What is your Exit Strategy with prospects?
It’s a question I ask every day here on conference calls with new clients, and something that oddly enough seems to be a topic that has not been addressed as much as it probably should be. “What is your exit strategy for the Not Interested calls?” And just about every time, the call goes quiet for a moment. Exit Strategy? Ummm.
We’re all interested in building positive customer relationships, and branding ourselves to those who are interested to get that initial pulse. Yet, the ones who say NO today could be a YES down the road if a proper plan is in place. Why give up this perfect opportunity to position yourself to be first in line when the time is right for that not interested party.
First you need to establish what your types of Exit Strategies are going to be.
Take some time and think it through. A few variables will present themselves for your exit strategy based on the type of campaign you are running and each one needs to be handled differently. Of course the Do Not Calls, and emphatic “NOT INTERESTED <click>” prospects will be marked as such by your telemarketing firm and you’ll move on to the next record. There’s a difference between positioning yourself and being insensitive to what the person on the other end of the line is saying to you.
For all of those prospects who may not be interested now but were receptive to your call, there is a lot of room there to be friendly and dig a little deeper. If for any other reason to better understand why they’re not interested so if your product or service is never going to be a fit for them you don’t waste your time and theirs with follow-up calls on future campaigns.
Exit Strategy questions can guide your follow-up patterns.
Just because someone is Not Interested, it does not mean they will not speak to you for a moment and answer a few questions. That’s what having an exit strategy is all about. Rolling with the punches like a pro and finding out details others will not attempt. We find this all the time when running Survey and Event campaigns.
Sure they don’t want to know more about Product X today, but they’ll tell you why or what they are using instead most of the time. By having your exit strategy prepared in advance, you can build your calls value based on the flow of conversation to help you determine if and when a follow-up might happen.
- Find out what or who they are using instead.
- Determine why they don’t need or want your offering. Not ready? Compliance issues? Too costly?
- Ask them what their future timeline for purchasing might be, and offer to follow up at that time.
- Cross-sell another product or service if you offer it and they mention a need for something else.
Those are just a few simple ways to use an exit strategy to take a Not Interested prospect and extract some additional information making that dial that much more valuable. If you are already on the phone having a conversation there is no benefit in going the “smile and dial” route of just getting off the line quickly with someone who isn’t buying in the next 30 seconds.
Build that relationship from the first call no matter what their answer is by having your exit strategy template in place and you’ll be amazed at what better results your follow-up campaigns provide you.
Before your next telemarketing campaign, build your exit strategy business plan first.
