How often do you contact a prospect to move a sale forward? How persistent are you? Do you give up after the first “no”?
Most people give up way too early.
So if someone says no, they give up.
The reality is most sales are made after multiple contacts.
Persistence pays. No often just means not now. Circumstances change. People move. Suppliers stuff up. You have to be there when the buyer is ready. Which can take multiple contacts over time.
This graph from Microsoft illustrates the point.
50% of salespeople give up after the first contact. 89% have given up by the fourth contact. But it often takes 12 or more contacts to make the sale. Especially if you’re selling a high priced B2B product or service. A person in our circle reported it took her 15 actual meetings to seal a major deal.
If you take us as an example, while some people become clients in a matter of days, the longest someone has been on our list before becoming a client was 10 years.
You must be prepared to be in it for the long haul.
So how often should you keep in contact?
I would suggest at a minimum every 90 days. Why 90 days? I learned this from Wendy Evans who worked for Thomas Cook, Intercontinental and Saatchi & Saatchi. Wendy found that people forget what you can do for them on day 91. She proved it time and time again.
So at the very least have some form of communication every 90 days.
However, the more often the better. Mix up your communication between social media posts, a newsletter and phone calls. Your goal is to be regularly “seen”.
And no, not everyone will consume everything you publish. But they will remember you exist and you’ll be top of mind when they are ready to buy.
