Welcome back! If you're following this series, you're already aware that we're going over tips and tricks specifically tailored to the summer season when you and your prospects are probably taking more time off. If you're new, you can catch up here.
Last week we performed a pipeline checkup, so we're ensuring that your precious time spent in the office this summer is spent on deals likely to close. This week we're going to talk about what you can do with those deals you de-prioritized. We never want to lose touch with anyone who expressed interest. As usual, you can skip to the action items at the end. Need some advice before 3rd quarter starts? Grab a quick 15-minute chat.
1. Revisit and reassess
How you proceed with your de-prioritized deals will depend heavily on where they were in your sales process. To make things simple, separate them into three different categories: Early, mid and late.
Early - you had intro conversations with them and they expressed some interest.
Mid - they probably got pricing and a demo.
Late - they may have been in contract negotiation or gave a verbal commitment.
2. reprioritize
Your top priority will be the late-stage deals. Figure out if you can reengage them or if (and why) they chose a competitor.
Your early stage deals can go back into marketing automation for nurturing until they're ready to engage in a sales process again.
Your mid stage deals need to be recontacted to see if they can reengage and move forward or if they also need to go back to marketing for nurturing.
And remember what we discussed last week - when reengaging with these deals, make sure you have all those points covered before you allow them back in your pipeline.
3. personalized follow-up
For your mid and late stage deals, your follow up needs to reference what you were working on - the business challenges they were trying to resolve by engaging with you. You worked hard to build rapport and a relationship, leverage that when reengaging, this is not the time for canned messages. If you don't have enough business challenges noted and you want to reengage, I have a trick up my sleeve. It's hard to explain in a blog so you'll need to book a quick chat.
4. use multiple channels
This is the perfect time for omni-channel approaches. You can't be certain someone will see your email, things can get buried pretty quickly if someone is out of the office for even a few days. In addition to email:
Phone call - even if they're out you can leave a message.
Social media - most people tend to get fewer messages on social media channels than they do via email.
Text - you can send a text-based text or switch it up and text an audio message.
Video - a great strategy for switching it up and reminding them they're working with a real person.
Stop by - if you're able, you can stop in when you're in the neighborhood.
5. provide insights or value
This is especially helpful with those mid stage deals. Send industry articles, podcasts, and not just your company's blogs. When you send it, provide a reason and offer additional insights or ideas leveraging your expertise. This is your chance to demonstrate your value as a partner and showcase your thought leadership. Remember that you're also dealing with a human buyer, so have a little fun. Send motivational quotes, recipes for great BBQ sides, dad jokes, whatever you're comfortable with!
6. Follow them on social media
And engage with their content. The company and your contact. This is what they really care about, their content getting engagement. And remember that "likes" are the lowest form of engagement. Comment on their posts and add additional value from your perspective. Share their posts with your network. Congratulate them on big wins, company anniversaries. Be their champion, you never know when they'll come back around or refer you to someone else they know.
7. Ask the tough questions
This might be the most important. If you get them on the phone, don't be afraid to ask what they did with their business challenge, and if appropriate, why they didn't go with your solution.
Whether or not you reengage them and they go back in your pipeline, continue to nurture the relationship and follow-up. Don't think of it as a lost deal, it could be a "not right now" deal.
Pro Tip: Set reminders in your CRM for regular check-ins with these prospects, even if they aren't ready to move forward now. Consistent follow-up can keep you top-of-mind when they are ready to make a decision. And switch it up, you probably don't want to be known for "just following up again".
Action Steps:
Review and categorize your deprioritized deals.
Create personalized follow-up messages based on their stage.
Use multiple channels for outreach.
Provide value in every interaction.
Schedule regular check-ins in your CRM.
Ask yourself:
What has changed since you last engaged with these prospects, what business challenges did they share with you, and how can you utilize this information to reignite their interest?
Which deals have the highest likelihood of moving forward, and why?
What's Next
I've got more tips and tricks than can possibly be put into a blog post. If you've been reading and you want to learn more, book a quick chat to see if I can help grow your revenue. If I can't, I'll look for someone in my network who can.
Next week we will cover strategies and tactics for partnering with marketing to win more deals. You won't want to miss that one! Subscribe so you don't miss anything. Share with anyone you know who's in B2B sales, we can all use all the help we can get.
AI disclosure: Wix AI helped me improve the title, generated the cartoon drawings, and guided me through SEO for this post. ChatGPT helped my improve the flow, make the content more concise, and reminded me that I forgot the summary at the end. I ramble and I always forget something!
Rise of Us is a practice run by Summer Poletti, specializing in revenue growth: sales, strategic partnerships, customer success, marketing alignment. We generally work with financial services and SaaS companies from $2MM - $20MM ARR and help them plan and execute for their next stage of revenue growth. We concentrate on strategy, coaching, and organizational alignment.
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