Salespeople constantly receive email replies from prospects, and there are some too-common mistakes made in handling them efficiently. I found that by reviewing how salespeople handled email responses from prospects, in just 5-10 minutes I could get a sense of if the salesperson was stuck on a part of the prospecting process. It was one of the most insightful and efficient coaching methods I used.
These mistakes are especially applicable to inside salespeople, though they can apply to all kinds of salespeople across roles and functions.
1) Letting prospect’s emails/voicemails drop through the cracks
Salespeople are busy! Without a system to ensure every prospect’s email or phone call will be followed up on, busy salespeople can easily (much more easily that you think) lose track and not follow up at all on some emails. Various studies have shown that not getting called back is a far too common sales complaints.
One excuse for this: if you ever hear “if they are interested, they’ll call me back”…forget it! Who’s selling to whom??
2) Not responding to a prospect’s email with an immediate call
When a salesperson gets an email response from a prospect, they should call them right back rather than waiting or responding via email. There are three reasons to call them back immediately:
1. The prospect is either at their desk and accessible or is at least already thinking about your company!
2. It’s always much more effective and efficient to have a phone conversation with a prospect than an email thread.
3. Putting a callback on the to-do list or responding via email loses the momentum, and increases the chances the follow-up action will be lost in the cracks.
3) Giving up on a prospect before connecting with the decision maker
A salesperson will usually correspond with a few people at a target company before connecting with the target decision maker. Salespeople often give up after getting their first emailed “no” response from someone at the company – big mistake! Before moving on, what is their role? How relevant are they? Don’t give up too soon – if the prospect fits the target profile, it’s a mistake to give up before connecting with the real decision maker.
4) Wasting time on the wrong accounts
Salespeople want to stay busy and show activity, which can lead them to spend too much time on accounts that mismatch their target customer profile, especially if the company itself isn’t clear enough on profiling their target customers! Oftentimes they’ll get into an email conversation or get a response from a company that just does not fit the right target profile…and just because it’s there they begin to work on it, wasting time.
If your top customers come from business-to-business companies in software, financial services and business services, then don’t target Wal-Mart, even if it is the biggest company on earth.
5) Erratic CRM updates
There is no excuse why any salesperson can’t pull up prioritized accounts and opportunity lists with a click of a button. Used effectively, a CRM system is perfect for keeping a salesperson’s accounts and pipeline prioritized and organized, minimizing wasted time and energy. If a salesperson doesn’t keep track of their activities or update their opportunities in their CRM system, they will waste time in the future either trying to organize their priorities, looking up their old notes, or explaining to their team or manager the status of their accounts.
