Episode #134: Pushy Or Prescient

Pushy salespeople are very, very annoying. They try to bug you into buying and we really don’t like it. We may actually buy, but we don’t like them anymore and probably won’t become a repeat buyer. Fair enough, but what about when you are the salesperson? At what point should we give up on convincing the buyer that our solution is the best for them?

It often happens that we meet a potential buyer, we do our follow up and get a meeting. We listen carefully to what they want. We even try to leverage our experience and deliver some insights about relevant issues they haven’t thought about yet.

In all of this we are trying to tailor a solution to the needs of the buyer and to add value. We want to become a trusted partner for the client, however we are not looking to make a “sale”. We are looking to make a “re-sale”. We want to have a long-term relationship with our client. We want to help them trigger that “we haven’t prepared for that” realisation in their minds and that we are the solution.

Having made the presentation, listened carefully to what they want, we go back to the office and put together our proposal. We survey the broad range of possible solutions available, select from that treasure trove and painstakingly assemble a logical, pertinent and convincing roadmap for moving forward. This is when the problems start.

If possible, we meet the client again to present the solution. In some cases the client says, “email it to me”. With every once of strength in every fiber in our body we should resists this default to the modern convenience of email as the messenger. We must present it, in person and in a way that really clarifies what is written for the client. Even when we can do that, the client invariably says, “okay, we will study it”. This is when things can go silent.

We hear nothing, so after a week or so, we email a gentle nudge to the client. We could phone them except that today trying to get hold of busy decision-makers is fraught with difficulty. They are in permanent meetings or travelling. This is usually not some subtle avoidance tactic, “tell him I am in a meeting”. Rather it is part of the genuine plague of modern business life – numerous, endless meetings. Also today, nobody bothers to ring you back, so the cadence of communication can either really elongate or go very cold.

So our first email yields nothing. No response, no answer, absolutely zero, zilch. Buyers are so brazen these days, as business manners become more informal and the rules less defined. What do we do? One preventative idea with that previously mentioned first email is to create a thread. Go back to a previous email exchange pre-dating presenting the solution and copy that into this email, so the email trail is there. This implies, “hey, I have been emailing you, but you didn’t respond this time”, without saying it directly. This is the “guilt them into responding” tactic. If they still don’t respond, what do we do now?

Some clients may genuinely not be interested and prefer silence to end the discussion, rather than having to confront you with a “no”. Maybe the situation changed internally or maybe they went with your competitor? This happened about 12 months ago. I had a great meeting, the buyer was keen and we were looking good. Then radio silence. No response at all. I kept on following up but nothing. About a month ago, I met the new head of that company and then the penny dropped. My enthusiastic guy got killed in an internal power struggle and was being forced out of the company. My little problem lost all relevance and interest, but I had no idea. It was going on in secret, so the situation can change and hurt us, but often we can’t tell why. In other cases, they are just drowning in emails, spiced up with all their time being sucked into long meetings and frequent travel. They just don’t have the time to get to your questions.

The rule in sales is “don’t say no for the other guy”, but what are we looking at here? Which is it, “no interest” or “no time”? We don’t want to be relegated to the annoying, pushy sales guy or gal category for permanent disposal. We want to preserve our good reputation and personal brand, so we want to avoid becoming a pain. On the other hand, we may be not serving the client well, by giving up too early. Their problem still needs solving. This is the dilemma.

I believe, we should try once more. We should give them a call, knowing the chances of connecting are low to miserable. We might try phoning around 8.00am in the morning, before their gate keepers arrive, to improve our chances of catching them in person. If we fail to connect, we should absolutely leave a message on their answering service, even though we know they won’t call us back. Next we should send that email thread again and add to it, asking about the next steps, have they made a decision, what is the current status?

What if they still don’t respond? We are now into pushy salesperson territory. I recommend we wait for a week. If there is no response, then try to phone again and if that fails, leave a message and send a final email. In this last effort, say that we take their no response to mean they are not interested in our proposed solution for this problem, at this particular point in time. We look forward to catching up with them at some point in the future and remain ready to help them when they have an issue that needs solving.

We may have lost the battle, but we don’t want to lose the war by burning the relationship with the client by being pushy and becoming annoying. They are saying no to our offer – in this current format, at this point in time, in these business and organisational circumstances, at this price against the perceived value. They are not saying “no” to us personally. We need to come back and fight again another day. We need our good name preserved in the market place, when they talk about us to other potential buyers. We need them to feel comfortable to deal with us in the future. We have to play the long game.

Action Steps

1. Always try to present your proposal in person
2. Follow up by phone and email after presenting your proposal
3. If no response to the first follow-up, try again and keep adding to the email thread
4. If you can’t get through or get any response, send a final email but leave the door open to future business
5. Don’t take rejection personally – remember they are missing out on your solution, so they are hurting themselves by making such a big mistake