Now is the time to get back in touch with your lost leads and turn them into a stream of new customers
The last six months had seemed to be promising. You had leads coming in from every direction—inbounds, referrals, etc.—and a successful speaking engagement at a business conference. You made appointments, gave demonstrations, and had a few lunch dates. But, alas, most of your potential customers had turned into lost leads.
Anyone, who is in the sales industry, recognizes this to some degree. Whether you sell insurance, real estate or financial services, you will certainly have a list of lost leads – the people with whom you almost made a deal, only to back out at the last minute.
There are a lot of reasons for this to happen. People find a better deal on a service, decide not to purchase a house or are afraid to commit to an SaaS subscription. Some salespeople would say it’s because they didn’t see the value in your product. Maybe it was a customer mismatch, or maybe they didn’t see a correlation between the benefit and the price point. It doesn’t matter why; the fact remains that they opted not to buy from you.
But, now’s the time to change that. Your lost leads are a potential gold mine if you take the opportunity to reach out again.
This might seem counterintuitive; after all, these are the people whom you almost made a deal with, and things didn’t work out for one reason or another. It’s understandable that you would put those people behind you and work to move forward. Not so fast, though.
Do you keep in touch with your lost leads? Well, it’s time to get to work and start selling! Here’s an easy way to simplify your sales process. Schedule a sales demo of our lead management software, and turn leads into customers in no time!
Don’t lose lost leads forever
There are a lot of reasons for lost leads. You’ll need to decide whose business you want to work for. If you know your product or service isn’t right for some people, they may be lower on your priority list, but they should still be on it. You never know when or where a referral will happen.
Get back in touch
The first step in winning back lost leads is to stay in touch. You can do this with phone calls, a handwritten card, emails, or in-person visits, depending on what works best for you. A handwritten card stands out for a lot of people, but that may not be practical based on your volume. Whatever method you choose, you’ll need to be organized.
This isn’t the time to ask for a sale, though. You’re working to rekindle a relationship.
Build a relationship
When you reach out to lost leads, one way is to ask for their help just by asking for feedback. Here is one example of what you could ask in an email:
Hello _________,
Thanks for your time talking to me a few weeks ago about your software needs. I am reaching out to ask for your help. In an effort to make our product/service better, I’d love to know what we could have done differently to win your business. The survey will take you less than 5 minutes, and I would truly appreciate your feedback.
Sincerely
Name
Address
Phone
At the end of your letter, link to an online survey and make it as easy as possible for them to take it. Ask two or three multiple-choice questions about price, commitment, and quality of the customer service, and then provide space for comments. One of your questions should ask for permission to keep them on your email list; that way, you can continue to build a relationship with occasional email newsletters.
There are plenty of other approaches that might work better for you. Whatever you do, the point is to create that relationship and keep them interested in your business.
Pique their interest
Email drip campaigns, personal visits, and your newsletter are all great ways to win back your prospect’s interest in your product or service. You can share product updates, new services, give them advanced warning of price increases – with the opportunity to lock in the current lower price, and share helpful non-sales information your audience can use. For instance, a real estate agent’s newsletter could include articles about finding the perfect home.
Win their business back
This may all sound like a lot of work, and it can be. It’s also a soft sell. The newsletter and email drip campaign are continual reminders of how valuable your service is for them. Include a call to action in your newsletter, and when they’re ready, your formerly lost leads won’t be able to open their wallets fast enough.
Do you keep in touch with your lost leads? Well, it’s time to get to work and start selling! Here’s an easy way to simplify your sales process. Schedule a sales demo of our lead management software, and turn leads into customers in no time!
What do you do to engage lost leads? Have you been successful at it? Tell us about your experience.