“Oh, wow, I guess they’re not interested.”
Wait! You have no idea how valuable of a prospect they are until you have the conversation with them.
Sure, you’ve made four or five calls or emails, and they’re not responding. But you have the ability to help them, so it’s your obligation to reach out to them…you’re in it for the long haul!
How do I get them to engage? Let me share 10 ways to do it.
1. Know the prospect.
You’ve got to know something about them—minimally their business or industry. More importantly, you really want to know something about them individually. It’s called the worldwide web, there’s plenty of information out there.
You need to know the prospect if you want them to respond to you.
via Island Records UK on GIPHY
2. Be engaging.
It’s not about robotic messages or leaving voicemails. Let them understand who you are and allow your personality to come through.
They don’t have to respond to you, but they will if they see you as an individual that they could spend time with.
3. Peers
Maybe you can’t reach the person, but you can reach others in their circle.
I may only get that one prospect to respond when I reach out to other people they’re connected with. These could be people they work with, or other people they know. Use your network!
via Laurène Boglio on GIPHY
4. Use every medium.
Just because you like sending emails doesn’t mean the prospect does. They may prefer text messages, social media, or even video messages. You have to use every medium because you don’t know what their preferred communication method is until you break through to them.
Don’t assume that your preferred communication method is their preferred communication method.
5. Repetition
Repetition is not about the same thing. Hi, call me. Hi, call me. Hi, call me.
Every message you send has to be different, but you’ve got to be able to repeat the process.
And repeating the process doesn’t mean you’re going to reach out to them once every six months. There has to be a deliberate cadence so they can begin tying your contacts together.
Read these 10 Steps to a Great Prospecting Cadence.
6. Be the industry leader.
Of course they’ll be much more likely to respond to you if they know you as an industry leader. “Oh wow, I know that person because I’ve seen them. I’ve read some of their stuff that they’ve put out on LinkedIn”… or wherever it might be.
Your prospect will always Google you before they reach out to you. It’s amazing how that opens up doors ahead of you. By being the industry leader, you’ve got to ensure that Google puts a good impression of you in front of them when they look.
via Disney Channel on GIPHY
7. Make it easy
Don’t make it complicated for the person to engage with you. This is where you have to own the space and take ownership. If the prospect responds to you on Friday at 4:30 p.m., you call them back at 4:32 p.m. If they reach out to you on a Saturday, you reach back out to them.
Avoid “Hey, I can be available next Tuesday,” or if you use an automated calendar function, you only have open times three, four weeks out.
You have to make it easy for them to do business with you.
8. Use studies and infographics
You can send them a study, or an infographic because you want to be seen as a leader.
When the prospect sees that you have enough insight and enough information that they can benefit from, they will take your call, or even reach out to you.
9. Management
Maybe the dialogue starts with somebody else!
Let’s say you can’t get the meeting with them, but your manager or your CEO, COO can get a meeting with somebody else in that company.
The same goes for your prospect’s company. There are other people in the company that you should be reaching out to. Don’t hesitate. You don’t have a relationship yet with this person, so you have nothing to lose by reaching out and contacting other people further up the chain.
10. Industry events
There are always industry events happening, whether it be a trade show, a conference or just an association website.
Use those, because when people can begin to connect you to their industry, they begin to see you as a peer to respect and listen to.
