How to Get Your Phone Calls Returned

It seems that today’s executives have lost their manners. Very few managers seem compelled to return the calls of suppliers following new business discussions,
and it seems to be getting worse.

Instead of taking it personally or wearing the frustration of radio silence, perhaps we sales professionals need to reboot our expectations. Recent thinking indicates it takes at least four attempts to reach someone following an initial meeting, and perhaps that is on the low side according to the client experiences we field today.

The law of reciprocity states that if you do something for your prospect, like write a proposal or supply samples, they will be more inclined to give you something back in return. But the traditional giving seems to have lost its gravitational pull.

If this is the new normal, then what can we do to generate a return on our prospecting efforts? The key is to become more valuable to the customer who is grappling with the decision to change their supply. You need to be positioned inside the tent by being different and much closer to how the customer wishes to proceed.

Below are some initial thoughts on how to be different. We welcome your ideas on what you have found to be effective in dealing with the time poor, rude or simply overrun executives.

1.  Be valuable to their buying process

• - Are they the decision maker or just the gatherer of information?
• - Do you know their buying process and decision criteria?
• - Who else is involved?

2.  Understand their pleasure and pain points

• - How does your solution increase their pleasure?
• - How does your solution decrease their pain?
• - Use this in your communications
• - Recognise these forces operate on both a business and personal level

3.  Leave a hook after every contact

• - Send them something – sample, paper, proposal, suggestions for next steps
• - Have them do something – complete part of a process, a profile, a health check
• - Set a date for a follow up, and hold them to it

4.  Introduce some appropriate inertia

• - Include a time limit on a quoted price that will expire after a certain date
• - Flag the risk of the offer expiring altogether
• - Flag other competitor approaches
• - We will move on if we don’t hear from you by a certain date

5.  Seek their help on a dimension of the deal

• - “Asking for their help” is a powerful way to get them involved psychologically
• - Follow up on a point of specification
• - Clarify the quote

6.  Set a meeting assuming they are interested 

“Since I haven’t heard from you, let me make it easy for you to progress our initial discussions.  I am available on Wednesday at 2pm or 4pm or Thursday at 9am or 11am.  Please simply indicate by return which time works best for you.”

7.  Introduce leverage on the slow responder

“I haven’t heard from you and was getting concerned the opportunity may be growing whiskers.  I would certainly appreciate talking with you directly as to where it sits at your end so we can decide how to best service you. 

• - Early or late to get around the gatekeeper
• - Some say it is between 10am and 12 noon
• - Never call around lunchtime

9.  Change your media channel 

• - Use a mixture of office phone, email, mobile phone
• - Consider communication through Social Media channels such as LinkedIn as some executives use this more out of hours when they have finished with their inbox

10.  Lose quickly

In an email, give them the choice to advise if they have decided to go elsewhere.