If You're Not First, You're Last: Sales Strategies to Dominate Your Market and Beat Your Competition

CHAPTER 5. Converting the Unsold

Take a moment to think about all those people with whom you have worked but to whom you have not sold anything. It’s probably a huge number because the reality is that you don’t sell to most of the people you work with. We are now going to take every person who has landed in this category over the last six months and convert the “unsold” into the “sold.” Though rarely utilized, this tactic truly works; after all, don’t these people remain unsold simply because you didn’t transact with them? Everyone ends up doing something; it is just a matter of when and with whom. The fact that you failed to close an opportunity and then dropped or forgot about that lead does not mean that person is no longer potentially in the market for your services. Just because you quit following up or the client bought from someone else doesn’t exclude that person as being a prospect for you now. Maybe he or she couldn’t afford your product at the time, wasn’t quite ready, or delayed a decision with the intent to reconsider. Maybe the client couldn’t get funding at the time, maybe you had the person on the wrong product, or maybe he or she bought from someone else and isn’t happy with that decision.

This greatly overlooked opportunity must be converted so that you can advance and conquer. Don’t waste time worrying about the fact that you didn’t sell to these potential clients before. They still represent a viable opportunity and should not be written off as part of past experience or as “losses.” Rather, they should be reactivated until they become a future sale or a part of your ever-expanding power base. Such prospects are great people to add to your “personal drop-by” call list. Remember, everyone knows others—and the more people you are connected with, the more people you will know and will know you!

A study by Thomas Publishing Company reveals that most salespeople, regardless of the industry, give up too early. According to the study, 80 percent of sales to businesses are made on the fifth sales call, but only 10 percent of salespeople call beyond three times. Oops! Chances are that you haven’t followed up on leads diligently enough, consistently enough, or long enough. The new business you need is sitting safely away in your files. Since you’ve already invested the time and energy, just keep following up and chipping away until you mine the gold. The best way to do this is to go back through your notes or database. Use the earlier actions discussed, and never rely on one means of contact. Bring all of your artillery to your acquisition of new clients—including phone calls, messages, mail, e-mail, and personal visits and never stop following up. I have clients that I have called everyday for 20 days consecutively before they finally took my call. Regardless of the reason they are not calling me back, when it comes time to doing something with my product, I will be the one they think of first. Is that too much? Not if you want to be first!

Here is an example of a call you can make to people with whom you worked in the past but did not close a sale: “John, Grant Cardone here. We met four months ago when you were considering my product. While we were not successful in earning your business at that time, I wanted to call today for two reasons. First, I wanted to check on you. How are you?” (Engage in small talk, but not forever.) “Second, where are you today with what you were considering four months ago? Did you ever make a purchasing decision?”

If the person has not bought from you, conduct new fact-finding as though you haven’t before. You will need to start this sale over from scratch. Do not assume that what the client previously wanted is consistent with what he or she needs or wants now. Ask the person what has changed since then. Inquire as to why he or she opted not to do anything at that time. Then ask, “What are you looking to accomplish now?” This sales cycle may come back to life and require you to start new fact-finding, launch a new presentation, possibly introduce a completely different product, and present a brand new proposal. Do not shortcut any of your sales steps because you did them earlier. Start this entire sale over and disregard anything that you’ve done before; it is no longer pertinent.

If the contact bought from someone else, congratulate him or her. Ask how the product is working, and let the contact know that you’re there to help if there is anything you can do to serve him or her. Say something along the lines of, “I would be happy to help you regardless of where you bought. I regret that I was unsuccessful in earning your business.” Remember: Every contact is more valuable than just the one sale. This person will buy again and likely knows others who will buy. Again, the only difference between a contact and a contract is the relationship. The competitor who was lucky enough to get this person’s business is probably no longer following up with him or her, which puts you head and shoulders above the person who won the previous sale.

Remember to follow up every call with a letter, and put this individual on your list of personal contacts and your intended visits on your calendar. Continue to nurture these “lost” opportunities until they join the ranks of your client list. Don’t forget that these people are part of your power base, even though you have not sold to them (yet). I once had a prospect in Washington, D.C., whom I called twice a year. I failed one year after another to earn his business. But I continued to treat him as a client and call him regularly, and after 10 years of persistence, I finally earned his business. It was one of the biggest contracts I ever landed. As Vince Lombardi accurately stated, “Winners never quit, and quitters never win!”

Converting unsold leads can be profitably used on prospects who have inquired about your product or service within the last year or two—sometimes even three years ago or longer. However, the best prospects would probably be those who contacted you within the past six months. I personally don’t set time limitations when reactivating. A contact from three years ago is no more or less valuable to me than one made three days ago. What is of value to me is the individual—the nature of the previous relationship; his or her name, phone number, and e-mail address; and where I can go to make personal contact. I find that as many as 50 percent of the prospects I contact will encourage me to send literature and show some level of interest in my products or services. Of those, maybe 20 percent will be buyers in the same period. Follow up, follow up, follow up. Persistence always pays off.

However, you must be creative in continuing to follow up in this manner. You cannot merely focus on selling your product. I have had people tell me, “Grant, you are wasting your time.” Yet I still continued with my commitment and followed up because I didn’t believe that I was wasting my time; I was investing it and doing the job necessary. Whether it meant making another call, sending a piece of mail or an e-mail, paying a personal visit, or figuring out where a client was going to be at a certain time so I could coordinate bumping into that person, I continued to follow up.

Make the decision that no one is going to sway you from doing your job and taking the actions necessary to create the business you want. I know it may seem a bit extreme, but you and I are not looking for approval. We want to grow our businesses. Americans have this incredible aversion to anger and treat it as unwanted. Other cultures put a lot less meaning on strong emotions and recognize them as just being part of the exchange that takes place. Sometimes people get heated; it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue the transaction and consummate a deal.

A successful Los Angeles businessman named Kevin Kaul told me, “The difference between a contact and a contract is the relationship, and if you don’t continue contact, you will never create the relationship necessary to turn the contact into a contract.” To really be in a relationship means that you are in it during good times and bad. After all, the fact that my wife and I have a disagreement doesn’t mean I wouldn’t ever talk to her again. Yet businesses, management, entrepreneurs, and salespeople make this mistake every day. They fail to follow up because of some perceived negative emotion, communication, or lack of interest on the part of the prospect. Some appear concerned that if they follow up too persistently, they may be labeled as desperate. However, becoming overly concerned about a label like this means that most people never do what is necessary to be labeled highly successful.

To help make sense of pushing through uncomfortable moments, try to determine what the benefit will be when the uncomfortable action pays off. Let’s say you want a client who is worth $100,000 to your company and $10,000 to you—in addition to job security and a sense of accomplishment. Ask yourself, “Is it worth going through the discomfort of continuing to follow up—even after I have been told no—in order to have any hope of getting this done?” If you don’t follow up, you will not get the sale. If you do, you might! A client once told me, “I never do business with anyone the first three times they call on me. Most I won’t even see. I figure if they don’t believe in their product or service enough to keep following up, why should I waste my time to see them the first time?”

I was once involved in a very large transaction in which all parties thought we had an agreement except for me. I simply was not satisfied with the price I was being paid even though everyone else, including my partners, were very happy. While I knew a renegotiation would be ugly and create a lot of negative emotions, I also knew that if I didn’t renegotiate, I was always going to regret it. I elected to renegotiate despite everyone’s advice, and while it did get very hairy and emotional, we did not lose the deal—and increased our sales price by almost $12 million. I know you’re sitting there saying to yourself, “Sure, I would do it for twelve big ones.” But you need to start building the muscle and discipline to follow up and do the uncomfortable things on a smaller scale because these difficult actions will prepare you for big transactions. Follow up, follow up, and follow up—despite what anyone tells you, despite the emotions, despite anything—follow up!

Another example of the importance of persistence: I recently had someone show an interest in my company’s services, but when we started to follow up with information and pricing, he seemed to lose interest. I started calling him back and spoke with him briefly on two occasions. Since then, neither my staff nor I have been successful getting him back on the phone. I’ve left 30 messages on his business and cell phones and have sent him at least 18 e-mails. All this was done over a period of six weeks, with each call and e-mail communicating a high degree of interest in him and his company and with me clearly stating, early on, that I would continue this type of activity no matter how long it took. We also sent him six videos and six sales strategies via e-mail that he could use for his business. Now, keep in mind that he responded to only 3 of the 52 transmissions sent to him, none of which took place after the first week. You might think by his lack of response that he was not interested. However, I did not believe that his interest was as important as my interest in him. Just as I was concluding this chapter, he e-mailed me asking for information on me and my company relative to providing him with support for the upcoming year.

The lessons to be learned:

1. Commit to follow up.

2. Your interest in your clients is more important than their interest in you.

3. State, up front, that you will continue to follow up until you get a result.

4. Be creative in the ways that you follow up.

5. Always, always, always leave a message on recorders and voice mail.

6. Never quit, ever! Be unreasonable in your follow-up, and you will gain market share regardless of the economy.

Want to learn how to convert the unsold? Visit www.grantcardone.com/resources