I
am sure, all of us face this situation.
You were convinced that they have a
need & are interested in your offering,
but now their behaviour is totally contradictory.
You
start wondering what to do?
First
let's see why do they behave in this
way?
I have found in most of the cases the
reasons are;
# Buyers request, is misread as burning
desire to buy. Enthusiastic sales
guys want to have "enquiry to order
cycle time" to be in seconds! This
causes misinterpretation, "Send
me an offer", being concluded,
as if the buyer will place an order
next day he gets the offer.
# It's not that important
now. This happens virtually overnight.
Changes in your customers' customer
exceptions, Challenging market situations,
new "Boss" are the most common
reasons, why the need now is not so
urgent.
# I am an expert in this.
Buyer many times feels he has all the
information he needs & there is
no need for further discussion.
# They are totally overwhelmed
in day-today's work. Believe me,
I am not making this up, this is the
most common problem buyers are facing.
In most of the organisations today,
people have a lot of work to do &
are getting less & less time. The
customer wants to continue the discussions
with you, but not right now !
# For reference & comparison.
Many times customer just needs your
offer for comparison, to justify to
his boss/team to place order with your
competitor.
Different situations need different
actions.
Now
what you should do?
To find out what's the reason for silence,
here are some of the approaches you
can explore & decide whether to
invest any further on this prospect.
>Don't
give up trying. You should recognise
that the buyer expects you to take the
initiative to be in touch. In B2B situations
it's not uncommon to contact 5-6 times
before you see any results.
>Provide value during each contact.
Don't just say, "Hi just calling
you as agreed last time about the purchase
decision. Call me if you have any further
querry". Instead, you might say,
"Hello, I know how important its
for you to have this system, which helps
our manufacturing to reduce production
cost & cycle time". This indicates
emphasis on potential loss caused due
to the delay in the purchase decision.
>Try out different channels of communication.
Use phone calls with emails, letter,
fax, invitations to the upcoming events,
sending articles, case studies etc.
Try to position yourself as an expert
in this area.
>Identify multiple contact points.
Never have ony one one person to be
your entry into the customer's organisation.
Identify & develop multiple relationships
within the buyer organisation.
>Plan for what's next?. Always
workout followup schedule & contents
for the next meeting/call. If there
is a reluctance, it indicates something's
not right. You need to investigate further
about the seriousness & urgency
of the need.
>Be a human being (& not just
a sales person). After repeated
contacts, leave a funny message such
as, "I know you're extremely busy
person, but I also know that shortening
your production cycle is important to
you. That's why I keep bothering you.
Can I look forward to talking to you
rather than your answering machine."
>Are you trying to contact too frequently?
If, after three contact attempts
, you have not heard, contact less often.
Once in 2 months could be more appropriate?
>Let them rest a while. Send
an email stating that you thought they
were interested, but perhaps you misjudged
the situation since you haven't heard
back from them in the past few weeks.
This often works to get a response &
an explanation from the buyer who may
be feeling guilty of not communicating.
By
trying out different approaches, you
should be able to get some indications
on the status of the need.
If
everything fails, its better to leave
him in peace !
