How to Effectively Manage the Sales Lead Follow-Up Process
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Following up with sales prospects can be tricky. Sometimes you don’t follow up enough and might be missing out on the business. Other times you might follow up too much where the only thing you are doing is damaging the relationship and wasting valuable time. If you can relate to that, you should join us for our next webinar “How to Effectively Manage the Sales Lead Follow-Up Process” where we will share a structured process that you can use that will provide clarity for how best to follow up on sales leads.
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How to Effectively Manage the Sales Lead Follow-Up Process
- 1. How to Effectively Manage the Sales Lead Follow-Up Process Michael Halper Founder and CEO SalesScripter
- 2. Common Follow-Up Situations • Prospect is busy and asks for call back • You had a meeting and a following up • You sent a proposal or quote and never heard back • Prospect delays a decision (Check back in 3 months)
- 3. Common Follow-Up Process • You follow up with period calls, emails, and voicemails • Timing is fairly sporadic and random • Prospects often don’t answer calls or reply to emails and voicemails
- 4. Questions that You Can Ask Yourself • When do I call? • How often do I try to follow up? • What is the best way to follow-up? • Do I keep calling? • Am I calling too much? • Am I calling too little? • What do I say?
- 5. Problems this Leads To • Following up with prospects that don’t need what you have • Following up with prospects that aren’t qualified • Not saying the right thing when following up • Following up too much/not enough
- 6. Establish Clarity What to Say When Following Up Avoid the Follow-Up Process Performing a Takeaway Passive Follow-Up Approach
- 7. Early Sales Process Stages Stage Goals Initial Contact Cold Call Inbound Call Email Event 2 to 5 minutes 80% on prospect 20% on you Appointment Phone Call Face-to-Face Discovery 20 to 30 minutes 50% on prospect 50% on you Presentation Discovery Presentation Demonstration 1 to 2 hours 20% on prospect 80% on you Pre-Qualify Gather high-level information Build interest in having conversation Schedule an appointment Pre-Qualify (Cont.) Hard Qualify Gather detailed Information (Discovery) Build interest in meeting Schedule a presentation Sell Product Map out Next Steps Close (Sale or agreement to move forward)
- 8. The best salesperson asks the best questions.
- 9. 3 Types of Questions Pre-Qualifying Questions • To make sure it makes sense to meet and keep talking • Does the prospect even fit or have a need for what you sell? Hard Qualifying Questions • Is the prospect a qualified lead from a need and ability to purchase? Closing Questions • Identify if you can consider the prospect real and of high quality • Takes place in first meeting
- 10. Pre-Qualifying Questions Is there a potential need or fit? If your product solves a problem, does your prospect have that problem? Common Pain Points for Our Customers • They aren't happy with their physical appearance • Need to lose weight and get in better shape • It can be difficult to get on and stay on a workout schedule • They are not healthy and do not feel good • They do not have a very good self-image and level of self-confidence
- 11. Pre-Qualifying Questions Is there a potential need or fit? If your product solves a problem, does your prospect have that problem? • How do you feel about your physical appearance or level of fitness? • How important is it for you to lose weight or get in better shape? • Have you ever had difficulty getting on or staying on a workout schedule? • How do you feel about your overall level of health or how you generally feel on a daily basis? • How would you describe your image of yourself or your level of self-confidence?
- 12. Pre-Qualifying Questions Building Your Questions Here is a step-by-step process that you can use to build an optimum list of questions: 1. Identify the product you ultimately want to sell 2. Identify the benefits it offers the buyer 3. Identify the pain point that the benefit fixes 4. Compose one or two question for each pain point
- 13. Building Your Email Messages
- 14. Early Sales Process Stages Stage Goals Initial Contact Cold Call Inbound Call Email Event 2 to 5 minutes 80% on prospect 20% on you Appointment Phone Call Face-to-Face Discovery 20 to 30 minutes 50% on prospect 50% on you Presentation Discovery Presentation Demonstration 1 to 2 hours 20% on prospect 80% on you Pre-Qualify Gather high-level information Build interest in having conversation Schedule an appointment Pre-Qualify (Cont.) Hard Qualify Gather detailed Information (Discovery) Build interest in meeting Schedule a presentation Sell Product Map out Next Steps Close (Sale or agreement to move forward)
- 17. Hard Qualifying Questions Is the prospect/lead legitimate? 1. Need to Purchase– how bad does the prospect need to make the purchase 2. Ability to Purchase – how accessible is the money 3. Authority to Purchase – how much purchasing power does the prospect have 4. Intent to Purchase– what other options is the prospect considering
- 18. Hard Qualifying Questions Need to Purchase (In addition to Pre-Qualifying Questions) • What happens if you do not do anything and do not make a purchase or make any changes? • What improvements will you see if move forward with this purchase? • Is there at date when this purchase needs to be made? • What happens if the purchase is not made by that date? • What is the time frame that the project needs to work along?
- 19. Hard Qualifying Questions Authority to Purchase • What is the decision making process? • What parties will be involved in making the decision? • What functional areas (departments) will be impacted by the purchase? • Who is the ultimate decision maker? • Who is the person that will need to sign the agreement/contract?
- 20. Hard Qualify Questions Ability to Purchase • Is there a budget approved for this project? • What is the budget range that the project needs to fit in? • Have the funds been allocated to this purchase? • What budget (department) will this purchase be made under? • Are there other purchases that this funding may end up being used for? • How does the project fit with other initiatives from a priority standpoint?
- 21. Hard Qualify Questions Intent to Purchase • Why did you take time out of your schedule to meet with us? Why did you contact us? • What other options are you considering? • How far along are you with talking with them? • How do you feel about their solution? • What do you like about their solution? • What do you not like about their solution? • How does their solution compare with what we have to offer? • Is there a reason why you would choose us? • If you had to make a decision today, which way would you lean?
- 22. Early Sales Process Stages Stage GoalsInitial Contact Cold Call Inbound Call Email Event 2 to 5 minutes 80% on prospect 20% on you Appointment Phone Call Face-to-Face Discovery 20 to 30 minutes 50% on prospect 50% on you Presentation Discovery Presentation Demonstration 1 to 2 hours 20% on prospect 80% on you Pre-Qualify Gather high-level information Build interest in having conversation Schedule the Appointment Pre-Qualify (Cont.) Hard Qualify Gather detailed Information (Discovery) Build interest in meeting Schedule the Presentation Sell Product Map out Next Steps Close (Sale or agreement to move forward)
- 24. Sell More by Screening the Good Prospects from Bad https://salesscripter.com/sales-training-webinar- recording-sell-more-by-screening-good- prospects-from-bad/ More info on qualifying questions:
- 25. Closing Questions Trial Closing Questions • What do you think of what we have discussed so far? • How would that feature help your operation? • Is this something you could see your employees using? • Are we heading in the right direction? • Does the agenda match up with your expectations today? • Is this what you were expecting to see?
- 26. Closing Questions Soft Closing Questions • What would you like to do next? • What direction would you like to go in? • Do you want to continue talking about this? • When would you like to talk again?
- 27. Closing Questions Hard Closing Questions • Are you ready to move forward to the next step in the process? • What would you need to be able to make a commitment to move forward? • If you had everything that you want, are you prepared to move forward? • If we were able to give you what you are asking for, would you be able to move forward with the purchase? • When are you going to make your final decision? • (If delaying the decision for a period of time – X months) OK, but do you mind if I ask if there will be a change or something different at that time that will make that a better time to look at moving forward? • Is there anything that is preventing you from being able to move forward with this purchase?
- 28. Early Sales Process Stages Stage GoalsInitial Contact Cold Call Inbound Call Email Event 2 to 5 minutes 80% on prospect 20% on you Appointment Phone Call Face-to-Face Discovery 20 to 30 minutes 50% on prospect 50% on you Presentation Discovery Presentation Demonstration 1 to 2 hours 20% on prospect 80% on you Pre-Qualify Gather high-level information Build interest in having conversation Schedule the Appointment Pre-Qualify (Cont.) Hard Qualify Gather detailed Information (Discovery) Build interest in meeting Schedule the Presentation Sell Product Map out Next Steps Close (Sale or agreement to move forward)
- 29. How to Immediately Become a Better Closer https://salesscripter.com/portfolio-items/sales- prospecting-101-module-12-how-to-improve-your- close-rate/ More info on closing:
- 30. How this Will Help You • Prevents you from following up on bad leads (wasting time) • Provide clarity around when to follow up • Gives you something to say when you follow up
- 31. Establish Clarity What to Say When Following Up Avoid the Follow-Up Process Performing a Takeaway Passive Follow-Up Approach
- 32. What to Say When Following Up The Timeline is the Purpose “When we last spoke, you said to follow back up with you at the end of the month.”
- 33. What to Say When Following Up The Pain Points are the Purpose “When we last spoke, you said to that you were concerned about not feeling good and having energy. • Is that still something you are concerned about? • What are you doing to help with that?”
- 34. What to Say When Following Up The Compelling Event is the Purpose “When we last spoke, you said that you need to lose 20 pounds by your wedding day. Are you on a path that will help you to achieve that? Given that we are 6 months away from that, this is the point where we would need to get the discussion going again if that is deadline that you want to hit.”
- 35. Establish Clarity What to Say When Following Up Avoid the Follow-Up Process Performing a Takeaway Passive Follow-Up Approach
- 36. Objections that Trigger Follow-Up • We are not looking to make a change right now. • We do not have budget/money to spend. • Call me back in ___ months. • Just send me some information.
- 37. Redirect to Pre-Qualifying Questions Objection: We are not looking to make an changes. We do not have budget to spend. Call me back in ____ months. Response: I understand. But if I could ask you real quick: How do you feel about your overall level of health or how you generally feel on a daily basis? - Or - I understand. (Optional defuse) And I want you to know that we are not trying to sell anything at this point. But if I could ask you real quick: How do you feel about your overall level of health or how you generally feel on a daily basis?
- 38. Redirect to Pain Points Objection: We are not looking to make an changes. We do not have budget to spend. Call me back in ____ months. Response: I understand. A lot of people I talk to have challenges with:. – They aren't happy with their physical appearance – Need to lose weight and get in better shape – It can be difficult to get on and stay on a workout schedule – They are not healthy and do not feel good – They do not have a very good self-image and level of self-confidence Are you concerned about any of those?
- 39. Challenge the Call Back Request Objection: Call me back in ____ months. We do not have any budget / money to spend on that right now. Response: I can certainly do that. But I am a bit confused. You mentioned that you have some concerns around – Not happy with their physical appearance – Need to lose weight and get in better shape – It can be difficult to get on and stay on a workout schedule – Not healthy and do not feel good – Do not have a very good self-image and level of self-confidence Are you OK waiting another _____ months before looking at decreasing some of those?
- 40. Redirect the Info Request Objection: Just send me some information. (Early in a cold call – BLOW OFF) Response: Sure, I definitely will. So that I know exactly what to send you, let me ask you, (Redirect to one of the qualifying questions) How do you feel about your overall level of health or how you generally feel on a daily basis?
- 41. Redirect the Info Request Objection: Just send me some information. (Late in a cold call – NONCOMMITTAL) Response: Sure, I definitely can. Actually, there is a lot of information that I can send over to you. If you have some questions about anything, it might be easier and quicker to have a brief conversation with over the phone on another day instead of me sending over a bunch of information.
- 42. Redirect to Close Objection: We are not looking at making a change right now. (Late in a call) Response: I understand. And I want you to know that we are not trying to sell anything at this point as we don’t even know if you are a good fit or not. Our goal is to simply open the dialogue between our two companies so that if you reach a point where you are ready or looking to make a change, you will know who we are and what we have to offer. Can I put a brief 15 to 20 minute call on your calendar next Tuesday or Thursday afternoon?
- 43. Redirect to Close Objection: We do not have any budget / money to spend on that right now. (Late in a call) Response: I understand. And I want you to know that we are not trying to sell anything at this point as we don’t even know if you are a good fit or not. Our goal is to simply open the dialogue between our two companies so that if you reach a point where there is budget available, you will know who we are and what we have to offer. Can I put a brief 15 to 20 minute call on your calendar next Tuesday or Thursday afternoon?
- 44. How to Consistently Get Around Sales Objections Webinar Recording https://salesscripter.com/sales-training-webinar- how-to-consistently-get-around-sales-objections/ More info on objection handling:
- 45. Establish Clarity What to Say When Following Up Avoid the Follow-Up Process Performing a Takeaway Passive Follow-Up Approach
- 46. Performing a Takeaway • To doubt or question the fit or potential to move forward • The exact opposite of trying to sell something to the prospect. • Examples: – It sounds like you guys are doing pretty good over there. – Maybe this is not the best time to make this purchase? – Maybe this is something that you do not have time for right now? – This purchase might be more than what you need right now. • This is an advanced sales tactic
- 47. Three Potential Reactions 1. No reaction 2. Confirms disqualification 3. Challenges disqualification
- 48. How to Perform the Perfect Takeaway https://salesscripter.com/portfolio-items/sales- prospecting-101-module-11-how-to-perform-the- perfect-takeaway// More info on performing a takeaway:
- 49. Establish Clarity What to Say When Following Up Avoid the Follow-Up Process Performing a Takeaway Passive Follow-Up Approach
- 50. What is a drip campaign? An automated email marketing campaign that sends a number of emails to a prospect over a period of time
- 51. Why Email Drip? • “No” is usually “No, not right now” • Need a way to be at the top of mind when the “No” becomes a “Yes” • It is difficult to time it perfectly so that you are in front of your prospect exactly when they need you • It is also difficult to share all the information that you want to communicate at one time
- 52. How to Build Email Drip Campaigns that Convert Sales https://salesscripter.com/sales-training-webinar- build-email-drip-campaigns-that-convert-sales/ More info on email drip campaigns:
- 54. SMART Sales System Sales Methodology Software Platform Professional Services
- 55. SMART Sales System Sales Methodology Software Platform Professional Services
- 56. SMART Sales System Sales Methodology Software Platform Professional Services Sales Training • Recorded Training Videos • Live Sales Training (virtual) • Live Sales Training (in-person) • Custom Sales Training
- 57. SMART Sales System Sales Methodology Software Platform Professional Services • Sales Pitch Builder • Library of Scripts and Templates • CRM Functionality • Email Automation • Library of Scripts and Templates • CRM Functionality • Email Automation
- 58. SMART Sales System Sales Methodology Software Platform Professional Services Sales Consulting • Sales Pitch Development • Sales Process Mapping • Script Assessment Sales Coaching • One-on-One Sales Coaching • Weekly coaching • Coaching Hour Blocks
- 59. SMART Sales System Pricing • Software - $49 per user per month (40% discount for annual subscription) • Sales Training – No cost on YouTube • Scripter Walk-Through (2 hour engagement to create your pitch) - $200 For $249, you will get a full library of sales scripts, emails, and tools
- 60. Contact Us Michael Halper Founder and CEO SalesScripter mhalper@salesscripter.com @salesscripter
Editor's Notes
- Hopefully by now you can see how important it is to screen and qualify prospects. Now let’s get into how to effectively do that. We provide you with a 2 step qualifying process. Step 1 is called soft qualifying and it is focused on primarily determining whether it makes sense to meet and keep talking. The main thing that we look at here is, at the most basic level, are there any level of open needs in the area where we have something to offer. We are trying to eliminate those No Need to Purchase prospects as if there is not even a need, let’s not waste each other time. This soft qualifying takes place in the first conversations with the prospect. For example, this level of qualifying takes place on the cold call, or could also be on an inbound call from a prospect, and we softly qualify to identify if it makes sense to continue talking or put a meeting on the calendar. Step 2 is hard qualifying and this is where you dig deeper to identify how the prospect measures up in of the four key areas. The ideal time and place for this is when you are in the first meeting with the prospect.
- When a gatekeeper answers your call, he or she is instantly trying to screen you out and determine if you are a friend or a foe. A friend would be someone who is already connected with the company in someway like a current vendor or business partner and a foe would be someone who is an outsider trying to get in, like one of those cold callers that is calling to try to get in and sell something. What we want to do is try to get the gatekeeper to see us as a friend so they will less likely to screen us out and one very easy way to do that is to use a tactic of name dropping. For example, we can say something like, I spoke with Tom White in accounting and now I am trying to reach someone in HR. This presents the image that we are already engaged and not a complete outsider and this minor tweak can often be the difference in the gatekeeper letting you in. And if we have not met with Tom White in accounting, we could still name drop his name by saying something like, I am planning on meeting with Tom White in accounting and before I do that, I would like with someone in HR.” Nothing misleading there as we likely are planning on meeting with Tom at some point and by sharing his name and our plans, we give off the image as we are not a complete outsider. We can also name drop external clients that we work with to establish some level of credibility. That is not going to be as strong as sharing internal names and is probably only going to really help when talking with more senior gatekeepers like executive assistants.
- Once you have soft qualified and have identified that the prospect is enough of a fit to spend time continuing to talk or schedule a meeting, you can then begin to hard qualify. This is where you want to really dig deep to validate that there is a need to purchase, an ability to purchase, an authority to purchase, and an interest to purchase.
- The soft qualifying will skim the surface in terms of identifying the prospect’s needs. No we want to dig deeper to identify is the prospect’s need a true need or is it more of a want again to try to identify if the prospect is a No Need prospect. Some questions that you can ask here are: What happens if you do not do anything and do not make a purchase or make any changes? What improvements will you see if move forward with this purchase? Is there at date when this purchase needs to be made? What happens if the purchase is not made by that date? What is the time frame that the project needs to work along? The way to assess the information collected is, if there is a noticeable negative impact if there is no purchase, the prospect is very qualified in this area If there is a noticeable positive impact with the purchase, the prospect is a medium level of qualified If the prospect can really keep doing things Ok without purchasing anything, they are less qualified and may be a No Need Prospect
- You will want to identify if the prospect that you are talking to has the ability to purchase from a budget, money, or funding standpoint when hard qualifying to make sure the are not a No Ability to Purchase Prospect
- Before we go any further, let’s clearly discuss what objections are. Objections are a prospect’s best weapon when they answer your cold call. They are statements or questions that the prospect will throw at you and they are like mini stops signs that the prospect will hold up. They use to try to take a control of the call and take it in a direction of their choosing. And if they begin to feel like you are selling something when they are not looking to buy, they will want try to end the call and will use objections to get there as soon as possible. Now let’s take a look at common objections and ones that you are just about guaranteed to run up against. I am busy right now. Who are you with? What is this in regards to? I am not interested. Just send me some information. We already use somebody. We are not looking to make a change right now. We do not have any budge to spend. Those are eight objections that consistently come up. You could maybe tweak those for your situation, and add a couple that are specific to your products, you would have a complete list of objections to be prepared for. As part of this training, we will explain these one at a time and show you how to get around them.
- Let’s go back to the I am not interested objection and talk about it in more detail. I am not interested is actually not a legitimate objection for the cold call as you are not trying to sell anything. Our goal is to open the dialogue, so to say I do not want to talk to you would be more fitting, but to say they are not interested in buying your product actually does not make sense. A great place to redirect this objection is to any qualifying questions that you typically ask prospect. Questions about the prospect’s current technical and business environment are often good questions to ask whether facing an objection or not, but when a prospect says they are not interested, you can reply with a response like I understand. Are you currently using any automation tools to manage your inventory levels? - Or - I understand. And I want you to know that we are not trying to sell anything at this point. Are you currently using any automation tools to manage your inventory levels? Of course, this does not work every time, but remember that we our goal is to keep the call going and using this approach over a large number of calls will typically yield good results in getting around the objection.
- Let’s go back to the I am not interested objection and talk about it in more detail. I am not interested is actually not a legitimate objection for the cold call as you are not trying to sell anything. Our goal is to open the dialogue, so to say I do not want to talk to you would be more fitting, but to say they are not interested in buying your product actually does not make sense. A great place to redirect this objection is to any qualifying questions that you typically ask prospect. Questions about the prospect’s current technical and business environment are often good questions to ask whether facing an objection or not, but when a prospect says they are not interested, you can reply with a response like I understand. Are you currently using any automation tools to manage your inventory levels? - Or - I understand. And I want you to know that we are not trying to sell anything at this point. Are you currently using any automation tools to manage your inventory levels? Of course, this does not work every time, but remember that we our goal is to keep the call going and using this approach over a large number of calls will typically yield good results in getting around the objection.
- Let’s go back to the I am not interested objection and talk about it in more detail. I am not interested is actually not a legitimate objection for the cold call as you are not trying to sell anything. Our goal is to open the dialogue, so to say I do not want to talk to you would be more fitting, but to say they are not interested in buying your product actually does not make sense. A great place to redirect this objection is to any qualifying questions that you typically ask prospect. Questions about the prospect’s current technical and business environment are often good questions to ask whether facing an objection or not, but when a prospect says they are not interested, you can reply with a response like I understand. Are you currently using any automation tools to manage your inventory levels? - Or - I understand. And I want you to know that we are not trying to sell anything at this point. Are you currently using any automation tools to manage your inventory levels? Of course, this does not work every time, but remember that we our goal is to keep the call going and using this approach over a large number of calls will typically yield good results in getting around the objection.
- Here is a good one – just send me some info. Prospects love this one as it allows them to get off of the phone without sounding mean or hurting your feelings. You end up getting excited because you think they are interested and you spend time writing an email and they end up often just deleting your finely word smithed email. It is important to point out that this objection can come up at two different times on a cold call so let’s first discuss the first. When it comes up early or delivered by the gatekeeper, it is more of a blow off objection. Meaning, there is little interest and they are just trying to get rid of you. Here is the play for the first type, you can reply with, Sure, I definitely will. So that I know exactly what to send you, let me ask you, and then redirect to one of your qualifying questions Are you currently using any automation tools to manage your inventory levels?
- But this same objection can come up at the end of the cold call when you are going for the meeting and the prospect asks you to send info. This is more of a noncommittal response vs. a blow off. At this point, you may have gone through your pitch and triggered some interest, but the prospect simply does not want to commit to moving forward. Not a horrible place to be, but we do not want to comply and if this is at the end of the call, we might not have any points to redirect to or much time left to keep the call going. One way to try to redirect is by responding with something like Sure, I definitely will. Are there some particular details that you have questions about? If you have a level of interest, it may be easier to have a quick conversation with over the phone on another day instead of me sending over a bunch of information.
- The objection of We are not looking at making a change right now is realistic to come up since you cold calling the prospect out of the blue and it is very likely that even if they do need to purchase what you have, they might not need to make a purchase when you are calling. But the thing to remember and always keep in mind is that the goal of the cold call is to open the dialogue rather than close a sale, so the objection that they don’t need anything right now is not a legitimate reason to stop. You can still respond with a redirect, but you could add a little message to educate the prospect what angle you are coming from by saying something like I understand. And I want you to know that we are not trying to sell anything at this point as we don’t even know if you are a good fit or not. Our goal is to simply open the dialogue between our two companies so that if you reach a point where you are ready or looking to make a change, you will know who we are and what we have to offer. From there you can redirect to one of your qualifying questions. The play is to keep the conversation going and get to a formal meeting where you can then have an opportunity to build a case for making a change now. And if you don’t then, you can hopefully be there later when they do decide to make a change.
- The objection of not having any budget or money available to spend right now is similar to not looking to make a change. And the response is same as the not making a change now as you can present yourself as just trying to open the dialogue. You could use the exact same response that we just went through or you could tweak your language to say that, Our goal is to simply open the dialogue between our two companies so that if you reach a point where there is budget available, you will know who we are and what we have to offer.