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It’s hard to ask excellence and reliability from your prospects or clients , if we sales people don’t adhere to that practice.
One of the biggest frustrations in sales is the lack of response once we reached out to a prospect. Sometimes, we have really good meetings and conversations to then wait for weeks, sometimes months for any kind of communication. This is very frustrating, time-consuming and it sometimes leaves us puzzled as to why there is silence.
At times, the reason is that the sales person walks away with a different perception of the meeting. Sales people need to be positive in order to stay motivated and that often leads to having a more positive view of situations than what the prospect perceived. Fair enough. That’s really something that happens in many relationships. What was a fun dinner for me, is not always as fun for my husband.
Where I see the bigger issue is that sales people often don’t follow up in a timely manner, or they don’t send material that was promised which then sets the stage going forward.
If we as sales people don’t act in a reliable manner, keeping the prospects and clients engaged and being timely and accurate in our communication, we can hardy expect our prospects to do so.
There is this saying in German that basically says “the way you hollow into the woods is the echo that you will hear back” and I always liked it because in many situations it’s up to us to set the tone, to set expectations and to manage the process accordingly. If we are lais·sez-faire in our approach, we shouldn’t be surprised if our prospects feel casual as well.
What I find surprising though is my experience prospecting sales people. As many of my followers know, my company offers a Consultative Sales Training program, so many of my prospects are sales managers. My intent is always to set expectations, to make sure that timelines are managed and transparent so all sides know what to expect.
More often than not, my prospects don’t respond after I follow up at the time that was agreed upon. Many times they don’t adhere to a sales etiquette that to me translates to simple business courtesy. I always wonder if that behavior is systemic and if I am one of the few people (along with some other sales professionals that I know) who conduct themselves in a way that should be standard business practice.
Related: Marketing and Sales: Friends or Foes?
If I meet somebody and they ask me to follow up to schedule a meeting, I do that. I also expect the person who asked me for the meeting to either respond with a time when we can meet, or alternatively to let me know that things have changed and a meeting is no longer necessary. Not responding is not only rude, it’s something that shouldn’t be common in an environment among peers.
Part of my success in life and business comes from treating every situation and every person the same. Whether I have an appointment with my dentist, or I interview a candidate or meet with a vendor, I extend the same courtesy to these people, treating them with the same respect as my prospects.
There is a saying in English. “What goes around, comes around.”