that includes these elements: “Sorry, I missed you…” “I don’t want to keep calling or emailing you, so when you read this, please simply send me a reply letting me know where this stands – even if you have no new information yet…” “Much appreciated and I’ll follow up based on what I hear back from you.”

5) Let as much as four days go by before you reach out to them again. Try calling a couple of times during the times she/he told you before. If you don’t hear from them in seven to nine days, send another email simply asking if they got your last email. That’s it.

6) Two weeks or so, after you’ve followed the protocol above, use the “Should I Stay or Should I Go Email” below.

Subject line of the email is: “Should I stay or should I go?”

“_________ I haven’t heard back from you and that tells me one of three things:

1) You’ve already chosen another company for this and if that’s the case please let me know so can I stop bothering you,
2) You’re still interested but don’t have enough information or the time to get back to me yet.
3) You’ve fallen and can’t get up and in that case please let me know and I’ll call 911 for you…

Please let me know which one it is because I’m starting to worry… Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Honestly, all kidding aside, I understand you’re very busy, and the last thing I want to do is be pain in the neck once a week. Whether you’ve just been busy, gone another direction, or don’t quite have an answer yet, I would appreciate it if you would take a second to let me know so I can follow up accordingly. Thanks in advance…”

This email gets about a 60% return rate. If this doesn’t work for you, then take that as an answer and move on!

Bob (and all others), if you follow the advice above, you’ll dramatically increase the amount of responses you’ll get from your prospects. If anyone reading this has any other suggestions, please email me here: mike@mrinsidesales.com

The One Email Guaranteed to Get You a Response!

by mike

Ever had a client or prospect never get back to you?

If you’re in sales, then I know it’s happened to you (or is happening with several of your clients or prospects right now).

If you have ever find yourself in a place where you’ve qualified a prospect, sent information to them on your product or service, and then find that they just won’t return your calls or emails, then I’ve got a guaranteed email that will get you a response.

In fact, don’t take my word for it. Check out this word for word email I received last week from one of my readers who used this technique himself:

“Mike, just wanted to drop you a note and say thanks. I have been working the phone for 25 years and Stan Billue has been my hero for many of those.

You are now one of my hero’s as well. Just one tip I took from you about your ‘guaranteed email’ worked so well I needed to say thanks.

‘Should I stay or should I go’

I had a 30% response from a group of prospects I could not get on the phone a second time and did not want to chase. It worked like a charm and of the 42 responses I picked up 2 sales I would not have gotten otherwise.

I also made several people smile that day. Thanks again for the technique!

– Eric K.”

You’re welcome, Eric!

OK, so if you’re ready to learn and use this technique, here it is:

(Note: this email technique was one I learned last summer when I spoke at the L.A. Chapter of the AA-ISP. One of the participants shared it with us and I’ve been passing it along ever since!)

Subject of your email: “Should I stay or Should I go?”

“_________ While I’ve tried to reach you, I haven’t heard back from you and that tells me one of three things:

1) You’ve already chosen another company for this and if that’s the case please let me know so can I stop bothering you,

2) You’re still interested but haven’t had the time to get back to me yet

3) You’ve fallen and can’t get up and in that case please let me know and I’ll call 911 for you…

Please let me know which one it is because I’m starting to worry…

Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing back from you.”

Is that great or what?? This works on so many levels including using a “Clash” song everyone can relate to in the subject line, to giving them options and an out in case they’ve decided not to work with you.

And, of course, you give people a reason to smile and that always relieves the pressure from the sales situation.

Use it this week and see for yourself how it works to get your prospects to get back with you and how it gets you deals. And then email me yourself with your results – I’d love to hear them!

Voice Mail Scripts for Success

by mike

I don’t know about you, but I’m shocked every time I listen to a voicemail message left for me by sales reps, prospects and even clients. They are filled with ‘um’s’ and ‘ah’s’, they ramble on and on, they leave no compelling reason for me to call back, and they almost always leave their number so fast that I have to listen to it two, three, sometimes four times to make it out! It’s no wonder so many voice mail messages get deleted and never called back!

If ever there was a situation that begged to be scripted, it’s your voicemail message. Isn’t this the time you want to sound your best, be perceived as a professional, and prepare the most polished message you can? Of course it is. Here are seven sample voice mail messages you can start using today to separate yourself from the other 95% of voice mails that get ignored, deleted and never returned.

The first two are voicemails for prospects you haven’t spoken with yet, the next three are for when you’re calling a prospect or client back, and the last two are for situations when your prospect or client isn’t calling you back:

Sample Voicemail Message #1:

Note: The best voicemail message you can leave is one with a specific purpose that addresses the needs of your prospect or client, and offers them a solution that is worth them taking the time to call you back to learn more about. Here is the classic template – adjust and adapt it to fit your product or service. In this and all examples, leave your phone number SLOWLY:

“Hi __________, this is ___________ with (your company). I’m calling about your new office that’s opening in Houston next month, and I wanted to provide you with some ideas that may help with your networking issues. We work with a lot of companies in the area, and I think you’ll find it useful if we talk.

You can reach me by calling area code (800) 222-0568. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568, and ask for _________. I look forward speaking with you and thanks in advance for returning my call.”

Sample Voicemail Message #2:

“Hi _________, this is _______ _______ with (your company). You and I haven’t spoken yet, but I’ve been doing some research on your company and I think you’re a great fit for (our networking solutions – your products here). We can provide you with (BREIF list of one or two benefits) and I know you’ll be happy if we spend just a couple of minutes discussing how this can help you.

When you get this message, please call me back at (800) 222-0568. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568 and ask for _________. I look forward to speaking with you, and I guarantee you’ll be glad you returned this call.”

Sample Voicemail Message #3:

“Hi _________, this is ________ ________ with (your company). Briefly _________, I need to speak with you about how you’re handling your sales tracking (Or your kind of product or fulfillment), because I have something that can (solve their unique problem). Our clients include (list some companies they are familiar with), and I know this would work for you as well. Believe me it’ll be worth a 5 minute phone call to find out why.

Please do me a favor when you get this message and call me back at (800) 222-0568. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568 and ask for _________. I look forward speaking with you and I guarantee you’ll be glad you returned this call.”

The next two examples are for voicemails left for prospects (or clients) you’re getting back to:

Sample Voicemail Message #1:

“Hi _________, this is ________ _________ getting back with you at (your company). I’m looking forward to speaking with you because we just (give an update here – you have a new special, new product update, added a new client they would know about), and I know that based on (their specific need you uncovered during the last call) this is going to make it even easier for you to (give the benefit you both discussed). I’m excited to share this with you.

Do me a favor when you get this message and please give me call a back at (800) 222-0568, ext. 618. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568, and I’m at ext. 618. I look forward speaking with you!”

Sample Voicemail Message #2:

“Hi ________, this is _______ ________ getting back with you about (your demo, quote, etc.). Briefly, I’ve been doing some more research on how we may be able to save you even more (or make you even more – whatever your product or service can do for them), especially in regards to your (list a specific need they told you about during the initial call), and I’m excited to share that (or discuss that) with you.

I’ll be in my office the rest of today, so do me a favor when you get this message and please give me call a back at (800) 222-0568, ext. 618. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568, and I’m at ext. 618. I look forward speaking with you.”

And for the prospects or clients that seem to be dodging you or just not calling you back:

Sample Voicemail Message #1:

“Hi _________, this is _______ ________ again with (your company). For some reason we haven’t been able to connect since I sent you (your demo, proposal, etc.), and believe me, I’ve been sales long enough to know what that probably means. I’m assuming you’ve either found another solution or this has been put on the back burner for now. Either way, that’s fine.

Do me a favor though please. So I’m not bothering you anymore, could you please give me a quick call and just give me an update so I know what direction you’re moving in? If I’m not available, just leave me a voice mail. Again, either way, it will be good to know what’s going on.

Thanks in advance for that, and I’ll look for your call. You can reach me at (800) 222-0568, ext. 618. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568, and I’m at ext. 618. Thanks again, ________.”

Sample Voicemail Message #2:

“Hi _________ this is _______ ________ again with (your company). I’m sorry we haven’t been able to get back together on this – if you’re like me I’m sure you’re being pulled in many different directions and are real busy. Do me a favor, though, and when you get this message, just call me back and leave me a voice mail with what you’ve decided to do about (your proposal or demo or quote). If you’re still interested in it, great, but even if you’ve decided not to move forward with it, that’s fine as well. Either way it will be nice for me to know.

Thanks in advance for that, and I’ll look for your call. You can reach me at (800) 222-0568, ext. 618. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568, and I’m at ext. 618. Thanks again, ________.”

There you have it – voicemail messages for most of the situations you’ll find yourself in. Once again, by using these scripted, proven messages you’ll be giving yourself the best chance to hear back from your prospects and clients. And remember, even if their answer is no that’s a lot better than chasing unqualified prospects who are never going to buy.

The 5 Secrets of Winning Emails

by mike

Years ago voice mail was all the rage. There was no e-mail, so people tended to honor and even return their voice mail messages. It was a good time…

But that’s history now. Email has changed everything, and people now hit the delete button on their voice mail messages the instant they hear something they don’t like — which is usually when it’s a message from an unknown inside sales rep. What to do?

The good news is people still respect email, and I think it’s become the primary mode of communication between business people (and everyone else for that matter). The even better news is that there are 5 secrets that will set your emails apart from the thousands of others your prospects get, and if you use these 5 secrets when constructing your emails, you’ll have the best chance at getting yours read and returned.

Wouldn’t that be refreshing?

Here’s what they are:

Email Secret #1: Use the prospect’s first name in the subject line. Putting your prospect’s name in the subject line (first name) will automatically distinguish your email from the hundreds of others your prospect gets. In addition, we’re all partial to our own name, and this will draw your prospect’s eyes like a magnet. Good start, huh?

Email Secret #2: Customize the first few lines of your email as much as possible. Many people preview your emails by reading the first paragraph in Outlook, and the beginning better be short and have immediate value to your prospect. Some like:

“Hi Barbara, Mike Brooks here with HMS software. I’ve got some ideas about your networking issues for your new office that’s opening in Houston next month. We’ve helped a lot of companies in this area, and I think you’ll find it useful if we talk.”

Again, keep it short, to their point, and provide immediate value.

Email Secret #3: Keep your email short and easy to read! Nothing will turn your prospect off more than long, information packed paragraphs. Their eyes will glaze over! Break up your sentences into paragraphs if possible to make them easy to read and accessible. I say no more than 3 sentence paragraphs

Email Secret #4: Ask for a return response – whether they are interested or not. This is a great way to end your email and a good way to get a response. Simply thank them in advance for their consideration and that you’re looking forward to their response on this.

Email Secret #5: Promise to follow up by phone if they don’t respond. Let them know that you understand they are busy, and that out of consideration if you don’t hear from them you’ll follow up with a call in a day or two. This really increases your response rate and be happy when you get a “not interested” response. These prospects just disqualified themselves and saved you a lot of time and energy.

On the other hand, there will be others who don’t respond and they become your follow up leads!

These are the 5 secrets to emails, and believe me they work! Take a few minutes right now to script out some of the outline of your emails and then fill in the details as you need to per prospect. And then watch your contact, response and success rate skyrocket!

Please feel free to comment on this article in the comment box below.