The concept of “firing” a prospect comes as surprising to a lot of salespeople, but often the best way to move forward with a prospect is to let them go.
Prospects expect salespeople to “chase” them, so they assume you’ll keep calling and be there when they’re ready. Not very courteous but, very common! Here’s an article on firing a prospect via voice mail.
Below is a great email a friend shared with me that works well if you’re calling the customer multiple times and sending them a few emails, or even using a marketing automation drip, and you want to “say goodbye” via email.
The general idea here is that as soon as you let the prospect know that you’re giving up on them, they often will respond. Most don’t want to be “taken off your list” and enjoy the fact that you’re chasing them, so when you let them know you’re gonna stop, they’ll shoot you a quick email explaining things. It might just be “I’ve been swamped and I’m going to get back to this project in 2 weeks. Call me then.” or something like that but, at least you know and can focus your efforts elsewhere in the meantime.
Try something like this email and let us know how it works for you!
From: You
Sent: Monday, July 01, 2016 3:52 PM
To: Sally Prospect
Subject: Should I stay or should I go?
Sally:
I haven’t heard back from you and that tells me one of three things:
- You are happy with the product you are using for your <your product or solution> and if that is the case, please let me know so I can stop bothering you.
- You are still interested but haven’t had the time to get back to me yet (understand that totally).
- You’ve fallen and can’t get up, and if that is the case, please let me know and I’ll call 911 for you.
Please let me know which one it is because I am starting to worry.
Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Your Name
Your Title
Company and Website Link
Phone