You’ve talked to someone who is interested in what you do and they seem enthused about buying from you and then, nothing happens. At least not for longer than you expect.
What do you do?
Is it your message, the timing, how you communicated, your offer…?
It could be one of those things or many more. You don’t know.
After all, people don’t buy until they’re ready and they think you can solve their problem.
The important thing is how you handle it?
Once it’s become clear that they’re not ready to buy now, what is your plan?
Do you forget about them, do you keep them at the top of your mind and spend time and mental energy trying to figure out ways to get them to move forward?
Or do you put them into a tickler file or an automated system to stay in front of them until the time is right?
Let’s face it, you can do a fantastic job of presenting your product and it can be the right price but until your prospect is ready to buy, it doesn’t matter.
In the past, I would keep someone that I talked to on my active prospect list long after I should have. I would invest my time and energy into reaching out to them with little chance of them buying now.
Many times they ended up buying from me, but it might be months or even one or two years later.
While they were on my active list, I thought about them, I invested my energy into them.
While I was doing that, I didn’t have as much time and energy available to invest in others that were ready to buy sooner.
After I realized what I was doing and how I was making myself busier, but not getting results, I changed what I did.
Now I put them on an automated follow-up list and nurture our relationship until they are ready.
This includes email and direct mail.
Yes, you can automate direct mail. You can do it internally or you can hire someone to send your direct mail. One of my clients will do this for you. If you have a need for this service reach out to me and I’ll connect you.
Along with nurturing our relationship, I also communicate ways that I’m helping others and myself grow our businesses. After all your prospects need to believe that you can help them solve their problem.
I also add these people to a file and tag where I met them at. Then before I go to an event, I review the people that were interested in our services and reach out to any I met at that or a similar event and see if they’re going again. If they are I try and arrange to meet them and talk.
This way, I’m staying connected with them, but I’m not using my energy and time consciously following up with them until they do something that moves them back to my active prospects list.
This way I focus my energy on people most likely to move forward and I still stay connected to the ones who need more time and nurture our relationship.
How do you handle these situations in your business?
Brian “Having more time” Hahn
P.S. Is your business working for you? What can you do to move forward faster? If you’re not sure if Facebook or Online marketing would benefit your business, schedule a FREE 30 minute Smart Online Marketing Call with me. We’ll discuss your business, your goals, and I’ll give you an honest open assessment if you should pursue Online Marketing now or in the future. Go to www.gosocialexperts.com/callbrian30 to choose the best time for you.