Episode #196: Pushing Buyers

Pushy salespeople are very, very annoying. They try to bug you into buying and none of us 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?

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 high value convincing roadmap for moving forward. This is when the problems start. We go through the detail, answer any questions and 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, a reminder to the client. We could phone them, except that today trying to get hold of busy decision-makers is fraught with difficulty. They are permanently in meetings or they are travelling.

What do we do? One strategic 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 buddy, but you didn’t respond this time”, without saying it directly.

Some clients may genuinely not be interested and prefer silence to end the discussion, rather than having to confront you with a “no”. One of the rule in sales is “never say no for the other guy”, but what are we looking at here? Is this “no interest” or “no relevance” or is it “no time”? We don’t want to be relegated to the annoying, pushy sales guy or gal bin for permanent disposal. We want to preserve our good reputation and personal brand, so we want to avoid becoming a pain.

I believe, we should try once more. We should give them a call, knowing the chances of connecting are low to miserable. 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 and asking them to please get back to us?

What if they still don’t respond? We are now into the 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 another message and send a final email.

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. Take heart. 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 develop our patience muscle and play the long game.